Days 33-38 - Managua & San Juan del Sur

Left San Juan del Sur mid day on December 20th as I´d planned to meet up with Laura´s cousin Penn and her husband in Managua for dinner before greeting Josh at the airport. My ride from San Juan got a bit screwed up due to another couple I was counting on, so I ended up catching the bus. It took me a while to make the journey as I had to change buses at Rivas and then change terminals to get the express to Managua. I waited for about an hour for the express when a local pulled up, so I decided to get on. Due to my late arrival in Managua, Penn and her husband Doug picked me up from Mercado Huembes and we went straight to the airport. We had a great visit and discussed my experiences thusfar in Nicaragua. It was great to finally meet them as we´d been in touch over the phone for a bit of time. It was also nice to meet someone else from Laura´s family who was not at the wedding this summer. Following dinner, I went across the street and checked in to the hotel. Once I was settled, I received a call from Josh that his flight had been canceled and that he would not arrive until Tuesday! Yikes!

About an hour later, he had worked his way to the front of the line and managed to secure a seat on a flight to Managua the next day...and in first class! Although I was excited that he´d arrive sooner rather than later, we decided to cancel our Corn Islands portion of the trip for the moment as we´d pretty much get there and have to turn back to meet Sarita at the airport. I sent emails to cancel our arrangements which found out later were non-refundable, and we decided to head straight back to San Juan del Sur having arranged to be put up in the Secret Cove Inn again. I´ll try to make it back to the Corn Islands before returning home as I´ve heard that they are the highlight of many people´s Nicaraguan experiences.

Josh arrived around 4pm the following day and we got in a cab for San Juan. We missed the sunset by a few minutes, but were extremely happy to be at the beach...and in a town where I was very comfortable. I connected with a few friends who were in San Juan and we had a great night there. Over the next few days, we went to a few different beaches and Josh took up surfing. I was not surprised, but he was able to stand up on his second wave and continued to do well the remainder of the first afternoon. We also were able to take advantage of the pool at the Pelican Eyes resort up the hill from town which was a great place for him to unwind from the craziness of NYC. We met another friend, Justin, at the Secret Cove who´d sailed his boat from LA with some friends in order to settle in San Juan. He is Josh´s age and we were both very intrigued by his situation. Justin will be in San Juan when I return with Nic and Kels in early January, so maybe we´ll be able to get on the boat.

Following a great time in San Juan, on Christmas day we packed our bags, said our goodbyes and headed back to Managua to meet Sarita at the airport. Having checked her flights, we were delighted that she would make it in on time. Upon our arrival to the hotel, we saw that she had a slight delay in Atlanta, but would still make it to us that evening. We greeted her later on and the three of us had some time to catch up and get excited for the next leg of the trip! The only horrific detail is that our room was infested with bed bugs and we were all disgusted!