The ship dropped anchor around 7:30 am . After breakfast, Larry and I caught a tender boat to the seaside town riding on the top in the brisk sea air. The boat driver actually lost his hat due to the high winds. We had a pleasant time riding ashore with some Aussie friends, Rob and Ann.
Upon arrival, we wondered through the local tourist markets....lots of pottery, leather goods, t-shirts, arts and crafts...finally reaching the fenced gate of the marine area. We countinued down the street...the breezes off of the water were very nice on shore...high today was 91 degrees.
We passed serveral pubs where the locals hung out...plastic tarps hung overs some plastic chairs. We walked by several horse drawn carts for visitors to take a ride in...the horses looked so poorly...the heat must be awful for them.
San Juan del Sur is Nicaragua's most visited beach town on the Pacific coast. The streets are lined with homes and store fronts built of wood and painted in vibrant colors. The cresent shaped bay is speckled with local fishing boats. The mountainous countryside have extravagant homes dotting the hillsides.
Because it was Sunday, the beach was loaded by lots of Nicaraguans...They were enjoying the water, sitting under temporary sheets that they strung up for shade. Some locals were grilling along side the road. Small boats out in the water were taking locals for rides around the little bay. From the looks of some of their passengers, this was their first ride in a boat.
We walked passed lots of open air restaurants...very nice with gorgeous views of the beach. The locals had taken advantage of the beautful beach by erecting very nice thatched roof buildings with tropical themes for the visitors to enjoy a meal and get some cool drinks. We must have passed fifteen of these to choose from. There were local car rentals, scooter rentals, and tourist trip shops as well as more outdoor booths to shop in.
On we walked till we came to a swinging bridge that was built to cross over a small inlet lake that was caused when the tide came in. We crossed it and walked on trying to make our way to the Christ Stautue that was sat on top of the hill.
The road turned to dirt and a couple of cars passed us making quite a dust bowl so we decided to turn around and head for the beach. Here we passed a local hostel and a couple of hotels. Walking down the beach was pleasant...the water was cool and refreshing. We walked back to one of the local restaurants and had a cool liquid refreshment...being careful to not get anything with ice. One dollar was equal to 25 Nicaraguan cordobas...although they accepted American dollars readily.
This was a quaint little village. It reminded us a lot of East Timor....the hillside had lots of brown trees and looked so dry. We enjoyed our day and our ride back to the ship in the tender boat. We happened to sit with a couple of the Crown Princess musicians so the conversation was lively.
The sail away was interesting. We could see a local volcano smoking and lava coming down the hillside. From the 17th floor of the ship we also could see the volcano that we visited while boating on Lake Nicaragua a couple of years back. We enjoyed a beauitful sunset and watched a Movie Under the Stars..."The Wolverine" with Hugh Jackman.
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