Beach Adventures

Last night as I slept 10 feet from the ocean, the skies began to thunder. The loud explosions sounded like they were directly above my little cabana. That mixed with the roaring of the ocean yards away made for a nerve racking night. When I awoke, I watched the ocean lap just steps away from my cabin.

There is a river that runs parallel to the cabins here at Redwood Beach Resort. Apparently this year the tides have come up higher than usual and there has also been more rain than usual so the water has been carving down the sides of the land with the cabins facing the river which flows into the ocean. The owners are in an epic battle with mother nature trying to redirect the river and also redirect the flow of the small lake that it flows into. The erosion is very devastating and getting closer and closer to their beachfront cabins.

Apparently an ex Peace Corps volunteer runs a small backpackers hotel on the beach about 30 kilometers south of this spot and woke up one night to the tide rising and the next thing you know they were 4 feet underwater! How would you like to be a guest on that night?

This morning after coffee...





we went to the local fish shack to shop for some dinner...







The fishermn fish all night and come home in the morning with their catch...


Sleeping after a hard night´s work....

We made our purchases and on our way we went...





So for this year´s trip I decided to save some money and rent a little economy car. Since I’m here for 3 weeks, that’s like a $1000 dollar savings over renting a 4x4. Well we call these clown cars down here because they are so small and funny looking. Suzuki Alto… don’t see many in the States.

So I had no problem getting to the beach… a few bumps and mini rivers to forge. However, with the big thunder came some big rain too. I was dreading this because I had planned to head back to the mountains and I knew the little rivers I had crossed a few days before were going to be some problems.

Fortunately Mike… Mike and Stacey own the hotel here at Redwood Beach Resort. They are a great American couple and really know the area. I have been coming here and hanging out at their hotel with them for over 4 years. We go kayaking, fishing, surfing, boating and we hike the local volcano. In the evenings we all sit around sipping cocktails or we play pool or bachi ball and I tell them about the states and they tell me about Nicaragua. They are great friends.

Anyways, Mike decided to accompany back to the big major city of Chinandega about 2 hours away. He needed some supplies but I think he really wanted to make sure I made it back in one piece. He brought his tow straps just in case. They would be put to some could use! After visiting the local cockfighting center...







we ran into the first major river and it turned pretty ugly. Now normally you can just slowly go right through these things. The first couple times I did it I was nervous… especially when the water comes up over your hood! Now I kind of just blow through them.... Well I did manage to get across the water but then we got stuck in the mud.



The next guys to come along tried to go around me in some beat up truck and he got stuck too…



So now here we are blocking the whole river. It didn’t take long but the next thing you know a Nicaraguan who used to live in Miami and spoke perfect English showed up and 20 other Nicaraguans all pitched in and pulled us out. The Nicaraguan guys also had a cooler full of beers! It was hot so Mike and I enjoyed a cold beer as everybody helped drag us out of the mud. I took a look inside the beater truck and his gear shifter was all rotted out and you could see the river flowing underneath his truck from the inside… nice! We told the guys to go hve some beers on the house at Mike´s hotel!




So we had fun bouncing around the rest of the road racing through mini lakes and fishtailing on mud roads… The 4x4 would have definitely been more fun… but the little Suzuki held its own and made for some fun times.

Mike and I decided to stop at this place called Los Asseradoras where a French guy recently opened a restaurant/hotel. He is up on some hills with a 360 degree view of the ocean and mountains about 2 kilometers from the beach.







The view is absolutely beautiful. He was preparing a meal for a professional surfer Kelly Beck and her friends who own a place just down the hill on the beach. He also ferments rum with a variety of flavors: ginger, passion fruit, cinnamon, garlic and others. We sampled a few and they were delicious.



We had a nice chat with another guy from Germany and a girl from England. They had been bouncing around the country for over a year. It was a mini United Nations meeting!




Here is Mike!



After awhile we finally decided we better get going....or we were gonna polish off this guy´s rum! Since he was friends with Mike he didn´t even charge us anything... nice! I gave him a couple of my prized cigars from my mountain town Esteli... his eyes lit up! And away we went on our trip again...

These guys were working hard tossing watermellons on the road...



We finally made it to Chinandega. Now the rule is whenever you arrive in a big city in Nicaragua you always find a good restaurant and have a good meal. We decided on a great Filet Mignon lunch… $6 bucks each. Then I dropped him off with a friend of his to do his supply shopping and I started heading back to the mountain… on an actual freeway. YES! Or so I thought!

I had only gone about 3 kilometers when I was stopped in a huge traffic jam. It seems two semi’s had crashed into each other and one of the trucks had 7000 gallons of gasoline which spilled all over the 2 lane highway backing it up for miles. So there I sat for another 4 hours!



They eventually got the road cleaned up and I got on my way. I drove for another 5 hours in the evening passing various obstacles… cows, horses, local cops… and in one part a drunk guy standing in the middle of the road not moving... like a freakin statue!

COW LAYING IN ROAD!


I’m finally back in my home in the mountains unwinding after another fun and adventure trip to the beach. Time for my siesta!