Nicaragua - Day 3

After a delicious breakfast we all headed to the cars to head out for a day of adventure and found this waiting for us....

a flat tire...this is not really surprising as the roads were CRAZY bumpy.  It didn't take too long for the boys to put on the spare tire and head into San Juan del Sur.

After getting a bit lost we found Da' Flying Frog Adventures and readied ourselves for rappelling and ziplining.

We all choose to do the Extreme Adventure package because we're all just so crazy.  After we were all geared up we climbed in the back of this beater truck and started driving up and up and up.

Ready to rappel down a 147 foot waterfall (all dried up since we were there during the dry season).

 

I have to say that this is the first time I have ever complained at feeling too safe.  There were so many back-up safety measures that you had to practically pull yourself down the waterfall and it took a lot of energy.  It was still fun but not as exhilarating as rappelling usually is.

We all made it down safely...even pregnant Annie made it down with only a few sweat beads. (Grannie sat out on this adventure.)

 

Next up was zip-lining!!!  We had a short hike up to our first canopy.  The terrain in this part of Nicaragua was very dry at this time of the year but still beautiful.

 

I seem to always have a problem slowly down at the end...thus the "Oh no, I'm going to run into you!!!" face.

A little bit scary when we were all standing on one platform.

After our morning adventures we were all ready for something to drink and eat.  We headed into San Juan del Sur for lunch and wandering around town.

 

Tacos for lunch!

These colorful buses are everywhere.  They are called "Chicken Buses" and are always overflowing with people and animals.  There seem to be very few rules in Nicaragua and you see people hanging off of any vehicle, horse, bike, and motorcycles (very few with helmets).

We met this cute little family while wandering the streets and the kids were so excited to show us their skateboarding tricks.

A common site to see someone on a bike hauling something very large.

Ahhh...the gelato was AMAZING!!!  Birch's favorite flavor was the maracuyá (passion fruit).  Apparently it took him right back to his mission years in Portugal.  My kids would have been dying over the Nutella gelato.

Beautiful Grannie!

The kids go to school for half of the day and then swap with another age group in the afternoon to make better use of the limited school facilities.  All the kids looked so clean in their uniforms.

This was another site we saw often...the man in the front with a helmet on but the woman and one or two kids squeezed between had no helmets.

Lots of variations of transportation.

Lots more monkeys on the way back to Casa Ola.

This guy wasn't a fan of getting his picture taken...oops.

What would it be like all sleep together in an outdoor hammock room?

Blayre, the beautiful.

Birch got some really awesome pictures of the waves, though I have to say I was a bit nervous about our camera getting so close to the water.  Sweet pictures, eh?!!

Another magnificent sunset!

Nicaragua - Day 2

Ahhh...waking up to this sweet site was wonderful!

How about a little tour of Casa Ola?

Our view of Casa Ola from our private beach.

Our bungalows can best be described as a replica of Swiss Family Robinson.  Every structure was uniquely built.

Door to bathroom

Another bathroom on a different level.

To the left you can see Brent and Deena's private bungalow; the middle was a common area with a WiFi router (we can various people "pop" by to use the internet access); to the right is another kitchen plus bedroom and group living area where we played games in the evenings; the upper level is a beautiful yoga studio and bathroom that we never used.

Hammocks everywhere!

Yoga Studio and Bathroom

Door to shower

Panorama picture of bathroom -- it was the coolest feeling of having enough privacy but also feeling like you were outside taking a shower.  Yes, we had hot water.

Annie and Kelly's bungalow

 

Outdoor grill area and steps leading down to our dungeon bungalow

Our room -- we never put any of our stuff away in the built-in shelving as I was a little nervous about the creepy crawlies plus we had several extra beds to spread our stuff out on.  We only needed a little sheet at night as the weather was in the 80's a night.

 

Every morning and every night I loved lounging and reading away.  I read three books while traveling.  My favorite was "Wonder" by R. J. Palacio.  It was so good and I would recommend that everyone read it!

I did my daily duty of updating facebook so the kids could see what we were up to.

There were huge Plumeria trees all around Casa Ola but very few leaves and flowers.  In Nicaragua the plumeria is called Sancuanjoche and is the national flower.  We were in Nicaragua at the end of their dry season thus the sparse flowers.

Common area off of main kitchen

Private beach

There were hermit crabs everywhere!

Monday morning brought surf lessons for the boys.  Gonzolo, our hired hostess for the week was there to keep us happy.  He helped Donald cook, traveled with us sometimes, and was our resident surf instructor for $5.00/student.

Birch and Logan

Birch has wanted to try surfing for a long time so this was a real treat.

Tiring, fun, and exhilarating!

These small wavers were perfect for beginners.

Grannie didn't venture too far out in the water but took several opportunities to cool her feet.

I can't tell you how awesome it is to hang out on the beach all morning and then hear someone whistle for you to come up for lunch.  Donald made us some delicious fish tacos and potatoes for lunch.  He always made freshly squeezed juice for every meal.

After lunch I decided that maybe it was time to test the water out a bit. 

It was a bit chilly at first :)

Logan instructed me on how to ride the surf board on my tummy.  Fun and scary!

I do this everyday...

Now do we look like tourists?

At the end of our private beach there was a film crew filming the Mexican version of "Survivor."  If we got too close to the set big burly men with big guns would come out of the trees and holler at us in Spanish and point for us to head back to our side of the beach.

There was a little bungalow up on the cliff that Birch and I hiked up to one night.  The sunset was beautiful!

Another perfect ending to a perfect day in paradise.