i keep a diary

November 18, 2010

Surf Nicaragua

Meredith and I opted out of Thanksgiving for the year and decided to take a vacation and get a some sunshine instead. We ended up booking a trip to go to a surf camp in Nicaragua! (We stayed with Surf Tours Nicaragua and they were great!)

Wednesday, November 17th

leigh, ryan m
On Wednesday night we dropped off Maddy with Ryan and Leigh.
leigh ˆ ryan m
maddy
Maddly LOVES Edie so much. Haha.
dogs ˆ edie ˆ maddy
jude
Jude's shiner!
best ˆ black eye ˆ sunglasses ˆ jude
me, meredith
On our way!
flying ˆ me ˆ meredith
Instructional piglets!
flying ˆ pig ˆ tv
Chasing the sunrise at 35,000 feet.
flying ˆ sunset
Delightful waffle morning.
airplane ˆ food ˆ waffle
PANAMA!
flying ˆ wing
Our Panamanian layover had way fewer hot Van Halen guitar licks than I'd hoped.
airport ˆ wing
One more flight to Managua!
flying ˆ wing
me, meredith
Arrival.
flying ˆ me ˆ meredith
Waiting outside the Managua airport with an eye out for someone who looks like they surf.
airport
daniel n
Daniel's sun-whitened hair was easy to spot!
driving ˆ daniel n
It was almost a two hour drive to the coast. Check out the Momotombo Volcano visible in the distance!
volcano
Dramatic sunshine coming through the clouds about an hour into the ride.
clouds
Semi-paved roads with lush greenery give way...
driving
...to dirt roads passing by garbage dumps on fire.
burning ˆ driving ˆ trash
Faaaack.
burning ˆ driving ˆ trash ˆ wtf
Quiver!
surf
I spent the day learning on this guy.
surf
meredith
The camp came fully equipped with both hammock and beach dog.
dogs ˆ hammock ˆ meredith
After dinner we played Scrabble with Maddie and Peter, the couple that were running the camp and teaching us to surf.
scrabble
meredith
Scrabble is a lot more difficult...
scrabble ˆ meredith
...when you've got foreign-language tiles. It was harder than I thought it was going to be to get rid of my CH letter!
scrabble

Friday, November 19th

View outside the house patio.
beach ˆ gate
View of the pool from the gates.
pool
Home sweet haciencda!
beach
The beach outside is covered with some sort of local vine.
beach
That's covered in lovely, brink-pink flowers!
beach ˆ flower
Morning beach view.
beach ˆ clouds
The entire beach is covered in the mysterious scrawls of beach snails.
beach ˆ sand ˆ snail
WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL US?
beach ˆ sand ˆ snail
meredith
Back at surf camp HQ, Meredith was playing fetch...
dogs ˆ meredith
...with the house dog!
bite ˆ dogs
pete
A little before 11am, we loaded up the truck...
surf ˆ pete
...a drove a few miles down the beach front to a nearby surf spot.
driving
Nearby in Nicaragua can easily include a forty minute ride on dirt roads.
driving
Getting close.
sign
Gated beach community.
driving ˆ gate
meredith, pete
Peter & Mer. Ready to surf a slightly bigger break. 11am
best ˆ surf ˆ meredith ˆ pete
Parked right up on the beach.
beach ˆ best
Grass park next to the ocean.
ocean ˆ trees
Board bruises.
bruise
Empty line up.
beach ˆ ocean ˆ surf ˆ truck
Surfing is exhausting.
asleep ˆ hammock
Sun until 6:30pm is such a relief after New York's early darkness.
beach ˆ clouds ˆ sunset
maddie
Maddie giving a local kitten a sand bath!
beach ˆ cat ˆ maddie
Veggie dinner!
food
meredith
Meredith doesn't believe in sunscreen! Check out that day-two tan!
sunburn ˆ meredith
The best of what other guests had left behind to read!
book
Not much to do after sundown except read in a hammock!

Saturday, November 20th

The waves were working super early in the morning. After the tide went out, we went back to sleep and then got up around noon...
baby ˆ beach
...to do some exploring down the beach!
beach
Leaving surf camp.
Headed north up the beach.
beach
The waterline had been recently decorated with fish heads...
fish ˆ head ˆ sand
...by the fishermen who'd recently come ashore.
beach ˆ boat
Gills look like feathers.
fish ˆ head ˆ sand
me
Trying to prevent my bean from getting cooked in the equatorial sun.
hat ˆ sunglasses ˆ me
Gorgeous coastline.
beach
Pirate camp.
beach
The point.
beach
People surf right next to here at high tide.
ocean ˆ rocks
No room for error.
ocean ˆ rocks ˆ wave
meredith
Got another small set in the afternoon, then lunch!
food ˆ meredith
me
Getting my broga on.
stretch ˆ yoga ˆ me
meredith
Between sets, Meredith worked on Scratch lesson plans.
computer ˆ laptop ˆ meredith
me
Time to go!
surf ˆ me
Another beautiful sunset.
beach ˆ gate ˆ sunset
me
Another quiet night of reading in hammocks.
hammock ˆ reading ˆ me

Sunday, November 21st

meredith
Good morning!
coffee ˆ meredith
My face was swollen with sun and sleep
And soon, with delicious peanut butter & jelly toast!
food ˆ toast
After we'd finished with breakfast, we noticed there were a lot of birds circling.
The frigate birds they have their have really unique-shaped wings and split-tails.
We saw the birds were centered above a boat of fisherman that had just come ashore.
beach ˆ best ˆ clouds
They were cleaning the fish they'd caught.
boat ˆ fishing ˆ stingray
In addition to birds, the fish scraps had also attracted a local pig!
ocean ˆ pig
Her snout was covered in fish gore and she was grunting with delight.
best ˆ boat ˆ ocean ˆ pig
Always nice to see something you don't see every day.
boat ˆ ocean ˆ pig
360 degree rainbow around the sun.
best ˆ bird ˆ hand ˆ rainbow
me
I decided to go for a post-lunch swim and Meredith snapped this pic of the house dog accompanying me.
beach ˆ dogs ˆ me
me
Private swim.
ocean ˆ swim ˆ me
Itchy gets a bucket bath!
bath ˆ dogs
Later that night, we went for another walk down the beach.
sunset
We watched the disappear.
meredith
On our walk home we found this little puppy napping in the middle of the street.
puppy ˆ meredith

Monday, November 22nd

meredith
During low tide, we decided to explore the beach in the other direction.
beach ˆ best ˆ clouds ˆ rocks ˆ meredith
Beach front construction.
beach ˆ construction
Monday, 9am.
beach ˆ clouds ˆ walking
maddie
Even at low tide, there is a hip-deep river you have to wade through. Maddie had to carry her dog because the current was moving too quickly fro him to swim!
beach ˆ carry ˆ river ˆ maddie
Sand trees.
sand
meredith
After we got back, we had pancakes!
food ˆ pancakes ˆ meredith
Right after breakfast, I accidentally took a bunch of pills that WEREN'T Advil and ended up getting sidelined for a day. (Not like I needed much of an excuse to lay around do nothing but sleep for a whole day).
medicine ˆ pills
By 9pm that evening, I was back out of bed and starting to feel better.
food ˆ taco
me
Tacos fix everything.
computer ˆ laptop ˆ me

Tuesday, November 23rd

me, meredith
On Tuesday morning, we took a day off from surfing (to rest our sore bodies and bruised bellies!) and took a ride into the nearby city of Leon for the day.
best ˆ driving ˆ me ˆ meredith
Passing a cowboy on the road.
cowboy ˆ driving
So sneepy.
cow ˆ driving
A bumpy seventy minutes later, we'd arrived in Leon!
driving ˆ sign
Leon is the second-largest city in Nicaragua.
walking
meredith
It's filled with Spanish colonial buildings. Exploring.
walking ˆ meredith
We found a restaurant with a nice, shaded outdoor garden and had lunch with Peter and Maddie.
garden
Sun over the Cathedral of Leon.
church
Inside.
church
OMG, dude is gonna be so pissed when we realizes he's been painting upside-down the whole time!
church ˆ painting
Christmas is coming.
flag ˆ santa
There wasn't a whole lot to see in Leon, but it was a nice relaxing place to wander around and aimlessly explore.
meredith
There are Bimbo trucks everywhere in Latin American.
bimbo ˆ sign ˆ meredith
meredith
We made it back to the house in time to catch high tide. Meredith posing with her board. (Holy moly).
best ˆ surf ˆ meredith
me
Me with a 10' longboard.
point ˆ surf ˆ me
Dinner!
food
After dinner, we set up the television on the patio and watched surf videos!
tv
meredith
Ready for bed.
hammock ˆ meredith

Tuesday, November 23rd

For most of the week, we'd been surfing a small beach-break right out front of the camp. On Tuesday morning, we woke up early to travel to a bigger break. I remember taking this photo so clearly. The windows were down, we were on a dirt road, the stereo was cranked playing The Ocean by Led Zep, the morning sun had just broken over the mountaintops.
best ˆ driving ˆ sunrise
pete
After a short drive, we grabbed al of our gear...
surf ˆ truck ˆ pete
...carried it past an oil refinery to the water's edge (where we learned both a man and his dog had recently been eaten by a croc).
boat
pete
We took a boat across the estuary...
boat ˆ pete
...and came out into a deserted peninsula called the Salinas Flats. A short hike through the tress...
sunrise
...and we found the ocean on the other side.
maddie
Shelter!
surf ˆ maddie
No one around in either direction!
beach ˆ ocean
me
That waterproof sunblock really brings out my eyes.
beach ˆ surf ˆ me
We got a few hours in during the early morning, but around 10:30, a few really big big waves (double-overheads!) started coming in.
beach ˆ ocean ˆ surf
meredith
Those sized waves were WAY too big for us so we ate snacks and watched the other three people in our group surf.
meredith
Around 1pm, we walked back across the peninsula to the estuary to catch a boat ride back to our car.
boat ˆ surf
me, meredith
Nothing better than a boat ride on a sunny day.
sunglasses ˆ me ˆ meredith
Low tide.
beach ˆ boat ˆ surf
meredith
Meredith's last day of surfing!
best ˆ carry ˆ surf ˆ meredith
meredith
All done with that for now!
surf ˆ truck ˆ meredith
Back at the homestead, I watched the dog go insane with joy when a local pig showed up on the beach. So excited to make pig-friends!
chase ˆ dogs ˆ pig
While we were reading on the patio later that evening, we were suddenly disturbed by a strange noise coming from near the bushes.
beetle ˆ bugs ˆ hand
Synchronicity.
beetle ˆ bugs ˆ hand
me
In addition to reading in a hammock and napping in a hammock, other patio activities included a bongo board...
bongo board ˆ me
...and that other game that consists of trying to swing a ring on a string to catch a hook. (Way harder than it sounds).
ring
pete
Peter, our faithful chef and surf teacher, relaxing after work. (I'm pretty sure these photos were taken by Meredith).
hammock ˆ reading ˆ pete
me
I couldn't even stay awake past 10pm!
asleep ˆ hammock ˆ me

Thursday, November 25th

Happy Thanksgiving! Thursday was our last full day at the house! Here's my big Thanksgiving lunch after a morning of surfing. Haha.
food ˆ pasta ˆ salad
daniel n, meredith
Later that afternoon, Daniel bid us farewell and left to catch a flight! Thanks for everything! Great to meet you!
daniel n ˆ meredith
maddie
Maddie made pizza for our last dinner.
pizza ˆ maddie

Friday, November 26th

Woke up early to catch one last tide before flying home.
surf ˆ wax
Not much happening.
beach ˆ ocean
After getting packed, we came out to find juice smoothies waiting.
pete
Peter shows off a giant moth that flew into the kitchen.
bugs ˆ moth ˆ pete
pete
Nom!
bite ˆ bugs ˆ moth ˆ pete
On the penne box for scale. Look at his weird, mothy nose!
bugs ˆ moth ˆ pasta
Last meal!
food ˆ pasta
meredith
Meredith hugging our beach buddy farewell!
dogs ˆ meredith
Starting the bumpy ride back.
clouds ˆ driving
Look kids! Big Ben, volcano!
driving ˆ volcano
The road is paved, but with giant gaping pot holes that make driving fast than 25mph impractical.
driving
Oil refinery built to refine oil passing by from Venezuela.
construction
Home sweet home! The first thing I did was bring my bike back downstairs and lock it up on the street. (Not really practical to keep a bike indoors where we live.)
bike ˆ e9th apt ˆ living room
Second thing I did? Downloaded the Peep Show Series Seven premiere! Oh, the peep.
peep show ˆ tv

3 comments

  • garthmarch 4, 2013

    Brian, this is sweet! Do you remember what package you went with? I'm looking at their site and thinking about pulling the trigger.

    • brian battjermarch 4, 2013

      Hi, Garth! We went with the deluxe accommodation. (Although, looking at their website pictures, it looks like they've moved to a different beach-front house for that package). The place we went to was super low-key, but nice. Looks like they've upgraded to a bigger place with a larger, indoor communal space.)

  • no namemarch 17, 2013

    I'm really perplexed that the airline gave you a layover in Panama...!

    One of the lovelier beaches I saw in Nica when I worked there several years ago,was at Bahia Majagual. It was peaceful and quiet, and despite being close to overcrowded San Juan del Sur, there was virtually no one, except some beautiful sea turtles who would come to the shore to lay eggs at night, and some friendly locals who took the eggs to sell. The waves were great, the water perfect and it was probably too nice to last since the country has been rapidly developing its tourism sector over the past decade, but if it's at all similar to what it was, I imagine it'd be a great place to surf next time you're there!