All one has to do is check the weather for Nicaragua and they'll realize that sunscreen is a necessity here. The temperature hardly ever leaves the 70 to 95 degree range so, needless to say, putting on sunscreen has become a daily routine. However, It was especially necessary on the few days we've gotten to the beach here in Nicaragua.
There was hardly anyone around, but our first interaction was with a young Nica boy who shouted "Hallo Gringas!" our direction as we got in the water. After a smile and wave, we slipped into the heavenly not-to-hot-not-to-cold water and literally just floated for a good half hour. Our other friends, Kelsey, Anna and Colton, met up with us about an hour later and the five of us walked about fifteen minutes down the beach to another community called Pochomil.
Pochomil is a long stretch of beach with family owned rancheros where you can spend the day eating, drinking and relaxing, as well as have a safe place to keep your things while frolicking in the ocean. As we walked up to the ranchero of our choosing, we were greeted with smiles and nod (until they found out we understood a little Spanish) and then immediately escorted to tables and hammocks. Within five minutes, each of us had a cold Toña in hand a marimba band filling the patio with what I can only describe as "beach music." I'm not sure I've been closer to Heaven...
Our bus ride home was by far the most "adventurous" part of our time in Nicaragua thus far. We missed the 4:30expreso bus and ended up crammed into one of the ordinario but stops at every post between the coast and Managua. I've never seen so many people crammed into such a small space. For the few of you reading this who remember getting stuck with me in an elevator an elevator for two hours in San Francisco, it was like that, on methamphetamine. I ended up stuck sitting under a man who hovered, extremely closely at times, over me trying to get me to practice my Spanish and make me understand that he was a government attorney. At least I learned the word for lawyer... We did eventually make it home, and while I had put on sunscreen at the beginning of the day, I was a lovely shade of well-done Maggie by the end.
Our second beach adventure happened this last Sunday with some lovely new American friends we've been fortunate to find. Jeannette, who I mentioned we met at Girls Night, planned an awesome birthday weekend and invited us along for the fun. She lives just a quick taxi ride away with a family that has lived in Central America for over thirty years. We were invited over to their beautiful house for birthday dinner Saturday night where we met Rachel, a local intern for one of the resort companies, and few family members of the ladies that work at Fabretto. We lounged in pool, drank delicious mojitos, sang Happy Birthday and laughed the night away.
The next morning we met the girls again at a local convenient store that sold "American" treats like Diet Coke and Oreos. Our transportation to the beach was Kara, a friend of friend of Rachel, who none of us had met, but who happened to have bought a car a few days before and was dying to get to the beach. Kara is a fantastic 28 year old who recently moved to Nicaragua to start a non-profit. She pulled up in a dusty, giant, jeep-looking something and was so excited that she'd made it from Granada to Managua three days after learning to drive stick! The rest of our drive was quite an adventure, with only a few times restarting the car in the middle of the street and a lot of dust on the last stretch to Grand Pacifica, which was our destination for the day. Grand Pacifica is beautiful resort with a minimal day fee, gorgeous pool and direct beach access. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but this day was awesome.
We also happened to run into a few of our friends from UAM who were working on a project for the day! Our day ended with the five of us silly, American girls driving back to Managua at sunset, dancing and singing to Radio Disney Nicaragua.
-Maggie Frazier
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