3/8 Hotel Santa Cruz Nicaragua
Since it was late and we were all exhausted we wanted to find a place quickly. We chose Hotel Santa Cruz because, according to the IOverlander descriptions and comments, it was newly remodeled and was located in one of the closest towns near the border. Well, it turned out to be someone’s home and we parked in their courtyard and it was far from being newly remodeled. While we were cooking dinner, one of the guests and his boss joined us for cocktails before they went out for dinner. Matt poured them his famous rum drink which was 99% rum which they enjoyed several times ( Let’s face it – it was Fleur de Cana – a great rum made in Nicaragua). We all imbibed the cool drinks and were excited about relaxing in air conditioned rooms. The rooms were quite a surprise as the bed mattresses were old, flimsy and the new remodeling was a hack job. For example, stepping on the shower tiles cracked the tiles. Regardless, there was running water (cold) and air conditioning (moderate) but it was still great getting out of the heat. Not so fast…as Matt and Tracy were getting ready to retire for the evening their new friends showed up with Carne Asada to share dinner. They decided to pick up Carne Asada para llevar (to go) and brought it back to treat us all. Roz and Edel’s opted out of the fiesta but we heard the joys of eating Carne Asada, laughing and the sounds of Michael Jackson’s Thriller being played well into the late evening. It turns out Tracy had never seen the full music video all the way through and that music video was the favorite of our new friend. Matt was never so happy to see a bottle of Fleur de Cana empty so we could all go to bed. Early the next morning, we were all up coffee’d and ready to hit the road.
3-9-24 Leon
Because the sweltering heat was going to continue for the foreseeable future, John wanted to drive through Leon to get his air conditioning repaired. After stopping at 3 different places, we were referred to the perfect air conditioning repair shop #RefrigeracionTotal. Hery Ramirez (herycalala154@gmail.com). Their team of three mechanics painstakingly removed the Defender condenser, go it soldered and replaced it with fresh freon. After about 4 hours, we were good to go! Air conditioning never, ever, ever felt so good! After a late large chicken lunch, we headed toward Miramar to check out the beach. The only downside was that the factory for Fleur de Cana was ~75 miles (or a full day when converted into Nicaraguan drive time) away in the opposite direction. So in an odd way Edel’s AC breaking down saved Matt probably $300 in all kinds of rum at the factory.
3-9-24 Surf Camp Sirena Surf Lodge, Miramar Nicaragua
It was late when we got to Miramar. Miramar was highly unusual with one small Main Street and all of the houses, hotels and locals behind walls. There were very few people walking around and unlike most beach towns you couldn’t see the ocean. We drove around and called/stopped at a few of the available hotels but none were available. Tracy was determined to find a place for us to stay and she walked to two different spots and was referred to Sirena’s Surf Camp down the road. She found the perfect lodge for us to stay. It was owned by an American surfer who married a local and converted a house into a surfing lodge. The decor was hip, causal and inviting and each room had icy cold air-conditioning. We hung out with a 21 year old surf instructor that night after taking a cool shower and had cocktails. We slept for 8 hours and had a wonderful Nicaraguan family style breakfast with everyone the next morning. Unbeknownst to us, the awesome-tasting oatmeal pancakes that were served caused Matt and Roz some stomach distress for next couple of days (maybe don’t eat 10 at a sitting??). We received some suggested places to stay while in Nicaragua and we set off early the next morning to explore.
3/10 Laguna de Apoyo
Camped near Crater Lake
The heat and humidity hit all of us like a ton of bricks. While we knew this weather pattern was a reality of heading into Central America during the dry season – and we had been expecting it for a while – it still packed a wallop and we were looking for some relief. That relief came in the form of a volcanic lake. We arrived on a Sunday and there were plenty of locals enjoying the deep blue cool waters of Laguna de Apoyo. It’s a nature reserve and deep volcanic lake known for its clear cool water, snorkeling and scuba diving and beauty, It was formed over 23,000 years ago and was declared a protected area as early as 1991. We ate lunch, waited for some of the locals to clear out and made our move…setting up camp and enjoying the lake well into the late afternoon. In the morning, we were greeted by all types of monkeys who were enjoying eating the flowers and fruits from nearby trees.
There were other places we wanted to see in Nicaragua, but the high winds and smoke from local fires put a damper on those plans. We drove by Ometepe, an island in a lake with 2 volcanos and cool places to camp, but no one was putting this rig on a ferry when the wind swept waves were 4′ high on the lake. So we headed to Costa Rica.
Nicaragua to Costa Rica Border Crossing
This crossing was a bit more challenging. With some guidance from iOverlander, we had a vague idea of what we needed to do and where we needed to go. Two things caused us great consternation. Just prior to us pulling into the border crossing a group of rental overlanders drove in. There were about 20 people between 6-7 vehicles and the “leader” of the group seemed to think the world revolved around them. He had all of the border agents flustered which caused unnecessary delays for others. Further, a border guard failed to give us a form when we first entered so we stood in line for processing but had to go back outside and walk a half mile to the original border entrance to pick up the form. We were told that we needed to have some of our baggage scanned but ultimately that never happened. We needed to buy auto insurance on the Costa Rican side which took much longer than necessary, but we didn’t care because there was air conditioning. Ahhh
See you in the Costa Rica section!
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