Nicaragua Day 7: Travel from Ometepe Island to San Juan Del Sur

Last Monday we traveled from Canada to Nicaragua, and today we traveled from Ometepe to San Juan Del Sur. We have come so far! At the start of our travel day we bought crackers and a coke from a local grocery store, caught the ferry no problem and did not get hustled by any taxi drivers.

Matt and I split a plate of food for $3 from a stand at the beach, we cabbed it to the border of Rivas for $1 each and took a chicken bus to San Juan Del Sur for about $2 each. The bus was so full, but a man gave me a seat with Torre, and Matt got a place next to me, although he soon gave it up to a woman with a toddler when she got on the bus. The other mom and I talked a little bit before she got off, and Torre slept, and before too long we arrived. I was glad to be next to a window and to have our backpacks in the luggage racks above the seats, not stowed under the bus.

Our itinerary had us staying one more night on Ometepe, but the tourist attractions of the island are not a great fit for our family. There is lots of hiking to do, motorcycle rentals, swimming and boating, wildlife tours, but many last for several hours at a time or go late at night, and with Torre along we didn’t want to sign up and invest money in activities we very well might have to cancel. The climate and relaxed island atmosphere were definitely enjoyable, but after two nights we were ready to move on and see what else Nicaragua had to offer us.

When we arrived in San Juan Del Sur we didn’t have a hostel reservation, and the place we had reserved for the next several days was completely booked, so we had a small adventure finding lodging. Following recommendations from the receptionist at Hostel Esperanza (where we had booked 5 nights to begin Tuesday) we looked at two nearby hostels and the second one had a suitable room available. The first room we saw there was fine, except there was a big fluffy cat on the bed looking like he owned the place. The owner told off his employee and showed us the room next door, which had bright orange walls and no cats. Also, this view (to which the picture does no justice!)

We took it.

*addendum* We did in fact eat dinner that night at a restaurant on the beach, which was very delicious but much more expensive than Matt remembered from his visit to San Juan Del Sur 5 years ago. Then we came home and crashed to bed.