I couldn't sleep for some reason and woke up at 6AM. I showered and headed out to get breakfast. I had pancakes (more crepe-like which made me miss my dads big pancakes) and peanut butter! We were all on the road by 8 to catch the ferry to go back to Rivas. Wondering how much this ferry cost I checked my ticket and found out it was cost 60 Cordobas ($2.75) to ride the ferry one-way.
Random note---plantain chips are much better with ketchup (salsa de tomate).
The ferry was a lot less packed this time and I didn't have to push my way through to get on which was a relief. This time I sat on the top of the ferry where I could enjoy the view and the sunshine. It was a lot more refreshing than being stuck inside on the second floor like last time. I however was a bit board after the first half hour and decided to count all the bites (mosquito, spider, any bug) on my legs. I had 54 one one and 44 on the other, along with 2 on my left arm, what totaled to 100 bites----yikes!! I think I had the record for the most in our group! The ride had less swaying and even enjoyed a nice nap. I was abruptly woken up by the boat's horn, meaning we were getting close to the port. After getting off the ferry, we found our bus and headed to Managua. It took about 2 hours to get to Managua and then another 35-40 minutes to San Juan del Sur, our last destination.
On the way into San Juan del Sur, Carlos decided to play DJ with his Ipod and played a few authentic cultural song and then moved into classic U.S. songs. We decided to rock out on the bus, belting out songs, playing air-guitars and drumming. We all were cracking up and enjoying every minute of our performance until we realized our professors was taping it--then we had to go all out for the camera!!
San Juan del Sur was on the Pacific Ocean, a very touristy, more developed place. There were many boats anchored just out from the beach. Our hotel (Hotel Casablanca) was right by the ocean---what a beautiful view from the lobby! Because we got there before noon only 2 of the 4 rooms were available so we just shared for the time being. We went to lunch which was at a restaurant just across the street which was ocean front seating. The restaurant called El Timon was where we ate for the next 2 days but I was not complaining it was delicious! For lunch, I had MahiMahi (which I usually don't like but it was excellently prepared) with shrimp in a light yellow sauce, large potato wedges, fruit punch (very typical, freshly squeezed fruit drink--even had pulp in it from the fruit), rice, and salad.
Each one of the meals we got had four courses--appetizer, soup or salad, entree, and dessert. The dessert at lunch was a ice cream drink--chocolate and vanilla ice cream, amaretto, Kahlua, and whip cream and chocolate sauce (I didn't really like it but everyone else seemed to enjoy it--even the 12 year old was served this drink and serving alcohol to any age was acceptable here I guess).
After lunch we all ran back to change into our bathing suits and hit the beach. Karen and I laid out for a bit. I took a nice little nap on my belly which was nice, however I was covered in sand because it was a bit windy!
After lying out for an hour or so, Karen and I then went to see if our room was ready and then move our suitcases. The hotel made cute little swans out of the towels they put on your bed which I thought was adorable. Then we went and explored the local neighborhood. We climbed a small hill by a bunch of homes and had chickens all around us. Karen said she would protect me so I felt somewhat safe, but they were just everywhere which made me really uncomfortable--both sides of the street, in front of me and behind me---I needed to get off that street quickly!
We continued on and shopped in a few street shops. We ended at the beach taking some jumpy pictures with the sun setting in the background. Before we knew it was time for dinner---I had a grilled seafood mix platter with shrimp, fish, calamari, and lobster. I really enjoyed the fish and shrimp but was never a fan of lobster or calamari anyway so I gave those up! I also has some seafood soup, rice, potato wedges and the dessert was an ice cream and fruit cup (never thought about putting watermelon, cantaloupe in ice cream but it was very tasty).
After dinner, I head back to shower and went out on the town with Alex and Karen. We started at bar with an open mic night. It was filled with mostly Canadians and one was singing about American assholes so we decided to leave. We started walking down the street and were stopped by two more Canadians (probably about 22-23 years old) and took us to the Iguana. This bar had two levels--the bottom was very relaxed with tables and a bar and the upstairs was more social and loud U.S. music (Aka a dance floor for us). One of the guys bought all of us a fire shot---which is exactly that---a shot of 151 lit on fire. The bar tender puts a straw in the shot and you have to suck it down. It was disgusting not going to lie. It tasted much like crude oil---ewwww! Alex even started choking after the shot--it was that awful!
We proceed to the second floor where they were playing all North American pop music and danced a bit. We decided to take a seat at a table that was there and the group of guys next to us decided one-by-one to sit in the "hot seat" (the one available seat at our table). They were all MBA Grad students. Dan was the first one and he was very attractive!! I danced with him a few times that night---he wanted to learn Salsa so I taught him what Carlos taught me and then he did a little swing with me--I think he had a few tricks up his sleeve although he played cool! Then Will came along--he was very funny and taught us the "virus"---dancing which starts in one leg and then you stop that leg and it moves to the other leg and then you stop that leg then it moves up the body and eventually takes over your entire body---I was dying he was hilarious! Then another guy sat down which the other girls thought was so attractive--I thought he was gay but the other two thought he was a model. Then the 4th guy came who was Indian and bought us all Vodka orange juices. They were such a fun group of guys. We even all created a soul train line and busted out our best moves! Since we were talking to these guys, we kind of lost the Canadians but they were socializing with a bunches groups too.
What a fun night! The bar was maybe 15 seconds from our hotel which was very convenient! We walked back and I was out within minutes!
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