SAN JUAN DEL SUR, NICARAGUA—WOW WHAT A DAY!

Thursday, January 9, 2020

Emerald Princess

86F, sunny

This is another balcony blog and right now I can see one of the largest statues of Jesus Christ in the world. But more on that later!

This photo of the statue of Jesus Christ from the beach

Early this morning we boarded a water shuttle with Lawrence and Donna for a ride to the “thriving beach town,” San Juan del Sur, population 7800. 

Water Shuttle from Emerald Princess

One of Donna’s friends, Cara, from Wisconsin, has lived in this port for 6 years and she and her husband John met us at the dock and treated us to the most wonderful day. 

Our first stop was a beach bar for coffee (strong if you like it black).  It turns out that John was raised in Bradford, PA, and his aunt owns the Pour House Pub in Waterford, PA!  My brother lives in Waterford!

From this beach side view of the Emerald Princess, we could see shrimp boats. John also pointed out that the fishing boats go out for mahi mahi and marlin. He gave us a quick rundown on the civil unrest in Nicaragua in 2018 that did not affect this port city too much. Many people (Americans and Canadians) moved out of the area, but John and Cara stayed the course.  

They can live on $1000/month—their home has two bedrooms, bath, small kitchen (propane stove, apartment sized refrigerator--$46o/month), and an outdoor living area that they love. Their cable TV, internet, and phone bills total about $60/month, electricity about $30/month. I tried to listen well, but I may not be totally accurate with the figures, but the bottom line is they live comfortably. And they have a maid.  They are in their mid-50s and retired. Their Toyota truck uses diesel fuel, about $3+ per gallon, and it gets over 50/mpg. They walk to the beach everyday for coffee and look for beach glass (their home is very near the town center) and Cara makes jewelry as a hobby.   They visit the U.S. about twice a year to visit family. This would be a lifestyle to reflect upon!  Airfare out of nearby Costa Rica is very very reasonable.

From this bar we walked to Cara’s favorite beach to look for beach glass, but we only found a few pieces. I did find some rocks for my favorite brother.

As we walked to their truck, John pointed out a statue of Mark Twain, who visited this port in 1866 on his way from San Francisco to New York City.  

John drove us to the Christ of Mercy (Mirador del Cristo de la Misericordia) statue, on very windy steep roads, just a little reminiscent of our long ago drive to Mount Washington in New Hampshire. From the parking lot, we walked 95 steps straight up, hanging onto the guard rail for dear life. Thank goodness TK and I go the gym, because we were not out of breath upon arrival!  The statue itself is 85 ft. tall, and I believe it stands about 440 ft above the sea.

Christ of Mercy

Janie climbed up a little more

Emerald Princess from the statue of Jesus Christ

Cove as seen from the statue

John, TK, and Lawrence climbed up too

Just a glimpse at how steep the hill was

Walking down was not much easier, but we obviously made it. Back in the truck (by the way, Lawrence and Cara rode in the truck bed), we drove almost an hour to the site of four seasons of CBS’ Survivor—Seasons 21, 22, 29, and 30: Survivor: Nicaragua, Survivor: Redemption Island, Survivor San Juan del Sur, and Survivor: Worlds Apart.  Apparently, the site was a great one for the show and they did a lot for the area. John said Jeff Probst had a helicopter ride to the site and back to his resort every day. The crew stayed at other area resorts.

We passed many black termite nests in trees alongside the road. Average size was about 18 inches by 20 inches-they were mostly oval or round shaped. Termites are considered a “blessing”—they only eat dry old wood and turn it into compost. Also, monkeys and other animals eat termites, they are part of the food chain.

Termite nest along the road

Playa Hermosa Eco Resort is probably one of the most beautiful beaches we have ever seen—large in scope, soft sand, hardly anyone there, a bar-restaurant, attentive waiters, a nice breeze (perhaps more like a heavy wind), and warm water! Some of the building materials were left by Survivor to make this restaurant area and beach.

Playa Hermosa/the area Survivor was filmed in

From Playa Hernosa

TK, Janie, John, Cara, Donna, Lawrence at Playa Hermosa, Survivors!

We reluctantly left the beach after about two hours to do a little shopping in town and then have a Coke Zero on the top deck of Henry’s Iguana, one of John and Cara’s favorite spots. 

Downtown street in San Juan del Sur

Henry's Iguana Bar

TK and Janie

Lawrence and Donna

Not long after that we headed to the water shuttle back to the Emerald, just in time to prepare for dinner—and we relived the day with Donna and Lawrence! Now we are very tired and must awake early tomorrow for our tour in Puntarenas, Costa Rica!