To the Beach!

Last week Sarah and I realized that the best way to enjoy smoggy, noisy Managua was to get out of it as often as possible. While I have found some charms in a city about which guidebooks only say things like, “the best thing about Managua is that there’s lots of cool things surrounding it,” or “Managua is tolerable if you absolutely can’t avoid it,” the real beauty of Nicaragua lies beyond, and Nicaraguans are eager to tell visitors about everything their country has to offer. So last weekend we went to Las Peñitas, a laid-back beach town on the Pacific coast. The three-leg bus journey was an adventure in itself and raised my confidence in my ability to get around the city (I didn’t get lost, thankyouverymuch). The waves there were some of the largest I had ever seen, as the beach was very steep and made for some great curls. I spent hours bodysurfing and just trying to stay on my feet in the midst of monstrous currents. The water was refreshing after four hours of straight sweating on the buses.

We stayed the night in a hostel right on the beach which was full of backpackers and locals alike. I met a guy from Greenlake, Seattle! While I generally try to avoid places where other Americans congregate, it is fun to meet other travelers, exchange advice, and enjoy the shared sense of adventure and struggle that comes from traveling in another country. We also met a local guy named Fiel who hung out with us for awhile and showed us where to go dancing and took us to a small fish stand at the end of the beach where we ate a delicious and cheap fish dinner. It wasn’t really a restaurant and I wouldn’t have even known it was there if he hadn’t been with us because the power was out and there was simply one couple cooking fish under a tarp. We sat down at one of the two tables and, with the help of a flashlight and some candles, ate a somewhat unconventional but tasty dinner with stray dogs yelping at our sides.

Back in Managua, we have one week left of our intensive Spanish class (which turns out to be not so intense) and then we’ll start regular school at the UNAN. In the meantime, I’ll keep busy discovering things to enjoy about Managua!