Goodbye Nicaragua

The military that does local check-ins showed up at our anchored boat yesterday just as we were getting ready to go ashore to check-in at San Juan del Sur (Nicaragua). He handled it very quickly and there was no charge. Then we had to go ashore to visit the Port Captain to hand over our national Zarpe. And before we left today for Costa Rica, we had to visit the Port Captain once more to get our international Zarpe (permit to exit to another country).

Hello San Juan del Sur

We spent yesterday catching up on the internet and wandering around this cute town. There is no garbage evident on the streets and bright colours were everywhere. For the first time cruising down the coast, Jordan noticed a hint of Caribbean architecture with features like large verandas, the main floor stilted off the ground, big shuttered windows, wood siding, and tin roofs.

We hired a very amiable taxi driver to take us to Rivas, about 20 km away, as we needed to refill our propane tank. Here, they don't call it propane - they call it gas. And we also wanted to see the huge mercado and buy some more fruits and veggies (I know, we go through a lot - but they are so fresh and so good!) The mercado was indeed huge and very colourful and busy...

Take your pick, whatever you want

and the heterogeneous tiles inlaid in the sidewalks were very striking...

Horse-drawn carts were everywhere to move around the products and people. And cars and buses were always honking their horns to warn pedestrians that they were behind them. The currency in Nicaragua is Córdobas (today, approximately 22 Córdobas equals 1 US dollar). On our way back to San Juan del Sur, Jordan asked our taxi driver if he would take us up the steep hill to see the statue of Jesus (and great view from the top of the hill). It's a fairly new statue, only a couple of years old, and VERY tall at 250 meters. Quite impressive.

Can you see a very tiny Jordan between the upper & lower levels?

At San Juan del Sur, the beach sand is so very fine, almost like dust! And it is very windy, making it cooler but also a rolly anchorage and wet dinghy rides. The wind also carries the fine beach sand into the boat.

We picked up our international Zarpe at 17:00 today and are off to Costa Rica!