Surfing, Suds, and Semana Santa in San Juan

We spent the last week in San Juan Del Sur (SJDS). It's a small surf town very close to the border of Costa Rica and (like most surf towns) is also know to be a good time.

We arrived last Friday on a shuttle from Leon and did some exploring. Saturday was my birthday, so naturally we had a few Toña and celebrated. But the real celebration happened on Sunday. Every Sunday, a group of hostels hosts a Sunday Funday pool crawl where you move between several pool bars throughout the day. It was a blast. My favourite stop was likely Naked Tiger where we had a wicked view of the sunset over the city and the ocean. It was amazing.

After a recovery day on Monday, we took a couple days to surf and enjoy the beach. We surfed at Playa Hermosa as it's not too busy, but still a beautiful spot. Surfing was a blast and we were actually catching breaks by the end so it felt like we were doing something right - but I'm generally pretty happy just being in the water.

It was also a super cool time to be in SJDS as they are gearing up for Semana Santa (Holy Week) celebrations. The whole week the Main Street got busier and busier and the stages and bar set ups got more and more elaborate. Interestingly, the tourists also got fewer and fewer as it is very much a party for the locals. It was kinda cool to watch all the gringos flee out of town and the locals take over for a party. We were repeatedly warned not to take money or your phone out because there will be people looking to take it, but realistically I think that is just life outside of the tourist bubble in many places.

Unfortunately, we only got to see the first real day of the party. We did get a bit of a taste (literally) of some local traditions though. The people that ran our hostel (Javier's House) made a big pot of fish soup that we tasted. It was pretty strong and fishy but we had a few gulps before heading out for one last rip around town to catch up with some (new and old) friends. Now it's off to Managua to catch our flight tomorrow. Sadly, these three weeks have flown by and now it's time for us to fly home as well.