DAY 3

Hola readers. This post is post-dated for reasons that will be revealed later.

We decided to pack up and try a new spot today and head Northwest past the city of Leon to get to a 'Surf Lodge' we read about on a flyer. The Surfing Turtle Lodge was our destination and our journey for the day would include heading Northwest through the city of Leon, through the beach town of Poneloya, and onto a small island called Isla Los Brasliles where we were hoping to get some surfing under our belt.

We were able to check bus schedules leaving Managua online, which was actually pretty great. After some delicious leftovers from the night before, we packed up and hailed a cab to UCA, the Universidad de CentroAmerica, where the buses take off (15(C) a person). There is a choice between a chicken bus (school bus style, a little scrappy, but it works), and a 'microbus' (smaller than a bus and larger than a van, seats about 11 people). We went with the Microbus because it gets you there a bit faster and isn't a whole lot more expensive (40 cordobas vs. 20 cordobas). Got to Leon, in the Subtiava market square, where we grabbed a cab right off the bus to go a few more blocks to the El Mercadito where we would then catch a chicken bus to Poneloya. The cabbie charged us about 20(C) per person, uggghh.

Off we went, finally, to the end of the line in Poneloya. It was looking nice - beachside, beautiful ocean where we got off. By now we were really hot and hungry, so we sat down at the first beachside eatery we saw. Really charming and hospitable, we grabbed a table under the rickety thatched hut, ordered some delicious fried chicken and fried fish, and I knocked back a few beers to sweeten the deal. This place is just down the path(literally, a path) from where we needed to grab our boat to the island, so we enjoy the scenery and watch the locals enjoy the water with a humorous sprinkling of animals occupying the same beach.

After some quick directions, we walk down the path and find the small fishing boat to the island, throw our bags in, and take off for the very very short ride to the island. I loved that every boat had a slow leak that equired scooping buckets of water out before every ride, haha.

At the island we were directed to follow a set of arrows to FINALLY end up at the lodge. Cool. Wait...nope. I don't mind walking or hiking, but as you're probably bored to tears with this post, we were even more anxious to just get there. After about 1.5miles of unexpected walking through a pretty island forest, we were boiling hot. Its all part of the adventure, right? We show up and its a gorgeous spot! It seems a bit quiet, though. Turns out we we were the only guests, accompanied only by a few staff members. While checking in, we are also presented with an interesting twist. This beautiful brand new lodge is pretty much brand new and all of the amenities and activities advertised on the flyers and website are not yet available. By amenities, I mean any electricity at all, internet, or phone service. Yikes! We are thick skinned gals that camp and such, but we were not expecting this! Especially when you're paying the price for a room that should have all this. Ah well, we decided to stay at our private beach paradise and give it a shot a few nights, at least for the surfing.

Our room was nice, with an awesome view. Everything here is brand new, too. We chose a private room, wich had plenty of room, a nice new bed, and curtains covering our screen windows and door. We took a surf board out and ran down to the beach before sunset to pretend we knew what we were doing. The waves look pretty great for begginers and the water temp is perfect. After several unsuccesfull attempts, we called it quits and grabbed a beer in the pitch black night up by the 'Bar' (pretty much just a table at this point, haha).

At some point I needed to run up to the room for something and for some reason our keys aren't working... awesome. I keep trying, the staff shows up one by one to try, Anna tries. Nothing. We were already frustrated, so this kind of ticked us off. Finally, they call the owner and get permission to cut the screen door to open it from the inside. Now, we may be the only guests, but it isn't the best feeling to have an easily accesible room, espcially one near the water where you worry mosquitoes will invade (at least we don't have lights inside). Eeesh, what next, honestly.

They give us a lantern for light and we try to lay out and check out the beautiful stars from our private beach, but the mosquitos are too vicious to even stay in the dark at this point, so we carfully make our way upstairs to our room. I think Anna got about 50 bites just on the trip up the stairs, poor thing. I think the surfing lifted our spirits quite a bit, but we were both still kind of uneasy about the lack of pretty much everything at this place and a door we can't lock. Falling asleep to only the sound of the ocean crashing onshore was pretty great in my book, though. Tomorrow we'll probably stay one more night and try to make the best of our private island accomodations.

Buenas Noches!