Paradise

Just to the north and to the south of San Juan are three perfect crescent shaped beaches that are literally some of the most beautiful unspolied places we´ve ever visited.  Because of the proximity to Lago de Nicaragua, there are nearly constant offshore breezes which ease the tropical mugginess and make things quite refreshing.  It also creates hollow fast waves that barrel.  We split a cab with Matt and were on our way north to Playa Maderas, the site of the recent Central American surf competition.

The boys became quickly amused playing in and around the waist deep tidal pools and Matt and I headed out to the water and had the waves pretty well to ourselves.  The landscape is almost prehistoric looking here - like the scene at the end of Planet of the Apes when Charlton Heston realizes it was Earth all along.  In the distance we could see the mountains of Santa Rosa National Park in Costa Rica - an untouched wilderness area accessible only by 4 X 4 or boat. 
It was so good, that we didn´t really even take many pictures - so the few we did take, don´t do it justice.  Fear not, we´re going  back, and next time for a while.  

By the afternoon, truckloads of backpackers arrived with the learn to surf schools and the wave became pretty crowded, but we still had lots of fun as it is challenge to ride this spot as you need to get up immediately or get slammed.     
 

 Matt is great with our kids.  Since we started doing the hostel thing in Guatemala, there is usually one or two people at our hostel who take to our kids and keep them happy.  Logan loves cruising around checking out what people are doing asking questions, or telling stories that involve getting on a chicken bus and going to a market, for example. 


After heading back into town, we bumped in Toki, from Japan, who we´d met with in El Salvador also.  We spent the rest of the afternoon-evening on the balcony enjoying the sunset views and people watching.