san juan del sur, nicaragua

14 - 21 May 2014

Oh hi! So todays our last magical day in Orquidea, the beautiful private villa that sits atop a deserted beach hill about forty mins drive from san juan del sur. I'm sitting in the millennium pool, listening to the waves below, basking in the sun and sipping a shandy whilst writing to you on my samsung tablet. Oh, don't believe me?  

Yeah, backpacking is really tough. 

The truth is that we had only planned to stay here for four special nights - given it was my birthday on the 16th and all - but due to a small surfing incident we were "stuck" here for an extra 3 nights. Shucks. So what was only meant to be a few days in paradise, quickly turned into a week. And an eventful week at that. I don't want to miss anything out so bear with me, this is going to be a long post... I'll split it into three sections: the highlights; the lowlight; and the birthday. Here goes!


The highlights

• This place, Orquidea. It's seriously special. It's in the middle of nowhere. And only has four guest rooms. It is basically made for watching sunsets and relaxing in hammocks or deck chairs with fresh coffee by morning or beers by afternoon. Some nights there were no other guests - just me, Damo and about 15 staff to wait on us! The food was amazing. Three course meals under the  stars every night. And the stars were impressive! There were also plenty of animals to keep us entertained - monkeys in the trees by the pool most nights, squirrels, ponies, kittens, a baby toucan, baby bunnies, puppies, the list goes on. It was totally rad. 
• Rob and Jess (hi guys!) were the greatest. We liked them a lot. Not just because they were super lovely and killer cards and pool players. Or because they let us crash their wedding anniversary celebrations and left me oreos when they departed. But because I will forever be in their debt for the help they gave us the day of Damo's surf accident. They went above and beyond, from using their rashies to stop Damo's leg bleeding (having only met us about 12 hours earlier!), to sacrificing their nice hire car (and holiday day) to rally drive dirt roads in search of a hospital. They totally saved us. And hopefully we'll see them in Canada in a few months time! 
• We saw a comet! It was the best!
• The border crossing out of costa rica and into nicaragua deserves a mention. Never seen so many trucks trying to get out of somewhere before. It was a happening border that's for sure. 

The lowlight 

• So, we had a big lowlight. It happened on thursday 15 may. The day started off like any other. We awoke in paradise and had big hopes for the day ahead, my last day in my 20s, eek! Damo had sold his FireWire surfboard just 24 hours earlier, but wasn't quite ready to ditch the surfing habit yet. We hired him a board, just for one day. That was all. It was bigger and floatier than he would've liked. But it didn't matter, he was just itching to get into the pumping waves one last time! 
• The six of us hotel guests went down to the beach in Robs car. The beach was deserted as expected. Damo scurried off into the water while the rest of us played around on shore and in the whitewash. Damo got some fun waves. But about an hour into it, I noticed him paddling in. (It was still an hour til lunch so this seemed out of character for my eager surfer boy!) He was waving at me. I was having fun, so I waved back. He waved more frantically. I ran, faster then faster, to meet him in the water. "What's wrong?!" "I've cut my leg on the fin. Is it bad?!" "Yes, wait on the sand!". 
• It all got a bit messy from here on. His shorts were torn. Blood everywhere. His leg sliced open. His flesh hanging out. I ran to get Rob and the five of us jumped into action. Swiftly the shorts came off (don't think either of us have ever been grateful for speedos before!), tied off the leg, carried him across the rocks to the car, lay him face down in the back of the car, abandoned the others and raced up the hill to the hotel to ask for the nearest hospital.
• The hotel were awesome. They gave us one of their staff, Joseph, to direct us into Rivas and to translate for us. Joseph sat up front with Rob, our heroic driver, and I sat on the car floor behind Rob, holding Damo still on the seat as Rob navigated his way for an hour along the dirt roads of Nicaragua in his once nice clean hire car.
• We spent the next TWO increasingly frantic / stressful / worrying hours racing from doctor to specialist to clinic to hospital back to specialist to clinic, dragging Damo in and out of the car, constantly demanding answers - where is the doctor? i dont understand! whats he saying? is damo going to be okay? what is that he's about to inject? no! I thought he said the specialist knew we were coming! lets go somewhere else. he is NOT getting it done here. get the hotel on the phone, i want to speak to the owner about this! Joseph, tell him Damo says he can feel that, he needs more painkillers. whats he doing now? what did he say? is that bad? and so on - before we eventually found a guy and a place that was clean and professional enough to tend to him. (The lowest lowlight would have to be the stop we made at the Rivas emergency hospital. Yep. Picture a room with hanging plastic tarpolans for walls. A caving in roof. Two emergency beds covered in blood stains. Medical equipment everywhere. Locals sitting on the floor awaiting attention. No doctors in sight. Thanks, but no thanks. Poor Damo would have come out with more than just a few badly done stitches!)
• The place we got it done at was in a small room. Out the back off a hall. Behind a pharmacy. At a dirt square that's usually a market. It looked like the most legit place we'd seen all day. (Especially the mercurochrome in a coke bottle) It was happening here, this is it. Finally.
• Damo, still barefoot and in his speedos, finally received five internal stitches to his muscles (to get his butt back down to his thigh) and six external stitches to the skin. As well as doctors orders not to go swimming in our fancy pool or the surf again for three whole weeks, and to lay off the booze whilst on antibiotics.
• It was a hellish afternoon, but we got so lucky in so many ways. Lucky it didn't get an artery or tendon or worse, his face or stomach. Lucky we had a translator and Robs car. Lucky we eventually found that specialist. Lucky we weren't staying at a hostel where it could've got infected after. Lucky, lucky, lucky! And the best news is that now five days later, his wound is healing really well. Nurse Katherine strikes again! :)

The birthday

• So, I'm now THIRTY. Woah. And what better way to cross into the next decade than in Nicaragua. Damo, injured and all, totally spoiled me here. Not only did he find this pretty place, he also organised a full day of birthday surprises, including: a brekkie pancake with candles and singing (not him serenading solo thank goodness!); a private yoga class; a couples massage; harbourside lunch; (we were then meant to do Stand Up Paddleboarding but given Damo's little wound, I instead spent the afternoon with) beers in the pool; sundowners on the deck; a candlelit three course dinner under the stars; a specially brought in bottle of bubbles (we haven't had bubbles in months so you can imagine my excitement!); a cake and more singing and then, the piece de resistance, a piñata party! It was such fun. Such a special birthday, made even more special by the simple fact that (after the day priors' medical adventures) Damo was there with me for it. Best.

The Summary

Weather: Perfect. Hot and cloudless everyday. Couple of cool lightening shows and starry starry nights. 
Surf: Cruelly, the surf is actually pumping and crowdless here. What a kick in the pants. 
Food: Oh my we ate well here! Cooked breakfasts, huge salads and three course dinners. I can barely fit into my togs. Best meal was Junior's steak, amazing. And the ceviche and chocolate brownie follow in close second. 

Beverages: Wines, beers, and a lot of coca colas for Damo. 

People: I think it's pretty clear that we loved Robbie and Jess. The owners here were also very nice, and loved a chat. And the staff were absolutely gorgeous,  smiley and helpful youngsters.

Budget: Still to be determined pending the insurance outcome... we'll either be laughlingly under, or horrifyingly over. 

Overall: The day of the accident was the worst. But the following day, my birfday, was the best. And the days around both of those days were very chillaxing and in the most beautiful location. So, all things considered, I'd say we had a great time in san juan del sur. 

This arvo we make our way to Granada, looking forward to our first city stop and to checking out some volcanoes.

Until then, much love,
Kath (and dangerous Damo)


The digs

5pm = beers and deck chairs.

Delicious pancakes with bacon and eggs every morning. Yes puppy, the maple kind. 

The owners granddaughter and her patient kitten George. 

Gato. The cato.

"Aw, baby squeel". 

Another day in paradise! 

Time to go beardy.

Thank goodness the chops didn't stay! 

Will never get enough of these sunsets.

Celebrating Rob and Jess' 2 year wedding anniversary. Check out our matching local singlets! The coolest. 

Hello puppy. 

My dancing dork.

We also crashed Rob and Jess' special anniversary lunch. Which was awesome cause they took us to the tastiest tapas joint and taught us about a drink that involves both beer AND margaritas. Woah.

Checking out the local baseball game. 

Tiny George. 

A rather exciting border crossing on foot from costa Rica to nicaragua. 

Well that makes sense - you chop out at the border but then have to walk about 500ms back into costa rica to pay the costa rican exit fee, then back to the border to get out. Got it. 

Not competitive or anything but I beat Damo in pool.

Some good cow dodging by Robbie. 

Cards. Watch your back, the cats here are good at rummy.

Gato and Damo do sundowners. 

More cards. 

The last of seven dinners under the stars. 

Why so surprised?  I get the chocolate brownie and ice cream every night.

The accident (rated M)

Brave Damo still in his surfing kit in the back of Robs car.

Part of the slice. Robbie's rashie taking one for the team.

Him face down. Me on the floor next to him.

Finally, a clean room and a capable looking doctor. Lets do this! Anesthetic time.

Got a good inch deep and five across. 

Spirits are high after the 5 internal stitches are sorted!

Our valient heros: Robbie, driver and my advisor, the humourless doc and our navigator and translator, Joseph. 

Final touches. He liked to pull those strings tight!

Job done. And an awesome one at that. 

These two carried Damo in and out of hospitals all day! One last time,  just for laughs. 

The plan for recovery. Thanks to yours truly, nurse Katherine, it has been executed to a tee, time charts and all.

And with his little cushion, he can now sit just about anywhere! 

The 3 oh

Kicked things off with a birthday pancake. Yep, only four this year!

Pretty glad to have this guy with me after yesterdays medical adventure. 

Harborside lunch! Me, Damo and Damo's butt cushion. 

Bubbles! Damo got me bubbles! And dinner under the stars. 

And cake! Accompanied by more singing and just three candles this time. Benjamin Button styles.

Birthdays don't get much better than this. 

Or do they?! Piñata party, yes please! 

Got a leg!

Damo showed me up and got the rest of the thing down. Even with his injury. Gah.

Quick, fetch all the sweets! 

George, napping through my party. 

The survivors. Rob, Jess, Tristan,  Chris, Damo and moi. Seriously, this place is where survivor is filmed. And, just quietly, this years cast and crew will be arriving here tomorrow. Shhh. Top secret.

Birthday sunset. 

Damo organised a private yoga class for the two of us! Unfortunately he couldn't join me (given his little leg graze) but luckily Jess made the perfect substitute. Damo joined for the massage after though. Bliss.  

More beers in the pool!

A few snippet of my last ditch attempt at a30 before list!