We sped out of Managua and into the countryside with a local at the wheel. Our host, degenerate TJ, had arranged for a rented vehicle from a local. Less wealthy neighborhoods in the cities are crowded rows of cinder block, plywood, and corrugated metal.
The countryside features lots of the same, but with far less density. We passed fast food restaurants, new gas stations, roundabouts with impressive and surreal sculpture, absurdly decorated buses, and a long row of brand new power-generating wind turbines.
Roadside fruit stands, handmade furniture shops, and boutiques selling amazing ceramics are also common. The southwest coast of Nicaragua is a long, wide string of volcanoes. The endless fields of sugarcane and plantains, as well as the coffee and cacao further north, are growing in rich, volcanic soil. Arriving in late December, we saw Christmas decorations everywhere. La Semana Santa is a big deal in the almost-entirely Catholic nation. We wanted a little of the peril, so we arrived a few days after Christmas, a few days before New Years.
San Juan del Sur is nestled in a lovely, crescent-shaped port on the Pacific coast. The bars and restaurants along the beachfront are exactly what Managua needs on the lake β clean, pretty, bustling, and serving up a wide variety of food and beverages though at tourist prices.
Occasionally, a cruise ship arrives and floods the place with day-trippers, making the place feel like any beachside town in Florida. Speaking of the 19th century and boats, San Juan del Sur used to be on the trade and passenger route between the Atlantic and Pacific.
