Days 3-4

After a few nights and days on the road, Audrey and I were ready for some settling down, some relaxation, some swimming, and some peace.  Fortunately we found it all here at Playa Hermosa.  

Our hotel costs $50 per night, and has a king size bed, bathroom, and private hammock with an ocean view.  The hotel itself is post and beam construction, utilizing locally harvested logs and on site milled timbers.  There are eight rooms, each with the same accomodations and differing views.  We opted for the cheapest version, which has proven thus far to be a fantastic room regarless of view. We are sharing it with a`few American couples of different vintages, a young Swedish couple, a young German couple, a young French couple, and a couple Euorpean guys that may or may not be a couple.  Not a lot of conversation amongst guests other than friendly greetings, I think everyone is here for the same reasons we are, peace, reflection, sun, water, and relaxation. 

The walk to the ocean hangout area is approximately 40 yards via a small rock and concrete pathway.  The trees provide sound shade, and there are many tables, hammocks, and loungy type chairs for relaxation.  Another 60 yards at high tide will bring you to the warm, clear, ocean and a vast 1.3 mile long clean sandy beach.  Audrey and I agree, it is the best swimming beach we have ever encountered.  

The beach is private, reserved for hotel guests only, but the general public can pay $3 to come hang at playa hermosa.  I would estimate that 100 or so people come from elsewhere to enjoy the sand and surf, and other accomodations provided, which include a restraunt with a basic menu, and a bar with rum drinks and 2 kinds of Nicaraguan beer. Both the restraunt and bar sit right at the treeline before the beach, so it is a very relaxing place to have lunch and dinner.  The prices are reasonable, 2 burgers with fries and 6 beers cost just over 500 cordobas, or around $20. 

Yesterday we swam and soaked it all in.  Audrey covered most of that.

Today we took it a step further, and rented a boogie board to play with in the surf, for 224 cordobas.  The surf is beginner sized, pleasant, and very forgiving, with consistent breaks, and lots of room for everyone to play.  There are surf lessons offered here, so regularly one can watch new surfers get aquainted with the balance associated with the sport.  It offers some good entertainment.  There are also a few surfers with some talent, which is fun to watch as well.  Occasionally, someone rides by on a horse, or a motorcycle, but thats about it.  Good food, good beer, and not enought water for audreys liking, but overall, relaxation is starting to settle in all around us.  We have five more nights here, so you will probably read about more of the same, unless Audrey and my deep philosophical conversations make thier way into the blog.

Tomorrow we are headed into San Juan del Sur for a supply run, (water, snacks, juice, rum, iphone charger cable) and then we will be back into full relax mode.  Love to all out there, we miss you all and wish you were here.