From La Fortuna we took a five hour bus to the Nicaraguan border. This was the worst bus we have had so far – literally just an old school bus with rock hard seats and extremely minimal leg room (even for me). The border was rather confusing. Women were yelling at us to go pay some departure tax but no one was in any sort of official clothing so you are constantly in doubt if you’re being scammed. We weren’t however, and after a very frustrating process we were walking across a bridge to Nicaragua. We jumped on a bus and finally got to San Juan Del Sur. SJDS as the locals call it, is a very touristy beach side town that has become a sort of must-do for travellers in Nicaragua. I wasn’t a massive fan though; the beach isn’t that great and like I said, there are just heaps of tourists there.

We had a yummy lunch at a place called Barrio Cafe and emailed our hostel to come and pick us up. We had chosen Porta Do Sol, which was a hostel about 5 minutes drive from the centre of SJDS and they provide free shuttles at anytime. The price of the private double rooms rivalled the dorms in SJDS, it was quiet, and it was a little closer to other beaches we wanted to explore. The service at Porta Do Sol was fantastic. They only just opened and were clearly eager to please, giving us an immediate upgrade. Which wasn’t so surprising…seeing as we were the only ones there. The main weird thing was that everyday we were there all the staff had their families there; kids playing in the pool, parents drinking on the poolside tables. It made us feel like we were the ones who shouldn’t be there and was really unprofessional, I thought. After talking to some people from other hostels this appeared to be something a lot of hostel operators did. hmmm. Though maybe when there are more than just two people, it doesn’t matter quite so much.

On the day we arrived, the lovely woman in charge excitedly told us about a ‘Fire and Ice’ party they were having at the hostel the next day. The tacky name alone was enough to get those warning bells going. (Sorry, but come on.) Plus, judging by the staff and the fact that the rest of the place was completely dead, we anticipated a very awkward affair – and we weren’t wrong. We came back from the beach to find music literally louder than most concerts I have been to blaring out towards a completely empty pool. There were massive chilly bins of Smirnoff, TWO TVs showing Smirnoff advertising (so weird), a slip and slide which was a piece of tarpaulin on the TILES around the pool, about seven staff…and no people. Not one. This is 3 hours after the advertised kick-off time. Scott and I pretty much ran to our room and didn’t know what the hell to do. We decided to go out and have one drink. We had a beer and a Gin and Soda (I said vodka soda but they must have just been too busy to hear me…) and watched in awkward sadness as the lovely boss looked at her failed party so dejectedly it made me want to hug her. And then, the unexpected happened. A truck turned up and out came about 10 Aussies and a drunken Kiwi. After them followed another truck with another 8 people. It wasn’t much, but it was enough. Scott and I had a few more drinks. I felt very 28, as my main concern was all the glass by the pool and that someone was 100% going to die on that slip and slide – (we later learnt one of the guys chipped his tooth off). We then escaped into town. Fair to say the weirdest party yet.

I’m not entirely sure if I would recommend Porta Do Sol to someone looking to meet people or party. They’ve got all the ingredients but still haven’t sorted out how to get it right yet. But, if you want a really well priced, (mostly) chill place with a really good pool – it’s a goodie.

We stayed here for three nights and our days in SJDS consisted of spending a day at Hermosa Beach (not that amazing but nice to be away from the crowds), strolling the little shops in SJDS, and chilling at our hostel. We also took part in Sunday Funday. It takes place…on a Sunday… and you pay USD$30 to get entry and drinks specials at three of the best hostels in town. Quite expensive for what it was. Luckily Scott and I met a lovely South African couple right at the beginning so we had some friends. The day was exactly what you imagine, lot of tourists dancing, drinking, pashing in pools. We met a guy from Torbay and one who went to Westlake which was funny. And the day ended at the Naked Tiger Hostel which had a BBQ going and beautiful views of the sunsetting over SJDS. People were telling us how massive our day/night was going to be, but we peaked around 6pm and were in bed with some tacos by 9pm, and bright-eyed and bushy tailed the next day. Go us.

The next morning we took a short ride to Playa Maderas, a really cool beach about 25 minutes north of SJDS. We were booked into a relatively new place called Seven Arrows. There weren’t a lot of reviews but the ones they had were good so we gave it a go. After an extremely sweaty uphill walk, we reached the accommodation and promptly had our breaths taken away. The view from Seven Arrows is insane; completely unobstructed and absolutely stunning. The house itself is awesome with massive open spaces, styly spacious rooms, comfy beds, hammocks everywhere…and the view!!! The location is also great as it allows for a lot of wind to cool the whole place down. Once again we had the whole place to ourselves. The beach was a short (but creepy crawly) walk through the jungle, and I spent the day-and-a-half we had here drinking freshly squeezed pineapple juice and reading while watching Scott catch some waves. #greenroom. We spent the late afternoons back at Seven Arrows napping, drinking beers, reading, and generally just marvelling at the view. On our first night we had tacos and a burger down at the beach and on the second night we ventured to Hotel Hulakai for their $1 Taco Tuesday night.Seven Arrows was amazing, albeit a little pricey. If you come, make sure you get lots of supplies from the supermarkets in SJDS first because they don’t do lunch or dinner and any restaurant is a walk away. But yes, definitely recommended.