Rio San Juan Series #7 of 11: Bamboo Camp to Yarlen’s Cousins’ House (Nica Nugget #73)

We slept in hammocks strung from bamboo. We slept under tarps to keep the rain off of us. I think I slept but I’m not sure. Juan Alberto Aguilar Gomez cooked a yummy egg breakfast over the open fire and then we packed up. He was leaving us today and Yarlen would guide us the rest of the way. Yarlen was going to have his work cut out for him. It was the start of day four on the river. With three days behind us, time wise, we were exactly half way through our six-days of paddling for this trip. …

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Rio San Juan Series #6 of 11: Jungle Hike Video, El Castillo to Bamboo Island Camp (Nica Nugget #72)

As promised in the Rio San Juan Series #5 of 11: El Castillo to Bamboo Island Camp (Nica Nugget #71), here’s a short video taken during our jungle hike. Here you can experience some of the jungle sounds (although feeling the sticky heat will be left totally up to you)…

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Rio San Juan Series #5 of 11: El Castillo to Bamboo Island Camp (Nica Nugget #71)

Today we saw a red poison dart frog, a green-and-black poison frog, a spider monkey and our first crocodile. Not to mention that we slept in hammocks on a bamboo island created by river debris around the remains of a stern wheeler once wrecked in the rapids. So, let’s begin… The day opened wet and rainy. It was rainy season after all. Lightening though could force us off the river. But we needn’t have worried. We only had eight miles to paddle and we’d be spending two hours hiking in the jungle. Juan Alberto Aguilar Gomez was in the stern …

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Rio San Juan Series #4 of 11: Juan’s Videos Sabalos to El Castillo (Nica Nugget #70)

As promised in Nica Nugget #69, here are the two short videos shot along this stretch by our lead guide Juan Alberto Aguilar Gomez. The first was taken in the calm stretch before El Castillo, showing JoAnne Stoltz and Eve Kohlman in the canoe, along with Juan’s daughter Andy at the stern, and John E Field and myself in our kayaks. The second was taken at the bottom of the rapid, El Diablo, in El Castillo. For a full description of that day as well as the photo video montage, please see Nica Nugget #69: Rio San Juan Series: #3 …

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Rio San Juan Series #3 of 11: Sábalos to El Castillo (Nica Nugget #69)

Our guide Juan Alberto Aguilar Gomez and his daughter Andy met us at our hotel in Sábalos the following misty morning. They live in El Castillo, ten miles down river, and had come up in Juan’s panga, pulling one of their three-seater fiberglass canoes behind. For the remainder of our river journey – five days and ninety-eight miles to go – instead of staying in their rented double sea kayak, Eve and JoAnne would be paddling this canoe down river, with a guide in the third seat at the stern. John and I would continue in our sea kayaks. Juan’s …

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Rio San Juan Series #2 of 11, San Carlos to Sábalos (Nica Nugget #68)

We had hoped to be on the river by 8:00 am but by the time we had our travel permits issued by the military, our Nicaraguan flags tied onto our boats and the rental kayak’s rudder repaired it was closer to 9 am when we launched from the port. Juan Alberto Aguilar Gomez, our guide, stayed behind to do some last minute shopping in the relatively thriving metropolis of San Carlos. Later he would carry Eve’s and JoAnne’s gear down river via the ferry panga to our hotel in Sábalos. The following morning he would be joining us with his …

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Rio San Juan Series #1 of 11: San Carlos (Nica Nugget #67)

There is so much to see in Nicaragua and so much to experience. Those of us who live in San Juan del Sur are occasionally lured outside of our beachside paradise. This series is an account of one such very recent trip with the hope that it will lure you too. The San Juan River which runs on the other side of the country, eastward for 125 miles (200km) from its source in Lake Nicaragua (Lago Cocibolca) along the border of Nicaragua and Costa Rica to the Caribbean Sea. Much of the river on the Nicaraguan side is bordered by …

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Morning Yoga Surprise: Nica Nugget #66

I do yoga every morning in my bedroom as soon as I get up. It stretches my back and loosens my creaky joints so that I can walk pain free. I’ve been doing it for years and highly recommend it. Until this morning, I’d only had one unpleasant morning yoga surprise and it took place in Baja Mexico where I was living two years ago. The house had cockroaches. Big cockroaches. They frequently made me jump in the middle of the night when they’d jump up at me from the drain in the bathroom sink. But I decided we had …

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South Beach Store: Nica Nugget #65

This morning as I was heading to the southern beaches with Eve Kohlman, we stopped at a corner store in Las Delicias (a neighborhood just south of town). The store was adorable, starting with the bright colors and the fountain out front. Inside there were cakes and flan in the cooler, pepperoni, tonka trucks, birthday candles, placemats and cutting boards. It’s a fully stocked grocery store with a scale for buying bulk rice and beans and a cooler with chicken. I was wandering the aisles with my mouth wide open. At the counter, I recognized Cinthia Membreño who used to …

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The Revolving Door of Expats and Friends: Nica Nugget #64

One thing about being an Expat in San Juan del Sur, and possibly anywhere else, is the constant saying of Hello and Goodbye. My friend Sara McCoy, a close friend from college who was visiting us for two weeks from the States, left, leaving an emptiness behind her. We don’t know when we’ll see each other again. Or where. My friend Lynn, who I met here a year ago this month, packed up her bags and moved back to the States for good. No more yoga classes together. No more lunches and Writer’s Group and book studies and long conversations. …

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