Travel Diary: Popoyo Beach & Playa Guasacate
We are traveling in Nicaragua!
We’ve been in Popoyo Beach, Nicaragua for about 3 days now – it is one of the most relaxed places I have ever been. Shirts and shoes, heck actual clothes for that matter, are not really required anywhere. It’s been fun trying to communicate with our servers at the only “restaurant” we eat at. I say that in quotations because its basically a bunch of tables outside under a tiki hut cabana and I’m pretty sure it is mainly for the people that are staying in the hostel that is attached. We are so embarrassed that we don’t speak fluent Spanish to communicate with everyone. It seems like EVERYONE, but “us americans” speak two or three different languages. We are determined to learn Spanish when we get back – we will NOT be “those people” again! :)
Our typical day is waking up with open windows to the sunlight and birds chirping. Now, our normal schedules at home include staying up VERY late working and sleeping in – so when we wake up every morning at 7-8am it is quite a shock! I was surprised that we have been able to sleep so well with no air conditioning – I actually started using a towel as an extra blanket because I would get cool in the middle of the night! After we wake, we go next door to the only restaurant we eat at – we tried another place a couple of houses down…. but it was not as good.. and I felt weird eating while the family that lived there was sitting on the ground watching TV outside a little ways away. After breakfast, we go back to our room and hang out. We typically will go sun bathe on the beach until it gets unbearably hot then we take a dip in the ocean or cool off in our outdoor shower. Then an afternoon nap after we eat lunch (next door of course) and we wake up just in time for the sunset. The sunsets here are just amazing – I have never seen anything so beautiful! We have been taking a walk on the beach each evening, talking and laughing and really connecting without knowing what is going on in the real world. It’s nice to not having anything distracting us like Facebook complainers or Kardashian news – we don’t know and we don’t care! All that matters here is what do we want to do and we do it! We are so happy and content with this simple life we are living. We are just in a little bubble of bliss.
This bubble of bliss is amazing – and to some people it is the ultimate vacation. But to Caleb and I – we travel to explore and indulge in adventure. I’ve started to feel a little trapped. As you know from my previous travel diary – the road to our B&B is long and we are off the beaten path to put it lightly. And Lord knows I can’t handle that drive multiple times! I keep thinking about the waterfalls I wanted to see and boating around the 365 islands off of Granada and I just can’t bear the fact that we might miss out on all of those fun things. We’ve made a split decision to cut our stay in Popoyo Beach short and travel to Granada for the last half of our trip. I jumped on Airbnb last night and found a great place close to the city centre and booked it. We, of course, debated for about an hour on who would have to tell our current hosts (who are so nice and awesome) we were leaving early (I lost). They were extremely understanding about it – but I still felt so bad because they were amazing hosts and Popoyo Beach/Playa Guasacate was better than we could’ve imagined. But we plan to travel all over the world – who knows when we will ever be back in Nicaragua – we don’t want to miss a thing!
It might seem crazy to just jump to a different location in the middle of a vacation, but if you feel the need – do it! It’s not that crazy! Some people travel without any knowledge of where they are going or where they are staying – and those people are awesome. Are you one of those people? I want to be your friend. Teach me your ways! :) We only have wifi here in Playa Guasacate and it (and electricity in general) seems to be a bit inconsistent so we quickly let our families know where we are moving to and when. Not that any of the even knew really where we are to begin with, but it’s important that someone knows where you are. Always.
Have you ever changed plans while traveling? It kind of made us feel like “real travelers” haha if that is a thing. We are proud of our adventurous leap of faith! Let’s hope it pays off (I’m sure it will) – we still have a day and a half left in Playa Guasacate so we are making the most of it. Caleb has convinced me to take surfing lessons with him – I am terrified, but secretly hope I’ll be awesome. haha! I’ll let y’all know how the surfing lessons go next time! Stay tuned!
& feel free to comment down below! :) Do you think we are cray for completely changing plans in the middle of a vacation? Do you crave adventure or relaxation for your summer vacation?