San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua - Overview

This year's "get out of the cold winter" trip was to Nicaragua. We bought a package through Living Social that included 4 nights stay at the Villas De Palermo in San Juan Del Sur (SJDS, for short) and a number of activities. While I really wanted to travel around Nicaragua more (particularly visit Lake Nicaragua and some of the many volcanoes in the area), Mike was worried about safety concerns and I didn't really have much vacation time to work with, so we ended up just staying in SJDS. In this post, I'll do the overview and then I'll do more detailed postings about the various aspects separately.

Safety
Nicaragua is a pretty poor country, so obviously tourists need to be careful. Petty crime is common and violent crime, while getting better, still happens. However, I think much of the warnings you'll read on the internet about it are based on how dangerous it was, not how dangerous it is. We got all freaked out when reading about how dangerous it is but we had no problems and SJDS in particular seemed pretty safe. I think Managua might be a little rough (but my impression was that there isn't much to see there, anyway). Oh, and don't go to the Caribbean side of the country - there's big drug cartel problems there and apparently those regions are actually autonomous regions. Managua, Grenada and SJDS are all on the Pacific coast and they are probably the areas you should stick to.

The 2-2.5 hour drive from Managua to San Juan Del Sur was actually one of my main worries about the trip because everything we read said one of the most popular forms of robbery was to put roadblocks up (such as a big tree branch in the road) and then rob you when you stop to move it and we were in what was obviously a van for tourists. I was more than a little nervous but we encountered no problems. SJDS itself is filled with tourists and American expats and I guess they've been cracking down on crime there, so it seemed perfectly safe to me. Of course, don't be an idiot: don't flaunt your money, don't be out late at night (but there's no reason to be because there is not really any nightlife), keep your belongings close to you, etc. We had also heard that taking taxis was a bad idea (that the taxi driver or some other robbers would take you to the middle of nowhere, rob you and leave you there) but we took several taxis and had no problem. Maybe that's a problem in other areas but labeled taxis in SJDS are generally considered safe. Once the guy did pick up a few other people, which wasn't ideal because the small cab got quite crowded, but whatever.

History & Language
Nicaragua is a small country with a population about the size of Philadelphia but it has a complex and violent history of wars, uprisings, and international politics. I suggest you look into it to learn more about the history but the main reason I mention it is that there is still some political unrest so you need to be careful not to end up in the midst of a protest, which often turn violent. It seemed like these mainly happen in Managua, but a fellow traveler said that they had to take a detour on their way to SJDS because of a strike.

Spanish is the language, but Nicaraguans (or Nicas as they say for short) actually pronounce it a lot differently than I had ever heard before so I had a very hard time because I don't know Spanish that well as it is. For one, they drop a lot of their "s" sounds, particularly at the end of words. There were a few other differences that someone explained to me but I honestly can't remember them now... People who spoke better Spanish than I didn't have as hard a time, but I definitely had issues and so did Mike who has a lot more Spanish experience than I do. Also, I assumed a lot more of the hospitality (hotel and activity) people would know more English than they did. Most of them actually spoke little to no English.

San Juan Del Sur
There is sort of a finite number of things to do in SJDS: surfing is the primary activity (which actually takes place at beaches north or south of SJDS but SJDS seems to be the hub where everyone stays/lives); then there's boating, fishing, turtle or whale-watching (if you're there at the right time), zip lines and horseback riding. Unless you really like surfing, I would honestly recommend you only spend a few days there (3-4 seemed to be about the right amount). There's not much to see in SJDS itself, though it's a cute little town (population 2700). It has a central "downtown" area with lots of shops and restaurants. I will say, the food was amazing. I had one mediocre meal my whole time there (not including breakfast at the hotel which was always mediocre). The town is also beautiful and almost anywhere you go from the center of town by the bay, you're going to be going uphill so you will have beautiful views.

Cost
Nicaragua is pretty cheap, although accommodations don't always seem to match that price. But we would have amazing gourmet meals for two people with booze for about USD$30 and you could get really good meals from smaller food stands or market shops for C$60 (about $3). Taxis weren't as cheap as I thought they would be, but they weren't bad... The taxi between town and where we were staying, the Villas De Palermo, (about 3km) cost us C$60-80 ($3 or $4 - they also usually take USD too) depending on how willing the driver was to negotiate.

Things I Wish I'd Done
If I were going to go back to SJDS, I would stay in town. Most of all, I really wish I had gone to Grenada and spent some time at Lake Nicaragua and the various volcanoes there. There's a cloud forest that sounded cool at the top of dormant Mombacho, but you can also take tours of active volcanoes. The island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua also seems worth a visit. Also worth a visit I've heard is the massive market in Masaya, which is sort of between Managua and Grenada.

Freestyle Cruises - Know Before You Go

So-called "Freestyle" cruises are really the primary type of cruise that seems to exist anymore. Here's what it means (at least on Norwegian Cruise Lines) and some of the things you should know before you board the ship:

• Cruises are basically impossible to do on the cheap. Even if you get a "deal" for the base price, the extra costs add up quickly. Only go if you can afford to spend at least a few thousand dollars on this trip. 
• It is REALLY easy to lose track of how much you're spending. Your room key also serves as your "credit card" (they connect it to a credit card when you board) and so it's easy to feel like you're not actually spending money since it's your room key you're swiping. You are constantly waited on hand-and-foot, so it's so easy to say "sure, I'll have another drink," and it's not like you can check on how much you've spent so far by looking at your credit card statement online. They do give you receipts though so if you're diligent, you can keep track that way.
• Your time is not structured, you can participate or not participate in activities exactly as you please.  When you go to meals, you go whenever you want and sit where ever you want. That's why they're called "freestyle," as opposed to some cruises where things are more scheduled, you may sit with a certain party at each meal, etc.
• Excursions away from the boat cost extra (prices should be outlined in the list of options) but they make it super simple for you. They literally shuttle you to shore and to your destination and then shuttle you back so you don't have to worry about a thing. You may or may not have some free time to shop or eat near port after your activity. Some of the excursions will take you on a shopping detour. All of this shopping will be tourist trap stuff but some of it is worthwhile (we got a really nice stone mask in Mexico and some cheap rum in the Cayman Islands).
• If you purchase booze on shore at one of your excursions, you don't get it back until the end of the cruise. They hold it for you, supposedly for legal/tax reasons but really I think it's just so that you keep paying for the overpriced booze on the ship.
• While you probably think of cruises as time to relax and do nothing, you can actually jampack your trip. There are tons of activities on the cruise ship, most of which are free. There are stage shows, comedy shows, there are games, there are ice-carving demonstrations, barbecues, clubs, pretty much anything anyone might possibly want to do. Most of them are better than they sound, so if you're skeptical, go give it a try.
• On our cruise, you could eat for free at the primary buffet. However, the restaurants were all amazing - seriously some of the best food I've ever had in my life - and only an additional $10-15/person (not including drinks). AND, to top that all off, something we didn't learn until our last night there is that for that $10-15/person, you can literally eat as much as you want. We assumed it meant one appetizer, one entree and dessert. Nope. You could order 10 appetizers, 4 entrees and 7 desserts and try a few bites of each if you really wanted to. Now, I don't actually recommend this because it's super wasteful (and cruises are overindulgent enough), not to mention the increased potential for overeating (the average cruise attendee gains a pound a day). But it comes in handy to know if you can't decide between two appetizers and just really want to try both.
• Internet was not free, which always makes me mad. And I don't think there was any wi-fi, you could only access the internet from their computer lab. This may be different from ship to ship though. Then again, this may have been a good thing for keeping us truly disconnected.
• There are spas and a gym and they'll try to sell you all sorts of expensive stuff. The gym is free and is very nice but they'll try to sell you stuff while you're there. Needless to say, the spa is very pricey.

Baltimore, MD - The National Aquarium

The main reason that my boyfriend and I went to Baltimore was to go to the National Aquarium. If you're planning on taking a trip there, there are a few things you should know. First, it might be best to go during the week (although there may be school groups then so I'm not quite sure how accurate that statement is). We went on a Saturday, and during a holiday weekend, so it was packed. We bought our tickets around 11am and the next entrance time we could get was at 1:15pm, the next dolphin show we could see being at 3:30pm. I think this is common practice there, so be prepared to have some time to kill between buying your tickets and going inside unless you go really early in the morning.

When we got inside, it was often really hard to see anything because every aquarium had a swarm of small children pressing their faces against the glass. So a lot of the smaller aquariums were very hard to see. Note: There are ledges for kids to stand on, so be careful when approaching the aquariums if you are trying to get in close - I banged my shin really badly trying to get close to take a picture of some anemones and not seeing the ledge in the darkened room.

One cool part is the sharks and rays that are in an ovular 3-story tank, and you start at the top (on the inside of the oval) and work your way down and around. The rays are really quite beautiful in an eerie/not-of-this-world kind of way, and one of my favorite discoveries was the sawfish, which is bad ass (and is actually a ray, and not a shark, though it looks more like a shark at first). We also got to see the rays being fed, which was quite cool. Two scuba divers were in the tank and the rays just swarmed them and were swimming all over them. I imagine that would be a little freaky at first, having rays swimming on your head.

The rainforest exhibit was kind of disappointing in my personal opinion - it was really hard to see anything with everything hiding in the trees, although we did see a few different types of birds that I hadn't seen before. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to the Australian exhibit, which we both really wanted to see but after a long day and not seeing any signs for it to remind us, completely forgot about.

We ended the day at the dolphin show, which was a bit underwhelming compared to the Miami Seaquarium's shows, but still fun. Dolphins are just so amazing - so smart! Seeing these shows makes me really want to abandon my film career to be a dolphin trainer and swim with the dolphins every day.

Things You Should Know: Salt Lake City

As you hopefully know, Salt Lake City (and Utah in general) is made up predominantly of Mormons and so the laws very much reflect that. For example, their alcohol laws. There aren't "bars" because serving alcohol publicly is illegal. Instead there are "private clubs." The catch is, anyone can go into most of these "private clubs." But you have to pay an annoying "membership" fee. I think you may also have to pay a "membership fee" to drink at restaurants but my memory isn't so strong on that point because I was there on business and so most of our meals were paid for. Restaurants do serve alcohol, but they card quite strictly, so if you're under 21, don't count on drinking while you're there. But if you are old enough to drink, try some of the Polygamy Porter! (yes, that is really a beer)

Secondly (and probably most importantly) is that all the roads are named in relation to the temple. It's a bit confusing at first because 200 South runs East/West and 800 West runs North/South. Sometimes (particularly on Google Maps) they're listed as S 200 E, which makes it seem even more confusing. You have to ignore the first letter because that's just telling you you're going South on the road, so it's just going South on 200 East. It all makes sense, however, when you understand that 200 South means you're 2 blocks South of the Temple. and 800 West means you're 8 blocks west. Of course, blocks seem to get bigger and bigger the further out of the center of the city that you get, and the blocks have since been broken up so you get blocks like 4370 East. And some of the streets have names (though you will almost always see the number written below it).

Lastly, if you tour the Mormon temple grounds (which isn't as interesting as I'd hoped it would be because you're not really allowed to see anything) DO NOT give them your personal information unless you actually want them to contact you (because they will. for the rest of your life.). But do try to catch the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It is quite impressive. And if you're as lucky as I was, maybe there will be a temple opening somewhere in Utah while you're there (which is entirely possible since the Mormon population in Utah continues to grow and so they are built there occasionally to relieve other overflowing temples), definitely go tour a temple. Non-Mormons are not allowed in the temple (hence why the SLC temple tour wasn't very interesting) except for during the few weeks before it is consecrated and opened. Of course, because of the fact that I'm not allowed there, it was one of my life goals to see the inside of a Mormon temple and I was thrilled to find out that one was opening in Draper, not 20 minutes away (that's what the picture is from above). It's interesting to see the rooms where they perform things like "baptism of the dead" and their family "sealing" ceremonies (ie a couple gets married and are "sealed" to each other for eternity or new children who are born are "sealed" to their parents for eternity, etc). But I think you have to have a natural curiosity for religion like me in order to really find this stuff interesting.