Nicaragua — Eco Akamai

To kick-off Bo’s big birthday celebration, we headed to Nicaragua for some surf at Ranco Santana.

After our overnight flight from LAX, we landed in Liberia. We cleared customs in a breeze and all of the bags arrive. And thank goodness for Bo’s buddy Stanley at car rentals who helped us find the Rancho Santana van, which was parked out a side door exit. We drove 1.5 hours to start what we thought was going to be a fun and quick border crossing … which took us over two hours. First we had to queue up on foot at immigration in a very long line. When we finally got to the front, we realized that all of Troy’s family passports were stamped 12/25 and it was 12/26, so there was some slight stressful confusion there. Carl’s Spanish classes were helpful! Jose, our Costa Rica driver bid us adieu and turned us over to our baggage specialist who took us across the border. There was a final passport check and we walked across the border into Nicaragua to another passport check. Next was to Nicaragua immigration and Rancho Santana provided a VIP service, which comes at a cost of tipping everyone involved. The more you tip, the faster the service. We scrambled to get the exact change for each as we read it was now $15 rather than the reported $13. Thank goodness I loaded up on $1s beforehand as you have to have exact change of $14 plus the $1 fee. Then we hand our passports over to a complete stranger whose only qualification is his Rancho Santana polo shirt, and we wait in the hot sun. Troy is naturally nervous that we just have our passports to a complete stranger who has now disappeared. Carls spots him inside through the windows and we are hopeful. 10 minutes later he is back with our stamped passports by the immigration officials that we tipped so nicely. Then our baggage handler was back and rushed us through the baggage scan while warming us to not take our eyes off our bags as theft can occur. We miraculously make it out of the building with everything, tip our handler, chase our baggage carrier to the van that was hidden around the corner and realize Ryder is there as Bo momentarily thought we’d lost him. We meet Carlos our Nicaraguan driver, load up the van and we are off to Rancho Santana after 2 hours 20 minutes of border crossing. Now 1.5 hours to paradise!

And it was so lovely to be greeted with a welcome drink to a stunning resort!

Day #2: After a big travel day yesterday, today was a pool day. And Cynthai and I enjoyed a Flor de Cana Rose Premium Seltzer poolside in our cabanas In the afternoon, Cynthia, Ella dnd I went to a gourd painting class while the boys grabbed a late sushi lunch at the next beach. Then we were back to the beach bar for a tapas dinner. That evening we had a scorpion sighting in our condo and many thanks to Cynthia for sighting the big guy before he got too close.

Day #3: A Beach day! While en route to the most remote beach, we sighted a large iguana and two brown monkeys. Boys body surfed and I searched for shells on the beach with Cynthia and Ella. The sand dollars are alive here and have intense red gills. We grabbed a delicious lunch at the beachside restaurant and my choice was delicious. Event the afternoon at the pool while Bo surfed. Then we went to the main pool to grab a coconut drink, but they were sold out for the day, so we enjoyed the cocktail menu (my Diablo was hot!) and watched the sunset. Dinner was very leisurely back at the Inn and we pulled up the Blazer game to finish off the night.

Day #4: Ella had a surf lesson early in the morning. Bo and Troy went with her and the rest of us all slept in. It was spritzing a bit, so we explored the tide pools after breakfast and played Pickleball in the afternoon. We enjoyed the Pop-Up Artisan Market and had a fun dinner at the main pool cabanas. I enjoyed a watermelon and vodka drink that was delicious!

Day #5: After a leisurely breakfast, we can back to discover a snake in our condo! We enlisted the help of the e landscape crew that had to open up the couch to get him out of the folding bed. It was quite an experience. Since Mak is leaving today, we opted for a local beach and pool day to best manage time. He departed at 3pm and then it was off to the Monkey Scouting tour. Good to keep me busy so I don’t worry too much as he crosses the border … which hopefully is easier going in the opposite direction!

Day #6: Ella and I rallied early and rode horses on the beach. We were the only ones signed up for the 9am slot, so we lucked out with a private ride. I had fun riding Chicka and we got some trotting in, which was fun! After breakfast, Troy and I took on Sam and Carl in Pickleball and Troy and I won 2-1. We kept score in Spanish, which was entertaining and humbling. The winds were howling off shore, so everyone opted to surf down at Los Perros. Ryder and I stayed back and walked down the public beach to the rock and it was so windy! We had an early dinner at 5pm which was delicious. Then the party started at 9pm. I somehow got bit by a spider, so I watched the festivities from our condo and Cynthia sent me spirited photos. HNY 2024 … always happy to enjoy a new year!

Day #6: On 1/1/24, it was our final day! Today was our transit day back over the border to Costa Rica. We departed at 10am and thankfully had a quick and efficient border crossing.