Maderas (Heaven)

Dave, Matt, Vas, Rich, and I headed from Granada down to San Juan Del Sur, supposed capital of awesome Nicaraguan surfing. What we found was a really, really hot hotel. I don’t understand, but for some reason Hotel Estrailla didn’t seem to ‘need’ fans. Or so they thought. Unfortunately, we were the ones who suffered through this ludicrous experiment, and the next day we were up and out of there headed for rooms mas fresco in Maderas, a neighboring town.

And boy, did we find it.

After staring at the beautiful surfer filled sea, we trekked down to the first staircase we saw– a giant journey to what appeared to be an abandoned mansion. We wandered around until some lady found us. I guess this magnificent place was usually rented to families or groups of rich party-havers, because the place was equipped with 4 AIR-CONDITIONED bedrooms, a yoga terrace overlooking the ocean and beach below, and a huge kitchen/dining room/dance floor– all of which were completely unoccupied. The caretaker considered our offer of $15 per person per night since no one of wealth was renting the place for the weekend, and within minutes we were all plopped down in our respected rooms, enjoying our suerte.

After catching our breath, we made the journey down the stairs and spent the next hour or two standing in the warm sea, getting totally pummeled by the waves. I don’t know why, but pretty much everyone loves doing this. Weirdos. We were with a somewhat local, a cool Alaskan named….zomgzz… KAIT… who had been going to a Spanish school in San Juan Del Sur. After we bonded over the awesomeness of our name, she informed the group that some of her classmates were having a bbq at their cool new house up in the hills, and that we were all invited! Whabam!

This amazing couple transported us, fed us, boozed us, and let us use their infinity pool overlooking the jungle… providing a simply wonderful retreat and what, yes, you guessed it, earned the title as Best Day Ever.