New images!
https://imgur.com/a/Z9yPVEf
Cliff notes:
Saturday we went to Ometepe for a day. 2hr drive south, 1 hour ferry, day on the island, then back.
Julio asked if his son Santi could come as he's only been once when he was 5 and doesn't remember it. Of course! We also paid for his way and our driver Oscar who hadn't been in a while (ever?).
Ometepe is as advertised. GORGEOUS! Had two amazing meals.... hit Punto de Jesus y Maria (long beach peninsula). We hit Charco Verde nature preserve for some of the most beautiful spots we've seen.. tons of wildlife including two large troops of howler monkeys just overhead. Also, A 3' ribbon snake in a tree that Julio and Oscar were terrified of. When I grabbed it by the tail they flipped out
. The coin museum was a cool stop for the history of Nica currency. Ferries were fun too. Such a beautiful place.
Got back to Granada, had dinner and crashed.
Sunday we woke up, packed, and had Julio picking us up at 12:30. We heard BEAUTIFUL chorus of voices at the cathedral next door and went to check it out. Video didn't upload for some reason. Also noticed tons of homeless or very down on their luck folks around the church so we went back to the vigoron stand and bought 7 servings ($14 / 500 Cordoba). When I was paying we ran into Julio and Santi. He sent Santi with us as he had some business to attend to... so we went and handed out the food to folks who needed it. The reactions were amazing.
The hungry here are so much more appreciative than the homeless in the states it seems. It wasn't much but we wanted to do something. I don't know that we've made it home with leftovers yet. Always someone on the way home who needs it more than us.
Julio gave us these really cool custom engraved maracas (why he sent us away). Love them. He's too kind. We settled up with a tip ($333) for the week, and he seemed very appreciative. Swung by his house one last time to say bye to his family then off to SJDS.
Stopped at Las Colinas restaurant on the way out.. DAMN It was good. Honestly the steak beat El Zaguan IMO.
Got stopped by Military police on the way into SJDS, I was grilled over my seatbelt (lap belt on, shoulder straps behind me) and Julio had to make up a story about my shoulder being hurt.
Checked into the apartment. It's much more "normal" but perfect. Spacious. Amazing location mid-beach. Two bedrooms, two baths, two balconies directly overlook the beach with front and center sunsets. ~$900 for 2 weeks.
This town is cool. Very different. More gringos but still feels like Nicaragua.... unlike Tamarindo (CR), which was overrun with gringos, mostly English, and all dollars.
Endless beach front dining options. Very good food. Still solid prices. Worked from a beachfront bar yesterday... shrimp ceviche plus 6 bottles of Toña was ~500 Cordoba / $15.
Tuani's for dinner was great. $1 Toña bottles. Nice VIP lounge upstairs. Cool view of the town.
Hit a gringo bar (Republika) on the way home. Owned by a 30 surfer dude named Bobby. Uk native, has lived for a few years each in Australia, New Zealand, and Ibiza. Settled in here. Chatted for a bit about travel, drugs, and random ####.
Got an idea from him to rent a Polaris Side by Side UTV and head down the coast to hit a few beaches. You can drive on the beaches here so would be fun to bomb down them in the SXS. He said watch out for wet sand though... will roll and windshields are $1400
. Wanted to hit Ostional beach (turtle nesting) anyway for the GF. Too late in the season but we may get lucky.
This place is great. We miss Casa Blanca, Julio, and Granada.... but this place is cool in its own right. Very glad we did both. Could have done 2 week / 1 week split either way and would have been cool... but doing both was the right call. Thanks to all who suggested!
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The level of detail and colors (all by hand) are insane.
I hope you got that one! If not please have Julio send to me. 
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