San Juan Del Sur

Welcome to San Juan Del Sur.  The official location of this season's reality T.V. show Survivor.  The island of Ometepe was another previous Survivor location.  And we were just there as well!   Plus we drove right by the location of the season in Guatemala.  That makes us feel like real adventurers.  But thank goodness we were able to dine on the best that Nicaragua had to offer.  Instead of rice and boiled water.  San Juan Del Sur is a tourist town. So where are they dropping off the new crew of survivalists?  Well, I don't know.  But there is plenty of wilderness near by.  So what does San Juan Del Sur have to offer?

A great beach!  I love soft and firm sand for walking.  And a little warm Sun and wave action doesn't hurt either.

Ouch!  I love this photo.

Beached.

Perched.

Bridging the gap.

Be sure to walk all the way to the end.

And take time to enjoy the view.

P.S.  I've created a new photo blog.  A place where I can sell photos and photo cards.  Click here to check it out.  And if you like it, please help me spread the word!  It's called My 3rd Eye. That's what my camera is to me. 

To see my ode to the toucan and Dominical, Costa Rica scroll down...

Saturday's Critters

Bird D'pot

Wild Bird Wednesday

Christ of the Mercy

I have the perfect post to send off into the world this Good Friday.  We visited the 2nd largest statue of Christ in the world in San Juan Del Sur this Winter. Christ of the Mercy was completed in April 2009.  Set to debut for Easter.

The statue overlooks this beautiful crescent bay.

And it serves as a beautiful overlook for us mere mortals as well.

Plus some critters.

Swing around and the bays reache out for miles.  We happily visited many of those inlets and beaches on our trip.  I picked the above 5 photos for Random 5 Friday  (I decided to post this even though the link up Random 5 Friday has come to an end) 

Now here are 5 random Easter memories...

1)  My Dad reduced me to tears one year in search of my Easter basket.  He hung it on the curtain rod behind the curtains.  After that I requested that they place it behind one of the chairs in the living room.  And that is what they did until the Easter bunny didn't visit me anymore. Sniff.

2)  I remember one lucky year getting a bonus solid chocolate bunny from my Grandma hidden in the dirty clothes hamper.  I was thrilled.  

3)  One year my cousin Donny brought out a home made go cart to entertain us.  I was too afraid to drive it. 

4)  My Aunt Pat made the best darn Ham dinner around.

5)  Our back yard Easter bunny foiled us again this Winter.  He just might be the smartest and most tenacious bunny in the world.  Every time my husband chased him out, he dug his way back inside.  Even chewing through our wood fence.  I guess you could say he devoured it faster than I chewed off the ears of my laundry basket bunny.  Now we don't have many raspberries.  And our hydrangeas didn't fair any better.

 And our energizer bunny lives on.  She'll be hatching more rocket scientists soon.  We might have to hatch a new plan.

Happy Easter!

More Than a Room With a View

Villas Palermo is nestled in the hills above San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua.  Last week I showed you our villa.  And the feline friends we met there.  We've started calling our cat Akua Tom Cat Gray now.  You'd have to read last week's post to understand.

When I first started dating my husband.  We stayed in Motel 6's and 8's.  One time in Duluth, MN we stayed at a 6 with a dumpster view.  A low point.  This place was 20 bucks more a night. If even that.  A whole Villa, beautiful inside and out with an amazing view!  

We spotted a White Fronted Parrot from our balcony.  And really had to zoom in.  But any parrot sighting is cool in my book.

Turn and this is your view from the same balcony.  Hmmm.  Let's see.  A dumpster view at a flea bite 6 with scratchy towels and plastic covered mattresses?  Or this.  You be the judge.  The statue of Jesus in the background looms over the city like Rio. 

Sunset.  Priceless at any price.

P.S.  Plus there were cats!  For more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday

Tom Cat Orange, Little Orange and Bushy Orange

This was our Villa in San Juan Del Sur this Winter.  That sounds so snooty.  But when you can stay at a place like this cheaper than a Comfort Inn in Fargo, North Dakota,  it's something you can feel free to brag about. And we even had our own cat.  Tom Cat Orange made an appearance on our last morning at Villas Palermo. And many more through out our week here.  It really was paradise let me tell you.   

Tom Cat Orange

But it was Little Orange that really stole our hearts.  We were fast friends the first morning she smelled bacon frying in Villa # 18.  The funny thing is, I don't think we were the only ones feeding her.  By the middle of the day her stomach was huge!  Now who is Bushy Orange you ask?  He was an unpopular fluffy orange cat that stayed close to the restaurant area.  And I over heard the staff warning people that Bushy Orange wasn't the friendliest.  Of course these were just names we made up.  I sure hope we see Little Orange again someday...

The bacon feeding frenzy.

Our cats weren't the only ones hanging around before we left our piece of paradise.  A family of Groove-billed Ani's were watching our departure.  They were like this big black clump of bird in our tree.

They probably wonder why the cats get all the tourist attention.  At least from us.

Stay tuned.  Next week I'll show you our view and another bird we spotted here.

For more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday