Well, after almost 12 months of being a digital nomad, my tutoring job is taking a brief pause for the American summer and I have found myself very low on travel funds. Luckily, my year of travel has also shown me all the options for living life abroad on a budget, including the very popular option of volunteering in exchange for room (and sometimes board). I was supposed to go back to Ecuador for the summer but I could no longer commit to a job there, so I found myself for 5 weeks in Guasacate, Nicaragua volunteering at -- wait for it-- the melting elefante! (If you know me, you know I love elephants! And they just happened to be looking for a volunteer at the moment at this place).
So the pic on the right is why it's called Melting Elefante.. .very funky structure, but also the cheapest backpacker hostel in town. I was working the reception here in exchange for a free night's stay (normally around 13 bucks a night).
I landed in Guasacate, Nicaragua, which is on the southern coast of Nicaragua along the Pacific, and is better known as Popoyo. The actually area I was in is called Guasacate but the nearest town and famous break is called Popoyo so you might recognize that name. I would not quite call Guasacate a town, as its just about 10-15 surf hostels (many of them all-inclusive), a wide open beach, and one tiny and expensive grocery store. I've been wanting to come surf in Nicaragua for a while but wasn't sure where to start... I quickly vetoed the party "surf town" of San Juan del Sur and decided on Popoyo because my best friend was already working in a place there, and this is the best season for the waves!
I personally would not recommend Popoyo if you're not at least an intermediate surfer just because the waves are pretty powerful and fast most the time, and even "Beginner's Bay" surf spot holds the size of the more advanced breaks. The town (more like a street) is pretty tiny and it's also about a 90 minute drive down a dirt road from the highway. I was actually pretty shocked at how isolated the place is, considering I've read so much about this wave! I planned accordingly and had enough Nicaraguan cordoba and US dollars to buy my food for the month. From the town of Rivas, I haggled with a taxi driver to make the journey for $25 USD with my board on top, but I've heard of people paying anywhere from $20-50. This is definitely a place you wanna travel with your own surfboard, as there's few options to buy and the rentals are pricy.
I showed up at the Melting Elefante to overlap a few days with the previous volunteers, where they trained me on my job which was actually ridiculously easy! There are cleaning and maintenance staff that regularly taking care of the property, so I was just checking guests in and out and pretty much got to surf whenever I wasn't expecting new guests. The hostel had a really nice, often barreling, wave right in front-- I mean, I counted a mere TWENTY FIVE steps from my room to the water on high tide. This break only activated a few weeks earlier because the season started, so I guess I'm just the luckiest human alive.
splitting peaks with my buddy Lorenzo at the beachbreak!
Now about the surf.....
The main surf break in town, just called Popoyo, is an A-frame reef break which breaks pretty fast and often barreling. If you've never surfed a barreling wave, the take off is much faster and the wall is very steep, you basically go over the falls if you don't get it right! From the Guasacate end of the beach, you have to cross a small river mouth to get to the main break. After a big rain and high tide, the river was basically impossible to cross, but you could more or less wade or paddle across on your surfboard otherwise. Since I mentioned earlier that this town doesn't exactly have the easiest waves, I found Popoyo too intense for me except on the smallest days (under 1 m swell), but that being said, it was fabulous to watch the local surfers and tourists ride the waves on double overhead days. Very top quality wave, definitely one of the most famous, consistent, and crowded spots in Nicaragua. Careful of the submerged rocks especially at low tide, and go early to beat the crowds.
My personal favorite break, the one in front of my hostel, was only working from mid to high tide. It would sometimes close out really hard, especially at low tide and with huge swell that was too big for it to hold. On mid-sized days, the wave is sooo fun, still has a fast take off and great shape but has a sand-bottom, so it was a great playground to get better at surfing tubes. I could wake up from my bed, peek my head out, and decide if it was worth it to paddle out. The whole Guasacate beach is surfable, but the best peaks in the beach break are directly in front of Melting Elefante, and one further down peak about 400 m.
one second later this closed out lol
The other places I surfed in the area are accessible by boat, with boat trips running from $20-30 for a good 4-5 hour session. I went one day with the surfer guys from my hostel to Lance's Left, which is maybe the longest wave in Nica. This wave was absolutely gorgeous, with super long rides, and I was bummed we didn't stick around too long because I was having maybe my favorite surf of the year! The wave is much softer than others in the area, which means you can keep the size but the wave stays super fun :) just my style. After, the boat took us to Playgrounds which looked super fun for the guys but was a bit too thick and big for me on this particular day. I was pretty freaked out but still dropped in on a smaller ride but then took a tumble and bit through my lip, so decided watch from the boat. Overall still a really fun experience for my first time surfing from the boat!
For eating in Guasacate, your options are pretty limited and pricey! Most things cost about twice as much as they would in other parts of the country. The Market Popoyo has most the essentials but try to come here with some groceries if you can. There are fruit/veggie trucks that come everyday to sell fresh and cheap produce. For traditional dishes, you can check out the few local comedores (again, cost more than typical), you can eat a special dinner offered every other day at Red Pepper with their rotating noodle/curry menu, or the nicer hostels often sell some food, like Amahula or the Barrel. The only real cafe and the best pastries are at Cafe Mediterreano which is open from 8-2 Wed- Sunday! I almost exclusively cooked for myself in my hostel to save money :) lots of beans, rice, and aguacate haha.
amahula
Despite being a really chilled place, Guasacate still has the occasional party happening, especially at the beautiful, brand new Amahula hostel! I befriended the staff here and the place has the nicest ambiance in town, so often stopped in for a coffee or a salsa class or the fun Friday night parties. If you have a slightly higher budget, I would recommend this as your top hostel in Guasacate, and you get a lovely breakfast included!
The living here is pretty simple. Surf, drink a beer, drink a coffee, watch the sunset, take a nap, meet some cool folks. My favorite moments were nightly campfires in front of the hostel, stargazing up on our funky rooftop, and watching early morning rainbows after a night of thunderstorms. If you're really tweaking to see something else while you're in Guasacate, you can take a taxi to some local hot springs which is really fun at night with a nice group of people ($3 entry), or you can walk up and down the beach to some tidepools on the northern end. If you want to rent a moto for a few days, you can get around to some more surf spots as well, with famous places in the area including the barreling Playa Colorado, Manzanillo, Lance's Left, and others.
While I've highlighted all the best of this special little nook of the world, there were also several days where I wasn't vibing with the place nor my volunteer position--- especially the days where the tourists empty out of the town :( I am happy I ended up sticking it through the moments I wasn't enjoying because my last week was full of fun new surfer friends and a great streak of colorful sunsets and good waves after lots of rain and wind! I would be lying if I said I won't be back-- it's just a matter of when....
hasta la próxima!
