Best Beach Yet

A few months ago we met a French guy about our age who was traveling around Nica

ragua with his daughter. We asked them what they had liked best and he said, “Jiquilillo.” I’ve been wanting to go up there purely based on his recomme

ndation. With the Thanksgiving holiday giving us enough extra travel time to deal with the four hour drive, we booked our bungalow at Monty’s Surf Camp and Hotel and headed up.

Beautiful long beach ending in the Padre Ramos Nature Reserve. We ran to the end of beach, but never got around to exploring the estuary with the canoes. Jiquilillo is a small fishing village and we watched the fishing boats go in and out

. When the boats came in, the whole family would help roll it up to shore and wait for their share of the fish. Toddlers took off home with a fish in a bucket.

Elving cooked us delicious fresh fish lunch and dinner. Rosa the pig wondered through the dining area. Paloma the beagle mix accompanied us on our runs. Her pup nipped at our heels when we ran in the surf. The boys boogie boarded. We bought a bottle of rum that more than lasted the weekend. No computers. Tons of sun.

The firefighters of Kamloops, BC have sort of adopted Jiquilillo and they all come down in December to work on things and bring donations to the health center they support. Seventeen of them have leases on lots on the beach and as long as they keep paying their taxes, they have rights to use and develop the land. In the whole town and beach there are maybe 6 new structures including 2 hostels and Monty’s, but their thatched roofs just blend into the homes of the fisher families and palm trees.