We left Granada without hurry at 11 am and headed south to San Juan del Sur (SJDS), a resort and fishing town on the Pacific coast. It was very hot, but the road was good and we flew down the Panamerican highway with wind in our ears. SJDS is a small fishing town with beautiful beaches to the north and south. We found our hotel rather easily, after riding a couple of blocks against the traffic off the main road. After parking our motorbikes under palm trees in the courtyard of the hotel and dumping all motorcycle gear, we called a cab to bring us to El Coco beach, 18 km south of the town. It took us an hour to get to the beach down bumpy unpaved roads and three shallow river crossings.
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The Man and His Shadow
The white sand beach was pristine, with only a couple of surfers on the horizon and hundreds of crabs running around. We saw a lot of wildlife all around and also learned about turtles that come every year to lay eggs on nearby beaches . We stayed at El Coco till sunset, enjoying beautiful weather, warm water, and good food at the beach restaurant.
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Evening at El Coco Beach
The ride back was bumpy and slow; it got completely dark, as we passed though several small villages and saw people sitting outside their homes and kids playing on the main road.
In the evening, we had some nice seafood (grilled octopus being the highlight) at one of the waterfront restaurants in SJDS and then went to a couple of bars for some drinks. There was little going on in the town, only after 11 pm a mixed crowd of aging surfers, few random tourists and locals started crawling through the bars, but by that time we felt tired and went back to the hotel.
Routes taken: CA1, 16
Miles ridden: 61 mile (98 km)
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