Playa Gigante, Nicaragua - A Tropical Surfing Paradise
In November, Jeremy & I travelled to Nicaragua. We were mainly off-the-beaten path, because Jeremy is, in a way, already a “local.” This was his fourth trip there, after living there for some time. While living there, he was a boat captain, a surf instructor and a chef, which afforded him a dream lifestyle of no worries & perfect waves.
I knew that, in a way, he wanted me to learn to love his “other home.” And it was not hard at all to fall in love with this place. In fact, falling in love is now a theme I will always remember with Nicaragua...because it was there that Jeremy proposed! (More on that later...)
To document this adventure, I’ll break it into three parts: Gigante; Ometepe; and Laguna de Apoyo.
See the green area of land behind the boat above? That last lump is called “Giant’s Foot,” and this cove in the tiny village of Gigante (outside of Rivas) was where we spent the majority of our 12-day trip.
We arrived in Nicaragua at 1:30 a.m. and had a cab waiting for us outside the airport ($100 --the most expensive purchase of the trip, but well worth it). The cab driver sped through red lights on empty streets and got us to Gigante in about 3 hours. Apparently, this used to be a 5+ hour ride, but they have recently paved (as in, brick-by-brick by hand) most of the route. However, we eventually cut off of the paved road and headed down a very bumpy dirt road for several miles...it’s a doozy!
We didn’t anticipate getting there so early in the day (night?), but Gigante Bay, a surfer hostel, still managed to get us into private room with a private bath. Like any place we stayed in Nicaragua, a “room” really consisted of a mattress, a sheet, a mosquito net, and some cloth over the window. What else do you need??
Original Instagram caption: Red mosquito net during sunrise.... I can't get over the amazing sounds of the jungle in the early morning--monkeys & birds making the most bizarre of choruses. I've never heard such odd, yet beautiful, songs. The thunderous waves keep a constant rhythm all night, the heartbeat of the place. There's no AC of course, so there's no glass in the windows--just screens or pieces of cloth...allowing you to be immersed in the sounds & feel the ocean breeze all night. Last night's beach shack room was perched in the treetops tree-house style with beautiful, rugged wooden steps & driftwood for door handles & railings. Swiss Family Robinson.
Since we arrived in the pitch-black darkness of a village, I had no idea what I was about to wake up to.
It was like the moment Dorothy steps out of her sepia-toned home into the Technicolor world of Oz--complete with birds chirping & soft music.
I stepped out onto the wooden planks of the front deck of Gigante Bay and was immersed in color! We were in a pirate’s cove, for sure!
Colorful hammocks criss-crossed the deck with worn, sandy couches under multi-colored flags. Skull-And-Crossbones flags flapped in the wind and a collage of happy-hippie signs were posted on every spare piece of wall.
The employees all start their day off doing yoga on the beach & thanking the ocean before brewing coffee and making breakfast paninis. The guests quietly took in the sunrise, relaxed in hammocks and practiced their own yoga stretches before a day full of surfing.
I noticed the music started off very relaxing and chill in the mornings, then progressed to tropical reggae then morphed into party music by nightfall.
The guests were mostly English, though from all over the world. America, Asia, Australia, England, Canada, etc. It created a stark contrast with the locals in the village, and yet they were both in perfect harmony.
Take a moment to experience Gigante Bay in photos:
Jeremy painted this board on one of his previous visits & this board broke while he was surfing an epic wave....it's now mounted on the wall the wall here--I love it!!
Fresh caught tuna smoked on mesquite...
Next door to Gigante Bay is another great place: Giant’s Foot Surf Tours. You camp out there, and they will take you out on a boat to one of the many great surf breaks and then bring you back home, where they have an excellent chef! (Hellooo, burger night!!) They also offer Beginner & Intermediate Surfer Training. If there was ever a time and place to pick up surfing, it’s now & here.
The front area of Giant’s Foot Surf Tours has many hammocks just beckoning you to take a nap...
Hammock life is probably the biggest theme of Gigante.
Here’s a local enjoying a shady swing:
Me, every morning at the local coffee shop (one of the few places, besides the surf camps, that has WiFi):
Nearly every local’s porch:
It seriously was amazing how “chill” everyone in the entire village was. Of course, you would expect that from surfers, but even the townspeople and the DOGS were chill.
I couldn’t help myself...
Original Instagram post: There are wild dogs all over the place in #Nicaragua. No one has dogs for pets it seems, yet there are dogs that just belong to the entire community. In many communities, they are skeletons and covered with sores. Some are just too ill to eat even if you tried to feed them...it's heart breaking. You can't pet them, as they bite. However, in the village of Gigante, where we've been most of this trip, the community dogs are well fed from table scraps & apparently a vet comes through occasionally to help with any problems. They are timid but appreciate a good ear scratch. If they're not wandering through a restaurant, they just lay in the sand and nap all day long. They actually have the same vibe as the locals here...just chill, relax, enjoy the beach...no worries, no stress. The Gigante dogs truly are members of this community. They have names & respond to them & have certain locals who you can tell they have an extra special bond with.
The best part of Play Gigante, is how easy it is to immerse yourself into the culture of Nicaragua. You are extremely isolated (45 minutes from the nearest real grocery store or bank) and have no choice but to become a part of the community. There is no tourist-trap area. The most English areas are the two surf camps, and other than that, you are truly living in Nicaragua.
The handful of restaurants are all open-air, with thatched roofs and dirt floors. While you’re eating authentic Nicaraguan dishes (lots of rice & tostones (double-fried plantains), and fresh seafood), wild dogs will wander past your table. Other animals I saw wandering past my feet: pigs, chickens, and rabbits. Wandering the streets? Bulls, cows and horses. Again, all of the animals are extremely relaxed and happy and just as much a part of the community as the waiter serving you.
My favorite animal experience?? The MONKEYS.
There were large, wild monkeys in the trees in Gigante. They made some crazy grunting sounds and had tails that curled under them. (Here’s a short Instagram video of them.)
But even better, was a restaurant just outside of Playa Gigante, that let you PLAY with the monkeys!
Highlight of my day!!! Playing with a bunch of silly monkeys! They stole about 2,000 in cord cash, tried on my sunglasses, took my purse, rifled through all my pockets & tried desperately to get the iPhone...chaotic & hilarious!! My stomach hurt from laughing so hard!
We rented a motorbike and drove to Yolanda’s Cafe in the nearby town of Popoyo, and asked if we could play with the monkeys (a tip from a local). She led us to the back yard and there was a parrot in a bird cage (who greeted me with an “Hola!”) and a large cage with a few little monkeys inside. “Can we go in?” YES.
Tip: Remove all things in your pocket. Remove jewelry. Remove your purse. Remove your sunglasses. And guard your camera/phone with your life.
These furry professional thieves had a blast taking all of our items, and teasing us as we chased them down. But I can’t remember the last time I laughed that hard! They were characters! Be sure to watch our video where you can see some edited footage of this. ...If I showed you the original unedited footage, you would see a lot of the ground zooming by and hear a lot of cursing and laughing...as they were snatching it every second they could. Ha!
Do you see those monkey legs above my back?? This monkey was caught mid-flight jumping from me to Jeremy...wild!
While in nearby Popoyo, check out Nica Waves surf camp, and Magnific Rock. The rock looks like a massive battleship wrecked into a blue lagoon, and there’s a restaurant & bar overlooking it.
While in the area, you can check out the salt fields as well and get a great deal on raw sea salt, crystallized from the Pacific ocean under the Nicaraguan sun.
We continued further down the coastline to a super-off-the-beaten-path nature reserve, Chacocente. It required us motorbiking down a really rocky, hole-y dirt road through the jungle, and then we arrived to the park center, which had some sketchy looking park cabins and restrooms. The men hanging out at the visitor’s center made me feel nervous as they were ranger with large guns on them, but there was no reason to worry. We signed in and continued down the pathway to the beach.
There was absolutely no one on the pristine beach. If you are looking for a stunning, secluded day to yourself, this is the spot. Apparently, if you stay during the night, you can watch turtles hatch, too.
When we got back to Playa Gigante, Jeremy went surfing and I enjoyed a spectacular sunset. There were wild horses behind me eating grass as I sat on the beach, and then a lady on a horse, with another horse trailing behind her, slowly ambled through the shallow waves. Here, I caught one of my favorite photos from the trip--a perfect, quiet moment, with Jeremy in the background silhouetted on a small wave.
One of the days we spent in Playa Gigante, Jeremy asked me what I wanted to do that day: take the motor bike to a nearby village, go for a hike on Giant’s Foot, or learn surfing.
This particular day, I said “I think going on a hike sounds fun!” Little did I know, he was waiting for me to say that & had plans...
The hike up Giant’s Foot was not for beginners. Several times, you have to scale straight-up slate rock walls.
After successful rock climbing, we were rewarded each time with a more magnificent view. I hadn’t realized that Giant’s Foot was just a division between our cove & the next cove over.
Playa Gigante on the left; Playa Aqua on the right. (Aqua Wellness Resort is located on this next cove. Check out the website to learn more about this stunning, luxurious yoga center. This was on my To Do list, but I unfortunately did not get a chance to try it out first-hand.)
When we made it to the top of Giant’s Foot, I was in awe. Truly breathtaking. We had a 360-degree view of the entire area and the Pacific Ocean. Jeremy was beaming.
He asked me to get on my tummy and crawl to the edge. We crawled together and hung our heads over the edge, staring down a plummeting 340-feet into the ocean. The waves were crashing against giant rocks below. It was dizzying and wonderful. We carefully scooted back and Jeremy asked “So, do you want to take some pictures?” Silly question. Of course I do!
I said, “I want to try and get a panorama of this!” I started slowly going in a circle, trying to capture it all, and noticed Jeremy got down on one knee.
At first, I thought he was just resting after that grueling hike. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him grinning, and I thought maybe he was trying to do something goofy to mess up my picture (he does things like this often).
When I completed my panorama circle and gave him my full attention, it was quite obvious what he was doing... He had a ring in his outstretched hand and asked me to marry him. ...The rest is a blur because I was just so happy! There’s no one else on this earth I’d rather spend my life with...this life of ours will be one epic adventure full of love!
See Jeremy on his knee on the left? xoxoxo
Afterwards, Jeremy told me that the peak of Giant’s Foot is his favorite place in the entire world (and he’s seen a lot of places...), and that he’d always known he would ask me there. (awwww...)
After the climb down, we trekked over to the Playa Aqua side. Here, the waves were crashing on huge rocks as the tide rolled in. (Here’s a little Instagram video of that.)
Giant’s Foot at sunset...
Our last few nights there, we stayed upstairs at Margarita’s. On average, we paid about $10 a night wherever we stayed in Nicaragua, and a giant meal for both of us cost only $4. This is a great place to go for a tropical vacation that won’t break the bank. However, you have to be fine with no AC & cold showers!
$ Tip: Take only a backpack on Spirit Airlines, for a cheap flight to Managua.
Our room was upstairs at Margarita’s with a view of the beach.
We also spent one afternoon swimming near the rocks at the base of Giant’s Foot. We carefully climbed on the rocks and admired the many colorful urchins and other strange sea creatures living in the shallow pools.
Here’s an Instagram video of the black urchins and pink coral.
One of my favorite things was drinking fresh coconut juice (piña fresca) & coffee each morning at the local coffee shop, Party Wave. We’d lay on the hammocks and watch the fishermen come in and out with the tides.
It was remarkable seeing them roll the boats in and out with logs, inching them across the beach. Once it had rolled off the log, a young boy would run it around to the other side and it would continue slowly moving in or out.
Jeremy won’t let me post about the best surf spots... You just have to go and ask the locals and discover them on your own.
I’ve already mentioned the surf camps in Playa Gigante. Be sure to check out the NicaWaves surf camp in the nearby Popoyo area! It’s great!
Jeremy even taught ME how to surf!
More Photos From This Scenic Dream-Land...
Want to hear of the other places we visited in Nicaragua? Stay tuned...I’ll have a link to that blog here soon!
