Popoyo Trip #1

House we rented for the night at Two Brothers Surf Lodge
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After a wild night in San Juan del Sur, Josie had only a few days left to explore Nica before the truck was due back in Managua and she had to catch her flight back.  We decided that a surf trip to Popoyo (one of the most famous breaks in Nicaragua) was in order so we packed up the truck at about 1pm and headed off towards Rivas.  After a couple seemingly wrong turns and having to ask for directions several times we hit the CRAPPY dirt road outside of Tola.  What started as a 2 hour drive turned into 4 when we found out that the 2 political parties in the area were fighting over which one would get the credit for the road repairs, so in the meantime the road was left in terrible condition.  Traveling at a max speed of 10km/hr we finally made it into Poopyo just after sunset.

View from the house... Popoyo on the left and the beachbreak down on the far right
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Two brothers really hooked us up with a house rental for the night.  The house is amazing and the photos of Popoyo GOING OFF really got me excited about overhead surf the next day.  The power went off in the entire town so Josie and I went to sleep without dinner and reading by flashlight.

How do you sunburn your EYES?

In the morning Josie woke up early to take some spectacular photos of the pool during sunrise to pay for her trip.  I slept in and we went to surf Popoyo around 7am.  The best part of traveling with a professional photographer and videographer is that she loves to take photos of you surfing.  Josie got some great snaps of me surfing Popoyo that morning (and a cool video I have to track down).  I have to admit how terrified I was to surf Popoyo. The first wave I caught, screaming down the face on my backhand, looking down into the water at SHALLOW, jagged rocks just under the surface of the water.  The wave is too perfect to not want to go, no risk no reward!

Inside of the two brothers house.. pretty incredible proprty and the owners are the nicest expats ever
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Popoyo was so good that day that I surfed for 3 hours without a break.  When I finally got back to the hotel I realized that I had done something to my eyes. I honestly think I sunburned them badly.  I took the contacts out and wore my glasses. The afternoon session at overhead beachbreak (Cobblestones) was a bust because I couldnt see a thing.

I limped back to Rivas with Josie, said goodbye to my travel buddy and grabbed a "collectivo cab" back to San Juan del Sur.