Great beach stay in "Baja" Nicaragua during the offseason

Guest: El Porton Verde dot COM (Managua)
Date of Stay: 09/25/11 Review Submitted: 10/04/11

My bride and I just returned from a week in Jiquilillo and I must say that the experience was fabulous and we would love to stay there again in a heartbeat. In fact, towards the end of our week we were getting into such a great groove there that we were wishing we could have stayed there another week or two. Regarding the listing description and photos, yes they are a great representation of what you are getting. Renting here, you are getting an oceanfront location, one of those very few "five steps to the beach" sort of situations. You are also a short walk to a simple oceanfront restaurant if you want a fried fish meal with all the Nicaraguan side dishes for about $4. There are very basic "pulperia" stores nearby, but the largest one in the area is a bit far away from the property. For this reason, it is best to bring your food supplies with you from Managua/Leon/Granada or stop in one of the modern supermarkets in the nearest sizable city, Chinandega before you get to Jiquilillo. If you have a vehicle, we would also recommend buying an extra five-gallon bottle of water before you get to the property as swapping out the one bottle for a new bottle is not easy without personal transportation. The lovely owners can help with any questions you may have along these lines. This is a perfectly functional, well-maintained and clean house. You have all the basic utensils, cooking apparatus and appliances if you want to cook your own meals. The caretaker also can bring out the "estufa" on which, for example, you can broil or barbecue the catch of the day. Speaking of the caretaker, he and his family are wonderfully kind and sweet. They were great at leaving us alone and after awhile we got to know one another and shared some really special times with Jose, his wife and lovely children. Yes we highly recommend this property, especially for those looking for that idyllic tropical vacation where quiet and calm reign. This is not the place to go to have raving parties or look to hit the disco. The special recommendation we have for visitors to the area is to take some time to check out Estero Padre Ramos, which is a huge estuary/wetlands area just at the end of the peninsula on which Jiquilillo sits. Tina from Rancho Tranquilo set us up with a dugout canoe tour of the mangrove islands of the estuary which was quite the adventure. So to sum up, for a relaxing stay with a sort of Baja feel to it, we recommend Jiquilillo and especially these two properties.

Owner response:Thanks so much for your review and glad you had a good time.

Recommended for:Adventure seekers, romantic getaway, age 55+, sightseeing, families with young children.

Perfect.

Guest: Shawn. (Todd, NC, USA)
Date of Stay: 11/09/10 Review Submitted: 12/14/10

My Wife, three year old Daughter and I spent nearly three weeks here. Every moment was a joy. The house sits across the dune from an idyllic beach. To the North by several hundred yards is a small traditional Nicaraguan fishing village. I would recommend walking up the road to the village by 6:00 AM each morning to buy your fresh fish for the day...or even better have Jack the Cook walk up with you and pick out your fish. But more about Jack latter. Post your daily fish shopping head back to your house and surf for an hour or two...and have breakfast waiting for you...pancakes by Jack maybe? After breakfast head back to the beach and play in the ocean or make sand castles...time for lunch...maybe Jack has fresh fish and salad for you. After lunch back to the beach or maybe nap in the hammocks next to the house. Little surfing in the afternoon and time for dinner! Watch the sun set and eat your meal on the patio...and fall asleep to the sound of the ocean and the breeze. That was a typical day for us. We were not inclined to travel around...we just wanted to relax and we did. Bohdi, the Owners Son, offered any number of excursions to us and we did take him up on a horse trip, self guided, for a day and we did rent a surfboard but other than that we enjoyed our time on the property and roamed around the village. The people were welcoming! A couple of notes before my final praise! 1. This is a third world country. There are strikes and power outages. Both of which added to the adventure and in no way concerned us. Relax! 2. The residents of the village are of limited means. If you bring a medical kit (I would recommend) or toys or anything that might contribute to their life...leave it as a gift. 3. Finally if you are inclined to not cook (a great vacation for a stay at home Dad) then ask for Jack to cook for you. Jack owns a restaurant down in Leon. He is an excellent cook and appreciates your boundaries. Bodhi gave us a price for Jack to cook. We gave him more and tipped even more. He was worth every cent! Our Family thanks the Owners, Caretakers, Jack and the Village for a wonderful time.

Recommended for:Adventure seekers, tourists without a car, families with young children.

One of a Kind experience

Guest: Joel & Trisha (Alaska)
Date of Stay: 01/24/10 Review Submitted: 03/30/10

This was an experience of a life time! There's so much to tell about how enjoyable this place was. The house is beautiful and the setting felt so relaxing and safe. The caretaker and her family were wonderfull and made us feel so welcome. We grew especially fond of her son Danny who sort of adopted us while we were there. Dany didn't speak english and we didn't speak spanish...but we had a dictionary and a whole lot of charade type explinations. It didn't take long before we were able to communicate easily and developed a great freindship. We will never forget him! You can imagine we were nervous coming from Alaska with very little knowledge of the spanish language...not to mention the nica version so Sue hooked us up with Bohdi from Nicaragua escapes who made sure that we were more than well taken care of and all of our needs were met, including my need to ride horses on the beach almost every day and my boyfreinds need to catch a bunch of fish! They arrainged for us to have horses at the house so we could explore a bit and enjoy the area...I expected only two but was pleasently surprised when they showed up one morning and the two riding horses were acompanied by a sweet little baby!! We spent many evenings riding up and down the beach enjoying the sunset and watching the night fishermen launching their boats through the waves! Although, you didn't really even have to leave to watch an amazing sun set over the ocean, you have a perfect view right from the porch. We spent almost three weeks at the house and it didn't feel like enough. I would reccomend this place to everyone!

Recommended for:Adventure seekers, romantic getaway, age 55+, sightseeing, families with young children.

Guest: sandra and randy (Kneeland, ca.)
Date of Stay: 01/07/10 Review Submitted: 01/07/10

This beautiful new house on the beach provided us with an idylic tropical vacation. Nicaragua Escape surf lodge set everything up for us as we speak limited spanish. We especially enjoyed the fishing, bogey boarding and phenomenal walks on the beach. The locals were friendly and helpful. We enjoyed the local fresh food, the kids playing in the streets and the cows walking down the road. This is trully a gorgeous spot to rest and recuperate off the beaten path. You'll get a slice of life you haven't seen anywhere else.

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