The road to sunshine

I was on the island of Utila, off the coast of Honduras, when I first heard about it. A hidden hostel in Playa Maderas, Nicaragua, with its own beach for perfect sunset viewing, and waves that transformed into your very own lightshow at night. There were some brief mentions of it in Lonely Planet, but it seemed like one of those gems whose existence is passed on by word of mouth. I admit, I was quite intrigued by the thought of staying at Matilda's, but I hadn't even finished my time in Honduras yet let alone started planning my month in Nicaragua.

Fast forward a few weeks, and I was in San Juan del Sur, NIcaragua with a new travel buddy. Surfing mecca, party town, and home to The Loose Moose, a Canadian bar serving up the real deal, poutine and Caesars. (This Canuck was quite impressed let me tell you!). I knew where I had to go, the possibility of seeing bioluminescence finally in real life was drawing me to the beach. Playa Maderas is about 10km outside of the town of San Juan del Sur, so my buddy and I hopped into the beach shuttle which was, let's be honest, a truck bed with some wooden bench seats, and held on for dear life for the 30 minute dusty drive. As soon as we reach the playa, I was pretty tempted to stay put. The hostel Los Tres Hermanos looked like a beach bum's paradise. Surfboards everywhere, beach bar and a woodfired pizza oven. But it was my mission to see the waves light up, so on we went. We headed down the beach with no visual reference, as you have to climb around a rocky point to get to the second beach. We walked with two bags turtle style in the blazing 1pm heat for about 20 minutes with no sign in sight. Finally we came across Matilda's, and it is amazing, decorated eclectically and home to permatents, affectionately known as the "doghouses". It was cozy to say the least! We walked down a back road for about 5 minutes to find the beach that people had praised. Well, they were right. One of the most stunning sunsets I had seen in Central America. As the sun sunk beneath the gentle waves, my excitement grew. Once it was pitch black, I headed to the water for a sparkly swim. The waves looked as if there were fairy lights inside of them. Each step I took on the beach was like stepping on stars, the glitter fanning out beneath each foot. The twinkling stars in the sky reflected in the natural glow from the sand and surf. As I floated amongst the tiny glowing plankton, I thanked the universe and sent a smile up to the sky.