It didn’t START out awesome… but it ended that way. We arrived in November, which (we learned later) is notoriously bad for mosquitoes (since it’s the end of rainy season.) And we were really ready for a house after our rough week in El Salvador.
Nicaragua is not less expensive than beach rentals in El Salvador, but not as much so as housing in Panajachel, Guatemala. When we arrived, we went beach combing and took sunset walks and ate great Nicaraguan food.
Tostones (fried plantains) with fried cheese
The truth is, Las Peñitas doesn’t have a lot of options for nice places. It’s kind of a run-down, up-and-coming beach town, but one with a lot of potential. It’s small, it has great surfing, and it’s got a nice, kid-friendly beach (you do need to be careful of the rip at high tide), but it does lack housing options. Nicer places will run you on average about $1,100 a week.
We still took fabulous beach walks each evening, and these moments made it worthwhile.
The days were spent working building websites while ocean breezes blew in the open windows and palm trees swayed outside. At sunsets we walked on the beach. Greg and the kids took some surfing lessons, and once or twice a week we’d drive into León to do some shopping, watch a movie at the theater, go to church, watch a play (that was an interesting experience) or participate in local festivities.
Sunset on the way home from León
Rachel Denning is an unassuming mother of five who never really did any international traveling until she had four children. After a second honeymoon to Playa del Carmen, Mexico, she and her husband decided to sell most of their belongings and move their family abroad.
Driving from the United States to Panama, they settled in Costa Rica for a year, until the U.S. financial market crash in 2008, when they lost their location independent income. Returning to the United States to look for work, they knew they’d be back ‘out’ again, having been officially bitten by the travel bug!
Despite adjustments to living a simpler life (or perhaps because of it), they were able to save enough money to move to the Dominican Republic in 2009. After six months they came back to the States once more, where they were offered employment working with a non-profit organization in India.
They spent five months living in Tamil Nadu, then returned to the States once more (to Alaska) so they could have baby number five – Atlas.
From there, they set out in April of 2011 to drive, in a veggie powered truck, from Alaska to Argentina, visiting every continental country in North and South America.
Travel is a part of their life now, and they can’t imagine doing anything else. Rachel photographs and writes about their incredible family travel adventures on their website, and they also have resources that encourage others to live a deliberate life.
