Danger Jill Rides and Writes
By Blue, October 11th, 2011
A special thank you to Danger Jill Robinson for this article
about her horseback ride with Rancho Chilamate earlier this year. We love a cowgirl that loves speed :)
By Blue, October 11th, 2011
A special thank you to Danger Jill Robinson for this article
about her horseback ride with Rancho Chilamate earlier this year. We love a cowgirl that loves speed :)
By Blue, May 04th, 2011
We got the call asking if we would be willing to host a ‘celebrity’ for a ride in the next day or two.
The day before the ride we got the call that the celebrity was the Million Dollar Winner of Survivor Nicaraga Season 21, Jud Birza. We had heard the name Fabio but without access to TV and only slow internet we didn’t follow the show. And now he was coming for a ride. A quick goggle and we discovered the youngest winner in Survivor history was a 21 year old model. At least he was cute! And we were about to find out how adorable and authentic as well.
We awaited his arrival and was surprised when he showed up with no film crew, no publicist. Just his sister Kelsey, Ana from ProNicaragua that was hosting his return visit and our friend and ‘go-to’ for San Juan del Sur things to do, Gabby.
It was an incredibly intimate day and ride full of great moments – particularly standing with the winner of the whole dam thing – right at the beach he called home for more than 30 days during the filming here last year.
Jud is truly a great guy. He loved his time here in Nicaragua and riding with us. We think he’ll be back. Jud and his new friend/trail boss talk of doing an overnight camp and ride trip on his next visit :)
By Jamie, April 29th, 2011

Cyril Chauquet, the “Fishing Adventurer” (his show airs on Discovery Channel and ESPN) picked the San Juan del Sur area as a playground for one of his adventures that will be shown during the 2012 season. The Fishing and Travel show is an entertaining one hour program where Chauquet gets involved in some of the most unusual activities, meets some locals, and of course goes fishing.
His SJdS adventure started on the beach front in the bay of SJdS photographing some local surfers. Right after that he jumped on a local bus heading to Playa El Coco. He made “La Veranera” guest house his base camp and did a little surfing and fishing with Jim Henderson and Ina Fusko, the proprietors of the lodge.
Some of the highlights of the show will be “River Shrimping” with Douglas and Luis in the bush about 10kms behind Tortuga. The most unusual segment was casting into the surf off of one of Rancho Chilamate’s trusty steeds called “Colorado”, 16 hands and not afraid of the water. Chauquet rode him in with rod in hand until a wave broke over the saddle and the horse didn’t even flinch. At one point, Chauquet got off the horse in neck deep water, started surf-casting and let the horse walk up the beach on his own! Afterwards it was back to El Yunque Ironworks, at Rancho Chilamate where Jamie helped Chauquet forge his own fishing lure.
Chauquet did some crazy fishing off one of the small rocky islands in front of La Flor where he was almost swept into the sea by a large wave. He caught many Jack Crevalle, Spanish Mackerel, and Bonitos off one of the two ‘Fishing- Nicaragua’ pangas but the big Rooster Fish he had hoped for eluded him. However, to his surprise he saw and caught an 80lb sailfish inshore in Ostional when out to dive for octopus on local Elmar’s panga. Some other exciting shots will be the beach launches at Playa El Coco, as the swell was the biggest it had been in months and Chauquet was really impressed with the boating skills of the Fishing-Nicaragua’s Captain and crew; Eduardo, Adolfo and Darwin.

Photo: Blue, Rancho Chilimate
Cyril Chauquet,de ” Aventuras de Pesca” (programa al aire en el Discovery Channel y ESPN) escogió el área de San Juan del Sur como una zona de juegos para una de sus aventuras que se mostrarán durante la temporada de 2012. El espectáculo Pesca y Transporte es un entretenido programa de una hora donde Chauquet se involucra en algunas de las actividades más inusuales, reúne a algunos locales, y por supuesto va a pescar.
Su aventura comenzó en SJDS en la primera línea de playa en la bahía de SJDS fotografiando a algunos surfistas locales. Inmediatamente después saltó en un autobús local rumbo a Playa El Coco. Hizo de la casa de huéspedes “La Veranera” su campamento base y ha hecho un poco de surf y pesca con Jim Henderson e Ina Fusko, los propietarios del resort.
Algunos de los aspectos más destacados de este show será la “pesca del camarón de río” con Douglas y Luis en el monte, a unos 10 kilómetros de Tortuga. El segmento más inusual fue el surf casting (pescar con equipos desde la playa) montando de uno de los corceles de confianza Rancho Chilamate llamado “Colorado”, un hermoso corcel de 1.6 metros y no tiene miedo del agua. Chauquet lo montó con caña en la mano hasta que una ola rompió el sillín y el caballo ni se inmutó siquiera. En un momento dado, Chauquet se bajó del caballo al agua que le llegaba hasta el cuello, comenzó a hacer surf-casting y dejó que el caballo regresara a la playa por su propia cuenta. Posteriormente se fue de nuevo a la herrería El Yunque, en el Rancho Chilamate donde Jamie le ayudó a Chauquet a forjar su propio señuelo de pesca.
Chauquet hizo algo de pesca loca en una de las pequeñas islas rocosas en frente de La Flor, donde casi fue arrastrado al mar por una ola grande. Capturó muchos jureles, macarela, y bonitos (atún negro) desde una de las dos pangas de ” Fishing-Nicaragua”, pero el gran Pez Gallo que esperaba se le escapó. Sin embargo, para su sorpresa vio y atrapó un pez vela de bajura de 80 libras en El Ostional cuando salió a bucear en búsqueda de pulpos en pangas locales de Elmar. Otras interesantes y emocionantes tomas serán las escenas de la panga entrando al mar en Playa El Coco, ya que el oleaje era el más grande que habíamos tenido en meses y Chauquet estaba muy impresionado con las habilidades de navegación del capitán de Fishing-Nicaragua y la tripulación; Eduardo, Adolfo y Darwin.
By Blue, April 13th, 2011
READ FULL BLOG ENTRY ABOUT SAN JUAN DEL SUR HERE
As Sophia Carville – the editor writes:
For example, those who visited Chile and Argentina only two years ago might speak eagerly of hotel rooms costing US$15-20. Do you think that’s still the case? Don’t worry; it was rhetorical: it’s not.
Not to worry, this is the era of the World Wide Web, and so we come to the reason for the existence of this site. It’s an attempt to give some up-to-date information on hotels, restaurants and other travel basics like buses and border crossings, live from the countries themselves. Obviously, they will only be relevant for a little while, too, but the entries are dated, and at least you can know that there wasn’t six months between the data collection and going to press.
We hope you find it useful, and if you find that anything has changed or you had a different experience from what is written, please do say so in the comments. It will help others, and we can all enjoy Latin America without running out of cash! Ta muchly Sophie Carville, Editor
We are pleased that Viva Latina Posted Alice’s blog that highlighted her ride with us last month. Thanks Sophia and Alice!
By Blue, April 03rd, 2011
Posted by Travel Writer Jill K. Robinson
If you had asked me any time in the last couple of years what word I associated with San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua—I’d have said surfing. With waves on my mind, the region was the highlight of the surf trip I was planning with my husband. Sure, I wanted to see more of the country. Right after I finished surfing.
But a recent trip to Nicaragua convinced me that I needed to expand my San Juan del Sur vocabulary.
A short distance from town, Rancho Chilamate is the place to go for an unforgettable horseback-riding experience. My group took off from the ranch, passed through a local village, down back roads, up across a ridgeline and through a dry tropical forest where napping howler monkeys dripped from tree branches. Finally, we reached Escamequita beach and lagoon—perfectly empty of people.
The best moment of the ride, though, happened after getting to the beach. No, not surfing. The few of us who wanted to were able to gallop on our horses back and forth across the beach at low tide. That was enough to remind me why I was so horse-crazy when I was a kid.
Half- and full-day rides are available, and include Western boots and hats, an English-speaking trail boss, and photos from your ride. To top it off, a portion of funds from each ride goes to Rancho Chilamate’s community development fund.
Yes, I’m still planning that surf trip, but I think I can definitely make time for more horseback riding at Rancho Chilamate.
I was a guest of the Instituto Nicaragüense de Turismo during my time in Nicaragua.
Photo courtesy of Rancho Chilamate
Posted by Jill K. Robinson
March 31, 2011