So the taxi, dropped us off in San Juan and we set out to find a hostel. I had stayed in two hostels there last trip, and had also been inside two others where friends were staying, so I knew we had choices.
We tried Hostel Nicaragua first, but no one was around. Seems just like last time with that place...no one is ever around...but it's a nice place so I thought we'd try it. Next we ventured over to Hostel Casa Oro, the popular hostel. All private rooms were booked up. Not surprised. We were approached by a lady who said she had rooms to rent down the street. She spoke English. She was actually the first person we heard speaking English since we arrived. She seemed legit but her rooms were $25 a night. We're in Nicaragua where I know we can get a room that is cheaper than Costa Rica.
We were about to walk back to El Puerto Hotel, where I stated last time, but it was hot, sooo hot. Paul noticed Hotel Joxi so we thought we'd give it a try. It really wasn't anything great, but we'll stay for a night at least.
The hotel is a family-owned, family-lived in building. They live on the main floor and rent out rooms on the second floor. They provide breakfast and coffee, and laundry services. This is our room on the second floor. Very bright and very colorful, and very hot. We had the option of air conditioning or a fan. We originally paid for air conditioning. It was a small A/C unit placed in the window. It hardly worked, and definitely didn't produce enough cool air to cool down the room.
We switched to a fan...thank goodness, it actually worked! The room had a double bed, a bunk bed and a private bathroom...I'll spare you the photos of that, as it was a little scary....okay, I'll be honest, this was the worst place we stayed at. I'll explain more later.
The "upside" of the hostel was the common area on the second floor. There were a few dining room tables, three hammocks and a siting area.
A must-have for me in any hostel is hammocks. This was the hostel's saving grace. 
The floor boards were a little sketchy, the balcony railing was even sketchier...and the balcony area that led to our room and 2 others, were quite scary. But the second floor location down from the beach provided a nice breeze when you were in the common area....and it turned out, that we ended up with a pretty wicked hostel crew here! In the end, we stayed at this hostel for 2 nights, simply because of the crew we met.
The floor boards were a little sketchy, the balcony railing was even sketchier...and the balcony area that led to our room and 2 others, were quite scary. But the second floor location down from the beach provided a nice breeze when you were in the common area....and it turned out, that we ended up with a pretty wicked hostel crew here! In the end, we stayed at this hostel for 2 nights, simply because of the crew we met.
We all left the hostel on the same day. Even though Paul and I were staying in San Juan for another night, we couldn't bear the place any more....midway through our second day there, the bathrooms started acting up. Not overflowing or anything, but the smell was unbearable! We hardly slept on night two because of the smell. With that, it was time to find someplace else!
