Making a quick getaway to the beaches of San Juan del Sur just got a whole lot easier, thanks to a comfortable and reliable new daily shuttle service from Granada s Paxeos transportation company.
For those without a car, traveling from Granada to San Juan del Sur the country s two biggest tourist destinations used to mean waiting in a dusty Granada parking lot to take a hot and slow chicken bus for an hour and a half to Rivas, then trying to negotiate a collective taxi to San Juan del Sur in Rivas dizzying bus terminal.
The trip was slow, hot, aggravating and a sufficient deterrent from going to the beach for the weekend.
The only other option was to hire a taxi for $50-plus dollars, or to rent a car.
Thankfully, Paxeos has changed all that.
The tourism transportation company, which last year started daily airport shuttles to and from Granada, has a brand new fleet of minibuses complete with air-conditioning and DVD player. Compared to cramming into the ripped seat of a 1976 school bus with your knees under your chin, the Paxeos shuttle feels like a bubble bath.
And for only $20 for a ride to San Juan del Sur, Paxeos is as easy on your wallet as it is on your disposition. The shuttle, which works on a reservations basis, leaves Granada for San Juan del Sur at 8:30 a.m. and leaves San Juan del Sur for Granada at 11 a.m.
We are trying of offer good service for a decent price, said company owner Ezequiel Olmos, who lived and studied in the United States and speaks English fluently.
Olmos, originally from Colombia, said when he first came to Nicaragua several years ago he saw a gaping hole in the tourism transportation industry a hole he s now trying to fill with Paxeos.
Olmos started by offering daily shuttles to and from Granada to the airport. The shuttle service, at $15 a person, is less than half of what most taxis charge. Plus the ride in a new, air-conditioned minibus is a lot more comfortable than most of the aging and dirty taxis.
Paxeos now offers daily shuttles for all international flights, making eight daily trips from Granada to the airport and eight trips back again. The first shuttle leaves Granada at 4:30 a.m., and the last shuttle of the day returns from the airport at 7:30 p.m. Paxeos also offers a human touch, with hotel pickup and drop-off. They will even drive tourists around Granada to check out different hotels if they don t know where they want to stay.
We don t just drop people off in the park, Olmos said.
Paxeos is also planning to soon offer daily trips from Granada to León, the details, pricing and timing of which are still being worked out, Olmos said.
Paxeos, which is available for charter rentals, also runs a small restaurant and juice bar next to the Cathedral on Granada s Central Park. The restaurant offers breakfast (the only place in town where you can order a pork chop and eggs), sandwiches for lunch and some of the best natural fruit smoothies in town to cool off from the afternoon heat.
For more information or to make reservations, write to info@paxeos.com, or call 831-9879.
