San Juan del Sur (SJDS) is a great little town for just walking around. What once was a small fishing village, it now a quickly growing tourist beach town. Luckily the development does not seem to have gone so far as to eliminate all the local flavor. In fact, it turns out that without knowing it we had planned our visit in SJDS during one of their largest celebrations which was in honor of their patron saint - San Juan Bautistia. Every town in Nicaragua has a patron saint, and they take the celebrations in honor of that Saint very seriously. 
Although the official day for the celebration is June 24, the town along with neighboring barrios, start celebrating much earlier than that. Each day a different group would have the honor of parading around the town carrying the statute of San Juan Bautista which is normally watchfully placed in front of the church at the main parque. The day after we arrived the first group marched by our hostal, singing, dancing and cheering to the beat of a local 4 piece band - carrying the statute throughout the town. 
This group was quite large and we were not sure what organization or town they were from but it seemed like everyone in town was joining in the fun and following them in their march. Even the beachgoers threw their things together and followed behind the procession. 
The next day, about the same time, mid-day, the celebrations started again. This was the day that the school kids paid their respects, singing, laughing, cheering, while the band followed behind them. Every so often you would hear the big "boom" of a firecracker. This would become a very normal sound for the next 2 weeks. Not just your safe and sane" fireworks like we have in California - these were the real thing. Loud and, well just LOUD!
