Found: A World Class BarIn a Far Away Town� by Norman Mark My definition of a terrific saloon includes the feeling that you could stay there forever after your first five minutes.��� It must be a place that resembles TV�s Cheers, where "everyone knows your name" or wants to learn it. The owners or bartenders are not only charming, but must have interesting stories to tell and should enjoy listening to your tales as well.�� It helps if the food is better than good, the drinks arrive swiftly and are made correctly, and the bill is surprisingly low. The final requirement is that the bar is named Riccardo�s. Riccardo�s in Chicago was a restaurant/saloon that welcomed journalists, helped them remain members of the drinking class and provided a home away from the city room.�� It featured people singing "Indian Love Call" on Friday nights (I was never sure why), Pulitzer Prize winners punching each other in the alley, panels painted by Depression era artists and a never ending stream of literary stories.� Riccardo�s in Chicago is no more. There was also Riccardo�s on the beach in Zihuantenejo, Mexico, before the Ixtapa developments forever changed the area.� � It was a thatched hut where we�d drink Mexican beer and order clams just to see the owner�s son put on his face mask and flippers and dash into the surf with a plastic grocery bag to hunt for our super-fresh snacks. Diane, the former Playboy fold-out, graced the place with her Hollywood-producer friend.
When we arrived at this small village on Holland America�s Maasdam, it was only the fourth cruise ship ever to visit.�� We were on the Floating Film Festival, which sails every two years as a delightful exercise in intense movie going and friendship making.�� At first, I thought I�d just stay on the ship.� A closed-circuit lecture on America�s treatment of Nicaragua over the last 100 years or so (including invading, funding Contras, manipulating governments, etc.) made me feel so guilty about my country�s past that I decided to visit and to also spend money, it was the least that I could do.� San Juan del Sur, a sleepy town with ramshackle corrugated structures, still wasn�t all that sure what to make of the cruise passengers.�� The locals didn�t quite have their set tourist dialogues.�� Late in our visit, two boys approached us.�� One said of my wife, "Muy beautiful."�� His buddy, obviously the closer on this transaction, immediately added, "Got a dollar?" We walked by a short line of vendors selling pottery, t-shirts, coffee, purses, jewelry and trinkets for astoundingly low price, a situation that is changing.�� A member of the ship�s crew told us that delicately hand-carved gourds which were $4 each, up from $2 the week before.�� The ship�s lecturer told us not to give money to the children because that would only encourage their parents to keep them out of school so they could beg.��� He advised us to donate to UNICEF if we were moved by their plight. A stroll through the town brought us by a burned-out former house of ill repute, which we told was going to be restored, although we were never sure to what.���
Riccardo�s, which is a one-story, three-room bar backing directly on to the beach, is run by the beautiful Marliese Mendel and the ruggedly handsome Richard Wagner (no relation to the composer).�� She is Austrian, he is German and their original three-day visit to San Juan del Sur has continued for three years.���
Richard said that San Juan del Sur also has the weekend beach homes of important Nicaraguan politicians and business leaders.� "There are a lot of people here on the Saturdays and Sundays because we�re less than two hours from the capital," he said.� "Then on Monday it goes back to being a sleepy village." Both owners were charming, friendly, open, enthusiastic and willing to answer endless questions about why they are there.�� They communicate in several languages and the universal parlance of smiles.��
The local beers were delicious; the pi�a coladas were towering and produced instant attitude adjustment.�� The fried shrimp plate included more than half a dozen huge shrimp plus a large bowl of rice, a huge salad and a variety of sauces.�� We found Riccardo�s around 10 am when the place was not crowded at all and reluctantly left four hours later when it was packed with people.�� We had eaten two plates of shrimp, four (or maybe six) pi�a coladas and several beers.�� Our bill was $23! I�m sure there are other world-class bars that our regular readers would like to nominate.�� Not all of them have to be named Riccardo�s.�� Please submit your favorites to TravelLady.com. As of now, Riccardo�s of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, is at or near the top of the list of best bars in the world. Norman Mark, a movie critic, TV host and producer, is a frequent contributor to TravelLady.�� He promises to continue his search for the world�s most perfect bar. Riccardo�s is at Apto. 2, San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, between the Coquismar bar and the Pizzeria O solo mio.�� The phone is 045-82 502.�� Email is: Ricardo@ibw.com.ni .� As far as I know, Riccardo�s has never heard of the word "reservations." |
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And now I�ve found the even better Riccardo�s in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua.
Quite soon, near the end of the road along the beach, we came to Riccardo�s, a combination bar, restaurant, Internet caf� (yes, the bar has two computers which might take a visitor to the web, but then again they might not), hammock provider, and genuinely friendly place.
There was an out-of-time moment when I looked from the small room with the internet-connected computers to the street, where two oxen were pulling a cart up the road.
Marie and Richard were confirmed wanderers who had terrific arguments about the wisdom of buying a broken down bar on a little-known beach in a small town in Nicaragua.
A book to the right of the door contains testimonials from patrons, some of whom came for a short visit and then spent their entire vacation in the bar.