The Moose Is Loose!

I have found that I am much more proud to be Canadian when I am not in Canada. For example, normally if I were in Canada and I were to see a bar with hockey paraphernalia on the wall I would think nothing of it and keep walking, but if I were to see the same thing in Nicaragua, I would have to stop. And that is exactly what happened on our first night in San Juan del Sur.

We were walking along the street adjacent to the beach looking for a place to get a beer, and we noticed some hockey jerseys inside one of the restaurants, Dorado's Sports Bar. We stopped to look at the menu, and one of the other customers in the restaurant overheard us talking about the hockey jerseys. He called us in and insisted we have a drink with him. The man, Todd, and his wife, Karen, were from BC and we spent the night drinking with them and chatting.

Todd and Karen told us there was a Canadian pub in town! This pub was called the Loose Moose and served Canadian food - poutine, caesars, and sushi. The next day we visited and had poutine and sushi. It was nice to have some food I did not expect to have in Central America, but it wasn't quite as good as in Canada. They had difficulty getting all the ingredients they needed as certain things, such as real maple syrup, simply aren't available anywhere in Nicaragua so they have to make do with similar ingredients which are available there.

Nicaraguan poutine topped with bacon, sour cream, and green onions at the Loose Moose Canadian Pub

Nicaraguan sushi containing fish, avocado, and pineapple and topped with bacon bits

My reward for 5 spicy Caesar shots in 15 seconds

The Loose Moose also had a drinking challenge that we returned to do the next day. It required you to do 5 spicy caesar shots in 15 seconds, and successful participants would receive a Loose Moose "The Moose is Loose" tank top. I don't normally like caesars, but I did the challenge anyways because I wanted the shirt. Both Hugh and I were successful, although he spilled one shot and had to do a shot of pure hot sauce as a result. We were happy to receive the most Canadian souvenir we could find in Nicaragua!