The best of Granada

We’re sadly leaving Granada on Friday afternoon, after spending 20 days here. We have had a wonderful time exploring the city and surrounding areas, but we’re ready for a change. We’ll be flying from Managua to Little Corn Island, Nicaragua in the Caribbean for a Christmas vacation, and then on to Leon!

Granada highlights…

• La Perla – We stayed in a beautiful house three blocks from the central park. We had a/c, hot water, a clothes dryer and a cleaning lady – what more could a girl ask for!!
• Euro Cafe – American owned, this cafe is the hot local spot for tourists and a great place to hang out and use the internet. The pineapple smoothies were pretty good too!
• El Tercer Ojo Restaurant – The curry, served in a coconut shell was the best in Granada and maybe all of Central America.
• Kathy’s Waffle House – A fabulous place for a much needed American style breakfast (sometimes you need more than Pinto Gallo). The French toast was YUM!
• Mombacho – A dormant volcano that last erupted in 1570. Wayne and I did an 8 mile round trip hike from sea level to 1200 meters since we missed the 8.30am bus to the top. We were later glad as we saved 24 bucks, had a lot more fun and it was a great workout.

• Hotel Spa Granada – A great way to spend the day, poolside with a Victoria beer and a $12, 30 minute massage. Excellent nachos too! Make sure to watch out for the aggressive ducks in the pool!

• Granada Cemetery – We had a stroll around the cemetery as we’d passed it heading out of town on the bus and it looked very impressive. You could definitely tell the rich, with their marble family tombs.

• Kayaking – We kayaked the small islands, known as Las Isletas in Lake Nicaragua near Granada where the rich and famous from around the world have vacation homes. The owner of the kayaks 2 young sons were our tour guides for the afternoon and we had a blast playing with them in the water and trying to understand their broken English. They were actually pretty informative and professional for a 12 and 15 year old.

• Masaya – It’s worth the trip to see the market craziness! Nothing in the US can describe the markets in Central America.
• Spanish School – Spanish Xpress rocked. Wayne came home stressed out a few days, but overall, he’s learned a ton.

Lowlights…

• Work – We love meeting other travelers because everyone has a great story. Since we were in our isolated house, we had very few encounters with other tourists and locals. It’s hard for me because I want a good, quiet place to work, but I also like the interaction with people in the evenings.
• Freedom – In Costa Rica we were able to go and do whatever we wanted without much concern for our safety. Nicaragua is also a very safe place compared to a lot of Central America, but you have to know where you are going. We never thought twice about walking around town in our neighborhood after dark, exploring the crazy market or catching a local chicken bus. This is only going to get worse, and more exciting as Wayne puts it, as we travel into Guatemala on January 5th.
• Noise! – We chose the loudest time of year to be in Central America, with La Purisima, many other religious events and the Christmas holidays all within December. Noise seems to be part of their life and no one seems to complain or care about firecrackers going off at 3am or ultra-loud music booming out of their neighbor’s open front door until late into the evening.

We hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season with their family and friends. This might be the first time I’ve missed both Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family and that might be the hardest part of traveling. I’m glad we’ll be home for a week in February!

Merry Christmas / Feliz Navidad!