Granada!

Hola otra vez! It's been a while since we've updated the blog -- so busy! -- so I'll try and get at least all our weekend adventures up for now.

Another Friday had come around, and we once again caught the local lunchtime bus out of Chacraseca. We were headed to Granada, the most beautiful city in Nicaragua, with wonderfully restored colonial architecture. At the station in Leon, we jammed into a minibus and arrived in Managua 90 mins later, where we got into a 3rd bus and by far the most comfy bus for another hour and a half. We were dropped off in the center of town right on the plaza, and we quickly found our hostel down a side road.

Beautiful hostel with a very professional owner, however, it was in the GHETTO. The local street market featured all kinds of interesting foods and items and smells and strange people, but after a while, and especially at night, it got old fast. Luckily we were very close to nice stuff and walked to nice stuff as quickly as we could. 

View from our front porch. A little creepy at night.

Granada has a beautifully restored city center, but unfortunately that's about it. The rest of the city lacks much pizazz, and after 1 full day there Nicole and I were ready to leave. But as always, we really packed it in.

I had a lot of fun with the panorama on my phone. This is the Central Park.

Friday night we strolled down THE STREET for outdoor eating, bars, and people watching--Calle La Calzada--and ate at a delicious local restaurant. Very touristy, and the amount of street performers was ridiculous. Restaurants would battle with the street musicians by turning up their music, so that they street artists would pass on more quickly. But people watching was good. In addition to the hundreds of millions of American church groups milling up the street, we saw many wealthy Nicaraguans. It's wonderful to see at least some of them aren't living in poverty.

This kid was here 2 days in a row.

We wake up early, even on weekends here. Not exactly sure why, probably just the excitement. Anyway we were up before 6 and ready to explore the city. We went to breakfast at Garden Cafe, which will be our future home. We did a 4 hour walking tour of the city, seeing all the key sights, and ate a late lunch at a local cantina in a park next to Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America. The fish, people watching, and blasting reggaeton was amazing! Wonderful meal.

Garden Cafe. We mapped out a hypothetical floor plan while we ate. I LOVE how many buildings here are half inside, half outside!

Cathedral and one of several restored mansions.

Courtyard in a mansion. These were all art vendors, and all closed because it was the weekend (?!).

Inside a 500 year old convent! Now an art museum.

10 minute walk down Calle La Calzada...

Best view in the city! Atop one of many church steeples.

It may look like election time, but it's not. Political propaganda for the Sandinistas is everywhere.

We wandered around a bit more, then WENT OUT FOR PIZZA! Probably the best decision we ever made. Split 2 mediums and a bottle of wine, and boy did we sleep well that night!

Next morning, after failing to procure bicycles for a day trip to some local beaches, we decided to head back and play tourists in Leon for the day. We had a wonderful time, and realized that we like Leon more. It may not be as pretty, but there is a palpable sense of community in the air in Leon. And it's more Liberal.

These guys are always trying to sell me the sunglasses I already have.

One of the most gorgeous churches (and women) in Leon.

Biggest Cathedral in Central America. Looks like Europe inside.

All that remains from a church that was hit during the contra wars of the 80s.

Sunset!