Ok we're finally making a post for Granada. We've been here for 2 full days now and this our third. We decided to extend our stay here by a day since we have so much extra time. What a problem, huh? hahaha. Where to start...
Day one we basically explored the city. We went into the San Francisco convent and church, walked down the main strip La Calzada with all kinds of restaurants and bars, and went along the lakefront into something called the Centro Turismo.
I'll go in reverse order here and first talk about the Centro Turismo (Tourism Center). It is definitely not that and if you ever come here save your 25 cents and don't go in. Yes, its really not even worth 25 cents. Its just a bunch of really crappy bars that aren't even open and some crappy parks and garbage. We found out later that this is the really seedy part of town, fine during the day when we were there, but everyone said to never go there at night. Fine by me, it sucked. The Centro Turismo is along the lakefront, but part of the lake front is not in there. Its an area called the Malecon and it also sucks.
There were random horses and cows standing in the basketball courts and the water was polluted so much that they had skull and crossbones signs warning you not to swim. Of course there were a bunch of kids swimming anyway.
La Calzada connects the central park and main cathedral to the lakefront. It is all lined with bars, restaurants mostly blaring annoying music over crackling speakers, and some shops. Its a nice street, regardless, and looks really pretty (Coraleigh added that part).
The San Francisco convent is connected to the San Francisco church which is the oldest church in Granada at almost 500 years. It was mostly restored and the convent had an art gallery and antiquity museum. It was a good way to spend an hour or two.
After that we ate some pizza and got ice cream (only 50 cents for a scoop) on La Calzada and walked around a bit more. It started to rain so we came back to our hotel and then went out for dinner. It was Halloween, but its not much of a holiday here. Some American kinda bars were having parties, but they were just filled with punks like they would be in Yakima. Dinner was pretty disappointing because we went to a highly recommended place and it was not a good experience. The waiter acted annoyed we were there, we got seated in the smoking section without being asked, and the food except for the steak was awful. We wrote them a bad review on tripadvisor.com :O)
One thing we've been wanting to talk about is all the different kinds of natural juices they have here in Central America. So far we've had pineapple, guanabana, passion fruit, blackberry, calala, dragon fruit, raspberry, and lemonade. They usually only cost $1 and are blended with ice almost like a smoothie. Delicious.
On day number two, after recommendations from our hotel's owners, we decided to take a tour. We usually don't like tours, but this was so highly recommended and cheap we decided to do it. It also was going to all the places outside of town that we wanted to see. It went to the Masaya volcano, a lookout over Laguna de Apoyo, the Pueblos Blancos, and the Masaya craft market all for $30.
We left at 8:30 and went to the volcano first. This active volcano is constantly spewing gas and steam and you can drive right up the edge. This would never happen in the U.S. The park required you to have your car facing the exit "just in case". The volcano was a massive hole you could not see the bottom of that was billowing clouds of sulphur smoke and steam so thick they looked solid. We got to walk and hike around there a little bit and take pictures of the various active and inactive craters. Our guide was really knowledgable and also gave us a really interesting history of Nicaragua's corrupt politics and basically the reason they are so poor. Apparently Nicaragua is the 2nd poorest country in the Americas preceded only by Haiti so its pretty amazing that according to INTERPOL it is considered the 3rd safest country in the same group. The top two were Canada and Chile. "In North America, the US murder rate is 7.1 per 100,000, yet its famously violent cities weigh in at 14.8 per 100,000 for Los Angeles, 21.9 for Chicago, 31.7 for Atlanta, with Washington, D.C. at 41.8 and New Orleans at 43.3. Little Costa Rica, the “oasis of peace”, is at 7.2, the same as the US and significantly safer than most other Central American republics. What about Nicaragua? Nicaragua suffers only 3.4 per 100,000, making it the least violent country in Central America and one of the safest in all the hemisphere."
After the volcano we went to the Masaya craft market which was totally awesome! Masaya is considered the cultural capital of Nicaragua so all the best artisans from around the country sell their stuff there. Everything was so cheap too. High quality and hand made everything. Leather boots, cigars, paintings, pottery, hammocks, wood work, and jewelry. We bought too much, haha.
Once we left the market we headed for the mirador (lookout) from one of the Pueblos Blancos called Catarina. The Pueblos Blancos, or white towns, are named for their once white houses and churches and are each historically famous for a different type of art or skill. Catarina had plant nurseries everywhere with all kinds of beautiful tropical plants. The mirador over Laguna de Apoyo was amazing. Laguna de Apoyo is an extinct volcanic crater filled with mineral water that is the purest in the country. Just look at the picture, there's not much else I can say. You can see all the way to Granada and beyond.
The next of the Pueblos Blancos we visited was called San Juan de Oriente. There we were taken to a pottery school where we were shown all the steps in the 15 day process required to make one piece. Our guide translated because our Spanish sucks, haha. All the tools and processes were very primative. A foot spun pottery wheel, tools made from rocks, seeds, and bamboo of varying textures, and natural clay paint.
It was a very time intensive process and the prices of the pieces definitely did not reflect the work that went into them. Large pots with intricate carvings and detail were only about $20. Of course these prices were direct from the maker so the prices were higher at the market in Masaya. We were also told that many people from Costa Rica travel to this Pueblo and buy unmarked pieces so they can be rebranded "Made in Costa Rica" and sold at 10x the cost. We saw them and its true. We also bought a lot here, too much again, haha, but it was so beautiful and high quality that we couldn't restrain ourselves.
That was the last stop on the tour and we headed back to the hotel after that. The rest of the day we spent walking around Granada more and we climbed the belltower in the church right by our hotel to watch the sunset over the city. It was so amazing.
To top it all off we ate dinner at a place called Jardin d'Orion that is a french international fusion restaurant. I thought it sounded dumb, but we went anyway. It was some of the best food we've had on our trip so far and had the coolest atmosphere as well. We sat in a large courtyard of a beautifully restored Spanish colonial house that was likely over 400 years old. The service was perfect, the food was perfect. It was like a 5 star restaurant; our bill? $25 including wine.
Tomorrow we are heading out to Laguna de Apoyo and staying at the Crater's Edge hostel for one night. More swimming and relaxing is needed after being in the city. Then we come back to Granada for another night on our way to Ometepe.
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