Granada

This past weekend I went to Granada, a 400-year old city and the oldest in Nicaragua and Central America.   The city is beautiful and full of old cathedrals and colonial buildings.  Horse drawn carriages transport tourists around the city and the streets are full of music.  There are two main kinds of music in Granada: Cuban-carribean music (expected) and reggae-ton (this is a type of music where each reggae song it put to the same underlying techno beat.  With the base turned up, each song sounds exactly the same from afar).   Young street performers who entertaining the crown with a mix of cir-de-soleil routines, double jointed magic and break dancing complement the music.  It's awesome and scary to watch all at the same time.I went on a few excursions while in Granada, none of them bad, yet none of them fantastic.  

Vulcan Mombacho: While driving up Mombacho Volcano (an inactive volcano with a great view and lots of plants growing out of the inactive crater), my cab driver ran over a chicken.  I was totally grossed out.  He was thinking about stopping by on the way back for chicken soup dinner.  Another down side to this excursion was when, half way up the volcano, I found myself in a 'disagreement' with my driver over the fact that his car could not actually drive up the volcano (what I had paid him to do) and he wanted me to pay someone else to do it, in addition to what I was paying him.  Since he spoke no English and I understand no Spanish the fight went something like this; I would state my position in bad spanish and when he tried to respond, I would ignore it because he was wrong and I could not understand anyway.   It worked out in the end and we continued our friendship.  On the up side, the view of Granada and the lake was great.

Massaya: Reputed to have one of the biggest and best markets in Central America (I think this is a typical statement in each country), I took a chicken bus to Massaya for the afternoon.  By chicken bus, I mean old American school bus complete with vinyl seats crammed together and retrofitted with only a 'hold on for your life bar' in the center (for those who have to stand) and a stereo to pump out the aforementioned music.  My biggest problem with Massaya was the stench engulfing the street.  It was a combination of sewer and rotting carcasses, quite possibly the worst smell I have ever encountered.  The market was fine.  It was blocks and blocks of produce, meat, fish, clothes, shoes, hammocks, and tires.  And, every once in a while, there would be a small slot machine only casino mixed in.  Each tiny casino was busy with Nicaraguans shoving their Cordobas into the machines with the same excitement seen in Vegas.  This was the busiest part of the market.

Islets:  Granada is surrounded by a series of 375 small islands located in Lake Nicaragua.  The islands are purchased by private individuals.  Some are left empty; others have homes of varying degrees of beauty.   It was Sunday when I walked to the lake and the lakefront was filled with Nicaraguans enjoying the final day of their weekend by barbequing and swimming in their clothes. The walk back from the boat was like a gauntlet of sexual harassment by the young men.  It got to a point where I walked in the middle of the street in an attempt to avoid starting my second Spanish confrontation.