To the Laguna, on a chicken bus

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While I'm sitting here laying low for a day in hopes the ATM's will figure out my account so I can have more of my money sitting in my account back home, I thought I would write. I think what is happening is the deposits are reporting a little bit slower so it thinks I'm broke. Now, nobody worry (especially you, Mom!) I still have cash in dollars and Cordobas, plus credit cards for those places that will take them - including private transport back to Managua and the airport.. Finally, when all else fails, I'll start setting up Paypal accounts and pay people online. Ahhh...the internet...it's a wonderful thing (well, on occasion...) Anyway, that said I will write.

I have been taking Spanish classes for the last few days to actually talk with a native Spanish speaker and try to get some additional help. It's been informative though frankly difficult. I understand the concepts they are teaching on the basics of the language, but when you work on actually speaking it and hearing it you have a different game going on. Again, the real challenge thus far had been in hearing the language and trying to understand it spoken. It's getting a little better in the structured environment of the tutoring sessions, but I realize (as we actually discussed in class today), it can be quite different when you speak in a structured setting where everyone speaks correct grammatical Spanish and that which you'll hear on the street, with people talking quickly and perhaps with slang and accents. However, if you don't hear the correct grammatical you certainly won't pick up the slang very easily. In any case, I have one more day of 4 hours to pick up what I will in those four hours. After tomorrow, I will spend a last few days in Granada for the purpose of visiting the "Pueblo Blancos", or "white towns" for their houses that traditionally have been more white in color. It is here there are various tourist items for purchase (and possible resale). From there, I take a visit in Managua and then to the coastal town of San Juan del Sur. Perhaps then a return to Granada for the purpose of a few tours to areas around Nicaragua, and then we'll see.

Also, yesterday I took one of my likely most adventurous trips thus far in Nicaragua (relatively speaking, anyway). Another person in the hostal and taking classes and I decided to take the "chicken" bus to the town of Catarina. While you pass through the other towns of the "Pueblos Blancos" you will get to Catarina where you can walk to the "mirador" (viewpoint) of Laguna de Apoyo. Apoyo is a large lake (for Nicaragua anyway, not as much so compared to those 10,000 lakes back in MN) that is surrounded by volcanoes and is otherwise freshwater (though with sulphur in the water from those volcanoes. You can swim in it, but should shower afterwards or it dries out your skin). Anyway, we had to walk around a little bit to find the correct bus station as there are two, and not necessarily well marked for gringo tourists - of which there are few of us willing to take these buses. We eventually found the buses, not the least of which after I pointed out the Pali store to Anna (which is owned by WalMart and even uses the same "always low prices, always" slogan - though obviously in Spanish so "Siempre precios bajos, siempre". I can tell you that once finding the Pali store and talking about it, I got some impression that Anna and I probably wouldn't see much eye-to-eye on politics as she was not found of WalMart for those reasons that my liberal friends usually aren't: they pay low wages (non-living wages in the lingo), no unions, etc. I know I am well in the minority on political opinions on my travels and wasn't in the mood to pick a fight, so I didn't really pursue the argument that everyone who works for WalMart does so voluntarily - slavery was rightfully abolished long ago in the U.S. However, we soon moved on to other topics. We eventually found our bus and boarded to head to Catarina and hopefully good scenery. Then, we waited...and waited...and waited for more people to board. This was also on the hot, sticky converted school bus that had no breeze. Eventually, we headed out slowly but surely up the hill to the towns.

About 45 minutes later (at the slow speed we were moving up the hill in the old diesel engine school bus) we approached the first town. Now, it's always the adventure of whether or not you're in the town you want or not. We concluded we weren't in the right town only by the sign on the main church indicating the name of the city. The next town we came to was San Juan de Oriente, the town known for its pottery and handicrafts more locally made. There is also the town of Masaya, where there is a market that sells the items made in San Juan, but why not buy closer to the source if you can? Anyway, I noted I needed to return to this place in the coming days, though today the mission was Catarina. Eventually, in our poor Spanish, we asked if Catarina was still coming up. It was and soon enough we were motioned we wanted to get off the bus. We then walked up the hill to the main area in the small town and wondered where was the viewpoint. We walked another block and happened on a sign indicating the mirador was further up. However, the sign pointed straight up and the streets went at angles in both directions in a fork - which way is the correct one? We picked the left street and should have gone to the casino later as it was the correct one. We walked a little further on the local streets where people were passing the quiet Sunday afternoon. There were traditional houses along the street, of course, and also a lot of flower shops. We remembered Catarina is also known for its nurseries. The flowers were general types of flowers, though all pretty. We continued to walk further down the street and eventually came up to an area that seemed to be going uphill and perhaps to a viewpoint. We came upon a place that had a relatively large gate in front with official looking buildings beyond - perhaps the type that has a viewpoint beyond it. There was a sign that indicated it was a science station of some type that was sponsored at least in part by the government of Australia. We looked in and, though the gate was unlocked, decided we weren't quite ready to see how far we could trespass. However, we did come across a guy that we asked, again in bad Spanish, if he knew where the "mirador" was located. He spoke some Spanish and motioned around the bend. We walked around the bend and came to the official mirador point, with small park and shelter areas. We arrived where we set out to go!

Right now is the beginning of rainy season (though it only has rained last night since I've been here), so to be honest the landscape was a little more brown than you might expect. It was still a site to behold. Laguna de Apoyo presented itself in all of its grandeur from the viewpoint and plenty of scenery around. The city of Granada was beyond the lake, far in the distance and seeming both as large as it is but at the same time a whole lot smaller. I used my zoom lens to get the best picture I could of the city, plus the regular lense for general but good views. My fellow traveler also took pictures. After a while, though, we had our fill of the scenery and decided it was time in the later afternoon to start heading back to Granada. We meandered back to the main highway for our return. We found a spot that other locals were waiting at and seemed to be in the direction we wanted to go (the direction we came from). A bus came by and said "Granada" on the front of the school bus (most or all the local buses have the main points they travel between on the front of the bus). We called out when the driver stopped "Granada?" but he said no. He said other stuff we didn't understand very well but thought another bus was what we wanted - maybe this one was a special bus of some type. However, a few minutes later some other people waiting for other buses must have heard we wanted Granada and tried to help us. They started talking in Spanish and we eventually learned there was no bus at this stop that went back to Granada...we had to go to the other stop and take a bus to Masaya first. From that station, we transferred to a bus that would return to Granada. We thanked the nice lady and went to the other stop, eventually having to run a little to catch the waiting bus.

Not long after, we arrived at the Granada local bus station that Anna had actually been at the previous day. Bus stations in Nicaragua - in my experience - are little more than dirt parking lots that buses congregate in and you look for the bus you want. They may have small shacks near or around them for snacks and such, but usually little more than that. Well, there is the garbage that's all over the place but then not much else. Now, you'll likely be perfectly safe but it's not the most welcoming area. Anna and I joked about how it was our little piece of heaven in this area, in about as much sarcasm as we could muster. We got off the one bus and moved to the second with the Granada sign on it. The driver also confirmed he was going there when we called out "Granada?". We boarded the bus, eventually taking off with people and a not-so-long time later with our payment of about 50 cents for the 45 minute ride we returned to Granada.

Following that it was dinner for me and watching a movie in bed and in my air-conditioned room, falling asleep before the end of the movie. I really am interested in the movie and am finally getting to see "Lord of the Rings" (yes...I know how old the movie now is...) but I'll see it in parts I can stay awake for. I have to say while it wasn't the biggest adventure on the face of the earth on this day, it was something to connect me a little more to the everyday life of Nicaragua.

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Photos

Laguna de Apoyo
Here is the view from "el mirador". It was a great sight to see, though I have no doubt the picture won't show quite as well as you'd hope online.

Granada
Here is the big zoom of the town of Granada from the viewpoint. It's far enough away from Catarina that without the zoom, it's just barely visible.

Laguna again...
Another view of the Laguna

I just want to go home...
Okay, by this time on the way home, I was tired and hot - ready to go home. However, the boy in the picture seemed all the more ready to be home and off the bus.

Comments

[Eric]

You Haven't Seen?
Dude, you have not seen Lord of the Rings yet? Oh my....you are lucky you never told me before you left on this adventure cause I would have sat you down right away and made you watch the extended versions of the three movies I own. A mere 12 hours later and you would be done! All right....we can discuss Lord of the Rings when you get back. Talk to you soon. Eric

[newplacestogo]

You could still sit me down, I suppose...
Well, I think I only actually saw half of the first one as it was missing disc 2. And I haven't seen Two Towers or Return of the King. I always meant to, just never found 12 hours of time to do it. When I return, my friend, when I return. Of course, Lost comes first but I'll watch that in my overnight stay in Miami before returning.