We Meet Salvador

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Benjamin has been sick off and on ever since we got back to Granada. It started with fever then went to coughing and asthma. He must have caught it in Ometepe, although I'm the one who swallowed some lake water by mistake when we were fighting in the water. Fortunately he has maintained a good attitude most of the time.

Leaving him and his mom mid-morning, Andrea and I took a long walk all the way down to Lake Colcibolca (a couple of miles I'd guess), where we had lunch. Along the way we stopped at a small cigar factory for a tour. (At the end of the tour the guide asked if he could ask us a few questions. It turns out he wanted us to help him understand a vocubulary list he had built up, including "dire", "sown", and "pomegranate".) We also walked into several interesting hotels along the way. I'm impressed at how many lodging options Granada offers ... and at how slow business is this time of year. Plus, I hear, the Europeans have cut way back.

We planned only one, low-energy family activity: a horse-drawn carriage tour of the city. We took a taxi to the central square. (The plentiful taxis in Granada charge a flat $.50 per person, so it's hard to resist.)

On one side of the square, a line of horse-drawn carriages and their drivers await tourists. The more enterprising of the drivers approach gringos directly as they walk nearby. We'd already gotten used to that last week in our first visit, but this week we did plan to take a ride, which wouldn't require much energy output from Benjamin. When a young man speaking friendly English made his pitch, we agreed and piled in for the one-hour tour.

During the course of the ride we learned his name, Salvador, and age, 23. He claimed to have learned English just from talking to tourists, like the cigar guide I guess. (These are motivated students.) At the end, he offered to guide us on a boat tour of las isletas (the "little islands" in the Lake Colcibolca); we made a date for tomorrow afternoon. A fateful date it would be.

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Photos

Making Cigars by Hand
The tour guide here will go far.

Andrea 1
A hotel we walked into.