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Published: January 17th 2011
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Toy Train
who's got the biggest grin? Saturday morning, in darkness before dawn, - the three of us, Sasha, Shaun & Mom - piled into a waiting cab and were off to the land of lakes and volcanoes. The least densely populated country in Central America and 2nd poorest nation in the western hemisphere.
Grenada
Nicaragua’s oldest city has a Moorish counterpart in Spain. It’s colorful colonial architecture reminds us of Antigua in Guatemala. On our first venture out to a restaurant we were confronted with the question “will you help or hurt a child tonight?” Instead of just listing food on the menu we were exhorted to exercise tough love. It didn’t take long for us to see what was meant as little children elementary school aged came up to us asking for our food, or one Cordoba, or our shoes. “These kids have homes.” Our menu informed us. “These kids have food. Don’t support the cycle of dependency these kids are learning from tourists.” On the menu were unfamiliar foods that would prove to document our trip as far as our stomachs were concerned: fritanga (or barbaque), gallo pinto (or rice & beans – though it translates to speckled rooster), Tona (Nicaraguan
beer), Flor de Cana (Nicaraguan rum), and Chicha (corn alcohol).
We arrived before the group and had a day of leisure which we decided to spend at the Monkey Hut on Lago del Apoyo, a volcanic crater lake. Mom and Shaun canoed and swam and we recharged our batteries before meeting the group for dinner. As soon as I saw our guide Rebecca, I had a flash back to this past summer in Costa Rica where I saw her in La Fortuna. Halfway through our first group dinner my eyesight is momentarily interrupted by a pair of hands over my eyes. “Guess who this is?” a woman asks and I search my brain for when I remember this voice. “Marriane?!” I ask hesitantly. She releases her hands from my eyes, I turn around and there is Marianne, my guide from Costa Rica! You really know that you’re a frequent backpacker when you run into people you’ve met months later around the world on a whim.
There were 16 people in our group, 13 women and 3 guys. They came from Norway, Canada, Russia & America. Thirteen of us were in our 30s or younger. Another familiar face on
Muneca
there are little boys under there, about 6 years old, parading the muneca/doll around the town our trip was Kim, with whom we traveled with in India and was excited to embark on phase two of the Goodfriend travels. She had intended on going to El Salvador and we had intended on going to Australia but the forces of life were stronger and we both coincidently got bounced from those plans to Nicaragua. Shaun’s roommate was a 25-year-old high school math teacher named Ryan with many different funny tee shirts from the city that rocks, Cleveland, Ohio.
Break-dancers and giant puppets paraded the streets while we ate, nightly, kids trying to make a buck. Ornate wooden funeral carts led processions with a wake of mourners and music. Grenada and Leon are the two main cities. Grenada is the conservative capital and Leon the liberal progressive. There was an on-going rivalry between the two cities – not unlike ours between the north and the south of the US. Filibustering is a Dutch word for pirate or the invading of a country as a private citizen with unofficial aid from your own government. Tennessee resident William Walker was invited by the “Leonians” to help defeat Grenada. He was elected president and reinstated slavery and was unique in
Grenada
Grenada funeral processions leading a wake of music and mourners uniting all of Central America against him. He was killed in Honduras in 1860.
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sj rubel
non-member comment
boarding
what no photos of boarding the 'canos