Masaya Day 2

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I spent hours typing this morning while Geoff slept. There's free coffee which is always bad & good for us. I just keep drinking & typing & by the time Geoff wakes up I'm totally wired. It is a system that works well though.

Once Geoff woke up around 9:30 (because I woke him up) we headed out into town. We were on a mission to see the local market & the neighborhood known for making hammocks. The neighborhood is Barrio San Juan & many of the houses there had their wares hanging on their porches or in the front room of their house. While walking around we were stopped by an older man who invited us onto his porch to watch his nephew making a hammock. It was not as interesting watching the young guy work the string into bundles as it was talking with his uncle. This man quickly gave me a lesson (which I translated for Geoff) on his views of Nicaragua, Massaya, Central America, tourists, & the US. It was really interesting talking with him. He was very proud of his country but at the same time thought they needed to become more progessive. He was proud of the fact that he viewed that Nicaraguans lived first by their heart & only second by the Cordoba (Nicaraguan currency). He really wasn't too fond of his neighboring countries for various reasons (Costa Rica has no culture, only tourism & Hondurans think they're better than Nicaraguans) both of which have some truth to them. The last thing he said to me was "I bet you didn't think you'd spend 20 minutes talking with me when you first walked by." He's right! But I love talking with locals & learning from them. It's always such an education.

We said goodbye to his family & continued on. They wished us well, "Que se vayan bien" & we were on our way. The rest of the neighborhood was similar. Different people working on making different parts of the hammock. One woman was sitting on her porch crocheting the side panels of a hammock. There were some really beautiful hammocks. If we weren't backpacking we would have probably ended up with a couple. The most expensive one we saw was $50. Pretty good deals.

Continuing on our walkabout we headed to the local market. The local markets are always crowded, stinky, & intense because of all the chaos. But always interesting. Apparently in Masaya they make a lot of shoes. There were thousands of shoes for sale. It was incredible. We ordered a plate of food from a vendor in the middle of the market & had our first Nicaraguan Canneloni, of course with Gallo Pinto (rice & beans). It was yummy. We just pulled up a bench that was part of a vendor stand not in use in the middle of the market & people watched while we ate & sweat. It's still hot! The roof of the market is made of pieces of metal all kind of set next to one another atop the wood planks that are randomly set up throughout. Not a place to be in an earthquake. And like an oven baking us. The local markets are always full of produce, meat, live animals (to make your own meat out of), & grains. We must have seen at least 3 people walk by with dead chickens in their hands, just holding them by their feet. So different from our grocery shopping experience!

We continued back to the touristy/handicraft market, Mercado Viejo, to check out hammocks we saw yesterday. Walking through these cities with all the traffic & dust & cars & trucks & their fumes & sweat & horses & more dust & heat, I constantly feel like I have a second skin of grime. Maybe like a safety layer protecting me from germs & the sun? At least that's what I tell myself. It's hard to ever really feel clean unless you just sit in your room & don't move after you shower. Part of the adventure I guess. There is just no such thing as emissions testing & it is really obvious in the air & aroma of car or bus everywhere.

At the Mercado Viejo we finally decided on a hammock that we had seen yesterday. We'll mail it home & will have our fingers crossed hoping it makes it. We've mailed 2 boxes home so far. One from Guatemala that made it. One from Honduras, still in transit & unknown if it will arrive. Then we will have this one. What can we do. Can't carry a hammock for 2 more months. I love our hammock though. It's made out of really soft cotton & has bright colors. On our way home I bought a Quesillo that wasn't quite as good as the bus station one I had. Everyone has their own style. We still miss Mayra's baleadas. Those were great!

By this point we were ready to head home & take a break from the sun & the walking. We sat on the patio of our hotel & shared a mini bottle of rum with coke while looking through our pictures. It's crazy because the Flor de Cana rum, made in Nicaragua is more expensive here than it was in Guatemala or Honduras. Seems a little odd that they pay more for it here. It's almost twice as much here. Weird.

We attempted to hang our hammock on the hammock stand they had on the patio, but it didn't fit. Darnit. We were so excited to give it a test run. For dinner we headed to the same place we ate last night. Best chicken yet = eat there again. If they served food during the day we would have probably already eaten there today, but they only serve dinner. While waiting for our chicken to BBQ Geoff was making friends with a little boy who was super cute. Kids just do not know what to think of Geoff with his wild hair & all his facial hair. Most kids are usually scared. This little guy just laughed at him. It was pretty cute. He was waving goodbye from his mom's bicycle when he left & yelling adios to us. We had another delicious dinner for $5.

We said goodbye to the ladies, who were sad to hear we wouldn't be back tomorrow night, & we headed home. The hotel locks their door all day so in order to get in or out someone has to unlock it. Usually it's the mom or grandma but tonight it was the son who suggested we go enjoy some local music for the evening. He told us about two different bars that had live music tonight & that he would probably end up at one tonight as well. We were planning to just stay in but he talked us into going out. Who doesn't love live music.

We headed out after he gave us directions but I still stopped & asked a security guard to make sure we were heading the right way. It's dark & the streets aren't super busy so we like to be more sure of where we are going. (All the banks & several other business, like appliance stores, all have security guards that sit outside all night & watch them. I've seen several of these guys sleeping, but I can't blame them. They don't have sawed off shotguns here in Nicaragua like they did in every other country which is interesting. They don't carry guns at all here). We found the bar & listened to a band play for a bit. They were really good. Geoff talked only in Spanish to our waiter & by the time we left the waiter was ignoring me (probably he didn't think I spoke Spanish) & he would only address Geoff. It was a funny change of pace & we both laughed about it on the walk home. I'm proud of him though, he's learning Spanish!

Live music 2 nights in a row. What a treat!

We made it home safely & called it a night. Another good end to a great day.

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Photos

Shoes!
One of at least a dozen "retailers"

Live music for the 2nd night in a row.
These guys were really good!