Playa Roca & Beyond

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Hanz and Maureen gave us a ride to Playa Roca in Poneloya which is about 20 minutes outside Leon. The hotel was sufficient, nothing special but right on the beach. There were big rocks in the water, hence the name. (Playa Roca means beach rock) I think it was the first beach we went to with rocks like that and it was nice, it kind of reminded me of the Oregon Coast even thought it was quite different.



I spent most of my time reading since I couldn't swim. Across the street there was a tiny place that served tacos which were quite good but there was only one employee so things took a while. We walked down to the end of the road which was a good distance. It's kind of a remote place so you are stuck paying what the restaurants charge and other than the taco bar I wasn't really impressed with any of the food. Near the end of the road there was a restaurant/bar owned by Canadians, they were friendly but I thought their prices were high for the portion sizes.



We decided to spend a 2nd night there because we needed to map out the next month or so because we were meeting my parents in Peru and needed to make sure we were there at the appropriate time. Unfortunately the internet went out completely and we were not able to get hardly any planning done. More reading for me! The tide was low while the sun was setting and the water wasn't covering the bottom of the rocks anymore so I could actually clime up them with Dan. There were lots and lot of crabs on the rocks and I was enjoying the change of scenery. After the sunset we walked back and I slipped and fell and sprained a toe on my bum foot, what are the odds!



The next morning we took a bus to Leon, then hopped on...a...uh...I don't even know what you call it. A truck with a makeshift cover in the bed and benches. We were so crammed in, I had my huge backpack on and was standing holding onto a bar on the ceiling and it was all I could do not to crash into people. We then spent quite a while trying to find a bus to Managua because there were no direct buses to Granada which was our destination. Finally we found a bus and waited for it to fill up so we could leave. On the way we passed Lake Managua and I was shocked by the color of it, so dingy looking. It was quite large though, as I looked out I couldn't see the other side. We were dropped off at what seemed like some random bus stop, not station. After talking to a local we hopped on a city bus asking if it went to the location we needed to find so that we could get a collectivo (a large passenger bus) or bus to Granada. We were looking but didn't see the station we needed. Finally after maybe a half hour Dan asks a passenger how soon till that station and she says oh that's way back there. We have to get off the bus and catch a bus going the opposite direction. We ask the drive to tell us when we are there so we don't miss it again. When we get there, not only do I see that we could have walked from where the bus from Leon dropped us off but also that it's not a station at all. It's a huge parking lot of vans. No wonder we missed it the first time! We get on a van/bus that is leaving just then and finally arrive in Granada.



We stopped into a cafe with wifi and see that Hanz had emailed us where they were staying. We look on a map and after some walking find that we have no idea where the place really is. After directions from multiple people and a lot more walking we find the hostel. It was a big hostel with a huge courtyard and lots of hammocks. What a long day of travel!



We ate dinner at a little local restaurant, nothing fancy. After we left we walked past a movie theater that was showing The Hobbit. It was starting in just 15 minutes much to our delight and was in English with Spanish subtitles. It was quite cheap and we were really excited...then the movie started and the static in the speakers was so bad that you couldn't hear the movie. We tried to tough it out but we just couldn't so we left about 20 minutes in. It was not completely useless though; because of the subtitles I realized I had been saying excuse me wrong in Spanish! I'll take the little positive I could get out of the situation =)

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