Climbing Around in the Past

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We arrived in Granada just before sunset and stumbled around in search of a good hostel for a bit.

The wider streets and taller buildings with over-sized doors made it feel as if a smaller Nica city had held it's breath, puffed out it's cheeks and forced itself to expand a few feet in every direction.

We found our way to the chaotic market district and a glorious old hostel run by a classic old couple (she called him 'Jefe').

The building was ancient and character filled with 15-foot ceilings, palatial hallways and an untouched living room that was part christmas-light-Jesus-shrine and part tea-party-for-teddy-bears.

The broad double doors felt like you were moving whole trees when opened out onto the sunny courtyard.

Next door was a branch of the Wal-Mart-owned Pali grocery store; all white and orange with boxes and shelves and carts over-flowing with neatly pre-packaged foods and goods; while directly across the street, in stark contrast, was the stinking, crowded, sprawling, indoor/outdoor mercado central (central market).

There's is nothing quite like snaking your way through the tunnels and mazes of an ole-fashioned mega market; with piles of trash at your feet and guys on bikes(!) bumping past you while everyone is shouting about something and you look one way to see flip-flops and calculators and the other way to hunks of raw meat and sausage grinding. (Not unlike Korea but with less Kim-Chee.)

We didn't realize how touristy Granada actually was until we strolled to the Parque Central and the Euro Cafe - it reminded Brittany of Venice, Italy.

We finally got above it all, literally, by climbing a winding staircase to the top of a church steeple and were rewarded with a panoramic view of the city.

Red roofs ringed courtyards of bright green trees with dramatic churches breaking above the roof line, with Volcan Mombacha smoking to the south and the endless expanse of Lago de Nicaragua stretching off to the east.

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Photos

What a sight!
Looking west with the central catherdral in the distance

Chaos
Just in front of our hotel

Streets of Granada
The always seems to be a reminder of where you are poking around a corner

Sitting in an English Garden
At the Euro Cafe

Horse and buggy
You can imagine it before cars

Rainbow over the lake
The end of our second and final night

Comments

[Maura Callahan]

WOW
Home from dinner with Mary Debye at Destino's. All I can say is wow. Love you.