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Published: November 1st 2008
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our hotel
Hotel Colonial, it was really nice! With my book bag stuffed with clothes, some snacks for the road, my trusty nalgene, a good book and passport I was headed to Nicaragua for the weekend. 9 hours later a bus full of 18 scruffy American kids arrived in the tourist capital of the country - Granada. There were 3 reasons why it took so long to get there; first of all CR is full of mountains and basically to get anywhere outside of the Central Valley - where I live, basically its more flat yet still mountainous. Second the roads are terrible and especially when you get stuck behind semis going 20 kph that is no fun. And it is not like you can just pass on your 2 or 3 lane highways. Third, getting through the border through immigration and customs always is a hassle anywhere. Needless it was a whole day trip and thankfully I didn’t feel sick. I listened to some great music and read quite a bit in my book as well as enjoyed the scenery. I definitely got to see a whole lot of CR!
Before we left last week our school showed us a picture slide show of Granada so I
Central Park
This is the central park in downtown Granada, Nicaragua. had an idea of what the city looked like. It is so hard to explain, but the architecture of the buildings was incredible. They were all hundreds of years old and painted in bright shades of every color of the rainbow. In the middle of town was the central park and cathedral and our hotel, Hotel Colonial was right near by which was great. We were definitely spoiled because our hotel was super nice. In the park, there were many vendors that sold tons of hand made jewelry as well as tons of other souvenirs. I bargained with them and got a couple neat things! To give you an idea of how cheap things are there - 20 cordovbas = $1. And I bought a bottle of water 7 cordovbas! Yes that is less than $0.50!!! Although it was really sad because so many people are so poor they are literally starving and homeless. Tourism is really what makes Granada thrive yet all the expensive restaurants and hotels drive up prices making it even more difficult for those people who live there. I did see so many people from all around the world which was really cool. Literally everyone were
Old buildings..
this buildings were so old and even more awesome in person these pictures really dont do justice tourists except all of the workers.
Another thing that I thought was really neat was the fact that I could tell a big difference in the people and the landscape and cities. Meaning, those Ticos (people from CR) look much different from those Nicos (people from Nicaragua). Being that the 2 countries are so small and close to each other I thought the people would look the same, but they definitely didn’t. Also many people in the rural towns did not have electricity and also used horses to get around. It was not uncommon to see a a person riding in a cart behind a horse down the street.
We basically had two full days to relax and hang out and then we left on Tuesday bright and early and spent the entire day traveling again, not to mention a slight hour set back when our van got a flat tire! On Sunday, we decided to go on this boat tour. Granada is a city right on Lake Nicaragua which is the largest freshwater lake in the world. It also has fresh water sharks in it so there is no swimming allowed! There is many islands in the
downtown..
The architecture here was amazing. lake. And you can buy them too! Literally there were islands for sale. They aren’t very big, but we toured around in boats to see them because people have built houses on them. Some are big and others aren’t, but it was really neat to see. There was a lot of marsh lands too which we saw as well. And there was one island that only had a bunch of palm trees on it and it was called “Isla Mono” meaning Monkey Island. And sure enough a vetenarian put 4 monkeys on this island. So we pulled up to the island and sure enough they are friendly and they climbed right up and on to our boat! It was so neat! We were able to feed them nuts and they walked around our boat. The weather was perfect too - so hot and humid. I think in the upper 80s!! At night, the whole group met for dinner. We had some really great food and a great time as well. Our professor that came with us is great and she is a lot of fun. We tried to get her to grade our midterm papers giving us all A’s, but
Cathedral
This is the really pretty Cathedral of Granada. she said that it would take many drinks- so we opted not to.
On Monday, we all headed to a nearby now with a market which sells tons of souvenirs. I definitely practiced my bargaining skills and Spanish number and I got some great deals on some awesome things! Then we headed to the lagoon. It was actually once a volcano and now the big crater turned into a fresh water lake. We were able to swim and hang out there for the afternoon. In Granada, I found this cute little restaurant called Euro Café and they had all different flavors of homemade Gelato! I was in heaven! And for dinner I even ordered fresh grilled fish, for the first time ever and it was really good. I am sure my parents are proud of me for that one - I guess I am growing up! Aww!
Finally, Tuesday came and we were headed to make the trek back home! Slowly but surely we made it back and boy I was glad to be back home sweet home Costa Rica. And it was so cute to because my host family especially brother were so excited to see me!
Mansion House
This was an island and a person put a HUGE mansion house on the island! They are wonderful and it was great to get a warm welcome back home from them!
Love,
Courtney
p.s... My parents and brother made it here safely and we have had a blast so far! I will write and show more pictures later!
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Nancy & Keith Parker
non-member comment
Interesting Blog
We are pleased your parents and brother arrived safely in CR and are enjoying exploring the country and culture with you. Your last blog entry had wonderful, colorful pictures, a thoughtful narrative and your enthusiasm really came through. We will look forward to more of your adventures.