Day 1 in Granada

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It took us about 6 hours to get to Managua - the capital of Nicaragua. We were in a nice air conditioned bus though with a bathroom, so the time wasn't so bad.

Once in Managua, we took a taxi to a bus station and then caught a bus to Granada. Travelers be warned: locals see white skin and assume this means we're rich and they can rip us off. On multiple occasions during this trip, taxi drivers, bus drivers, etc. tried to charge us extra for transport. The smartest thing is to ask the locals who are also on the bus (or ask at the hostel/hotel how much a taxi SHOULD be to get somewhere) and never pay extra. We were told a taxi would be cheap for $45 to Granada and that a bus wasn't coming for 2 hours. 2 minutes later the bus pulled in and we paid $1 for the 45 min ride to Granada. He tried to charge us double but we asked the locals around us what they paid. They also tried to charge us extra for baggage on one bus ride. We refused to pay it, as there were locals who didn't have to pay this. One lady even got off the bus with a fridge! No way my backpack should cost me more than her fridge!

Once we got to Granada, we found a hotel that was two double beds and a single, so we were able to split the cost 5 ways. It was a bit tight with only one bathroom, but it was air conditioned and we kept joking that it was like a giant sleepover party with all our beds practically pushed together. The hotel was nice though. It had a pool (which we never actually had time to use) and breakfast was included so we were spoiled with waffles, beans, eggs, etc.

That first night, after we unloaded our things, we found our way to "The Bearded Monkey" hostel, where we looked at excursions for the next day (decided to go to the Monkey Hut) and then enjoyed some amazing food followed by walking around and checking out the city of Granada.

We found a cool cathedral that they let us climb up into the bell tower for an awesome view of the city at sundown. There were quite a few narrow and winding steps to get up there but totally worth it once we were to the top.

That night continued with Sangrias at a cute restaurant/bar on the main strip where most of the restaurants, etc. were. There were SO many people out begging. The kids took to the streets and made funky things with palm leaves (more on this in the next entry) as well as kids who dressed up in costumes and danced in the street for money. This was more creative than begging so we felt obliged to help out with small amounts of money. What we didn't realize was what they did with that money; more on that in the next entry as well.

After a few drinks we walked back to our hotel and crashed. Traveling is tiring! haha. We were just happy to be on vacation and not in school teaching 😊

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Photos

Tortugas!
These were our new friends in the fountain at the hotel

Church
Where we climbed the bell tower

Climbing the Stairs
Libby climbing the narrow, spiraling staircase

Sangrias!
Fall break 09!

Kids Dancing in the Streets
This is how they earn money

Queso!
Posing with the dancing puppets