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Published: March 6th 2012
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Casa Mombacho
The place to hang out after your tour on how they make cigars. Yesterday bombarded the senses. Walking down Calle Altravesada (main road running north/south thru town) was thrilling. I couldn't keep the grin off my face as were jostled and bumped around in the crowd. It helped that I knew Sean was right behind me. We were walking the street trying to find the bus depot - which we eventually did.... but it was the wrong bus depot.
Breakfast was simple yet delicious. A cup of local coffee that was so yummy we didn't need sugar or cream. Fresh guave (unlike anything you have ever had in the states - not that hawaiian stuff) and pineapple, glass of orange juice and toast with the yummiest jelly. (Yup I just used yummy twice - if I could think of a better word than yummy I would). A very light yet fantastic way to start the day.
Anyway, so there we are wandering the street with me pouring over the map, bound and determined to locate the right bus depot (Type A personality issues) and Sean begins to threaten mutiny unless he gets food. The guidebook said the Bearded Monkey has burritos but they don't serve food - just a hostel. We found
the local fire department - um wow. Their fire trucks were OLD. Anyways, we found Cafe Isabelle and blindly attempted the burrito special. What makes it special? According to the menu.... special sauce (whatever that is). The burrito special turned out to be eggs, ham, potato, rice and red beans. Filling but simple in taste and cheap.
Next on the agenda was to check out the free tour at Casa Mombacho. Sean loves himself a good cigar so we thought it would be cool to take a tour on how they make them. Our tour guide was a comedian. There were several jokes made during his rehearsed speech.... we think he had President Obama mixed up with Osama bin Laden heh heh Sean purchased an expensive cigarello and he asked the tour guide if he could puff on it while we took the tour. The tour guide solemnly informed us "In Nicaragua, you can do whatever you want." The tour was informative but we highly recommend that you relax in the smoking area/restaurant in the back of the establishment. It was beautifully manicured and looked like a great place to relax.
From there we wandered down to the
docks. At one point while we crossed the street a guy walking with a bucket balanced on his head yelled from a block away, "Hey!!! You want some cheese?" I have no idea why he thought we looked like people who wanted to buy cheese.... I immediately started giggling as we both shook our heads. Almost to the docks we had to walk under a small grove of mango trees. It was beautiful and novel to see the ground littered with mangos.... but the smell oozing from the nearby sewer/drain was gross. Getting to the docks/lake was anticlimactic. The lake is vast, green in color and we had no desire to swim even though it was getting hot.
We formed a plan to locate water/beer and establish shade during the hottest part of the day. We purchased beer and agua at a small grocery store and found our way back to the hotel. I read and Sean dozed while we focused on hydrating.
The need for food drove us from the hotel around 4 pm. The owner of our hotel suggested a snack at a nearby mexican (remember they don't serve "dinner" until after 5 or 6) restaurant. The food there was AMAZING!!!! It was the Best Mexican we have had in a long time. It is a block and half north of Hotel Terrasol.... if you are ever in the neighborhood you MUST partake.
From there we climbed the bell tower of a nearby church to admire the sunset from above the city. I took a million pictures. We watched a light rain squall sweep over the city from the lake and for a brief time Granada smelled fresh and clean.
We retired at an Irish Pub for dinner and drinks. The food was ok but after the amazing mexican food I don't think the Irish pub had a chance. We were introduced to another guy who is staying at our hotel. His name is Kevin. He joined us at the Irish pub and we began swapping traveling stories. He seemed to be a real nice guy and made for a pleasant evening of watching gringos, local kids and enjoying the weather.
The street kids put on a show so they can beg for money. There were three or four groups all doing the same "show" but the costumes on their puppets covered a range from a bucket with a face painted on to an actual manniquen. We watched it several times but stil couldn't figure out what was going on.... but it involved lots of noisy drum action with the puppets spinning in circles. The local businesses have information about these kids in their menus - the short story is they don't want you giving them money because they find it to be more lucrative to work the streets than go to school.
Rule #3: When searching for one thing, you often find something else. Hostels have lots of info. We were looking for the bus to take us south to Treehouse Poste Rojo. When we wandered into the Hostel we found information on a free shuttle. Bingo!
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