May 15 –22, 2007, Number 147
Some
of the colorful houses we saw along the street during our
tour of Granada in the horse-drawn carriage.
First Stop. . . Nicaragua!
On Thursday, Jon, Aura and I left Costa Rica, bound for Nicaragua. Jon, as I mentioned before, is a student that studied Spanish in Puntarenas, too, and is traveling to Mexico with me. Aura is a Nicaraguan lady who worked as a housekeeper for my housing family in Puntarenas. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. As a result, many Nicaraguans move to other counties for work. Aura is an incredibly warm, generous lady and I quickly formed a friendship with. After she found out that Jon and I were going to Nicaragua, she insisted that she take us to her home in Rivas, Nicaragua.
When we arrived at Aura's beautiful house in Rivas, we were greeted with plates of rice, beans, salad, and warm, hand-made tortillas. After 4 hours of bus rides and a hectic border crossing, this meal was exactly what we needed. Aura introduced us to her husband, two daughters, and 4 grandchildren. Aura's husband is a teacher at a local elementary school. He is the only teacher in the school, and therefore has the difficult task of teaching all the subjects. He is a very knowledgeable man, and taught us a lot about Nicaragua. That afternoon, Aura took us to a beach in San Jorge. San Jorge is located on a Nicaragua Lake, which has two huge volcano's, Concepcion and Maderas, in the middle. Concepcion is still active, last erupting in 1957. I spent the afternoon swimming with Aura, her two grandchildren, and Jon, while enjoying the beautiful scenery.
A local market in Granada where they sell everything from fish to soccer balls.
That night, Jon and I stayed at Aura's house. I spent the evening in front of Aura's house, talking with the women. A group of young, local boys found Jon and invited him to play a game of soccer in the street. It was only two-on-two, but the game got pretty intense. After the game, the local boys huddled together and combined their Cordobas, the currency in Nicaragua, and sent one boy to a local corner store. The boy returned, moments later, with popsicles for everyone, including Jon. Excited to learn that Jon was from the United States, the boys then bombarded him with questions about what life is like there. One boy, about 5, asked if it was day or night in the United States, and looked disappointed to learn that it was night in the U.S., too.
The next day, Jon and I went to a small, laid-back fishing village called San Juan Del Sur, about 45 minutes away from Rivas. San Juan Del Sur is located on a horse-shoe shaped, sandy bay filled with fishing boats. For breakfast, we stopped at a bakery and bought a big loaf of bread, a doughnut, and a pineapple pastry. The lady said we owed 10 Cordobas, which confused us because that is only about $.50 USD. This was the first time we had bought anything in Nicaragua, and we quickly realized that prices are very low here compared to Costa Rica. We spent the rest of the day enjoying the refreshingly cool ocean water and stunning beach.
Me
in front of the Palacio Municipal building located near the Central Park
in Granada.
On Saturday, we said our goodbye's to our generous hosts in Rivas and left for the lovely town of Granada. Granada, once an important and wealthy trade center, is now one of Nicaragua's largest tourist destinations. Soon after arrival, we hopped into a horse drawn carriage for a tour of the colonial city. We saw many incredible, antique churches and monuments including a 20th-century cathedral.
So far, Jon and I are in love with Nicaragua. The people are so friendly, the land is so beautiful, and traveling is so inexpensive. Our future travel plans are very tentative but we are planning on spending a couple more days in Nicaragua including: visits to Masaya, a great place to buy hand-crafted, Nicaraguan goods, Managua, the capital city, and Esteli, a farming region in the highlands, before heading to Honduras. Jon and I are having a wonderful trip and are looking forward to many more adventures to come.
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Take care!
- Michigan Technological University
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