Week end in Nicaragua: HUGE!

21-23/05/2011

This would be the word of the week-end: HUGE. Everything was so great and the only bad thing was the short time we had to spend there. 

On Saturday morning my tico parents woke up at 4am to drive me at the bus station! That was very nice from them because otherwise I should had taken a bus at 11pm and waited until 5am to take my bus…no a good idea wondering alone in San José at night, too crazy…even for me!

While in the bus, no surprise: I slept as much as I could listening to music. I crossed the Costa Rican border without any difficulties and went back in the bus to wait for the other to do the same. I was looking through my window when I saw a young man queuing that looked familiar: it was Royner! We would have planned it that it would not been able to have a better timing! My bus then left, leaving him behind but we knew we were going to see each other in Granada! We didn’t have to wait that long. When I was waiting at the Nicaraguan border for the paper, his bus came and we were able to speak together. It took me 1:30 hours to cross the border. Two hours later I arrived at Granada. The city looked beautiful, colorful but unfortunately dirty. I went directly to find the hostel we wanted to reserve but they weren’t able to tell me by mail if they had accommodation available. They told me they would only know on the day after 11…organization was a bit “chaotic”. I got a double room with private bathroom without any problem and was able to take a shower and change. I waited for Royner to get there and he arrived an hour later. It was his time to take shower and change. After that we went to the city center to have lunch…It was already 3pm and we were starving. We went at the main street of Granada and sat on a nice looking terrace. The glasses were just so funny:

 

We had a very Nicaraguan food: hamburger!!! Hahaha

After this nice little lunch in the middle of the afternoon we went visiting the city, getting lost (but just a bit) and enjoying our time. We arrived at the central place of Granada and decided to do a guided tour in a carriage.

 We saw some beautiful buildings around the journey.

And we had some surprises also. I loved their school:

I found it very similar to a jail ;)

It was a really nice ride, especially as it was nearly sunset and we were able to admire the landscape in this condition: NICE! We finished the tour near the lake and it was already dark: amazing view.

We went to have dinner and dance Salsa and Bachata. Royner started to teach me Marcado but I find it very difficult, but with a bit of practice we can do anything… Oh at least it’s what I’d like to believe for the dance, because dance + me= disaster for your feet!

 As you can see...we enjoyed the food!

The next day we had a typical breakfast: rice + beans + eggs + tortilla. It was nice but we had to rush to eat it because we were late to have the bus for la Laguna de Apoyo. 

This place is a WONDERFUL, HUGE, AMAZING place!! Imagine getting to the top of the volcano and being able to swim in the middle of the crater because a lake is there now. How amazing is that??

The hostel we were staying at has a partnership with a hostal in la Laguna so we were able to go there to spend the day. It was a dreamy sight and even if it was raining we enjoyed it immensely. After some time just enjoying the view, we decided to go kayaking on the lake. Even better view because you can see the crater all around you. It was a really peaceful atmosphere and I enjoyed it a lot. After a tour around the lake, some swimming and some water battle, we separated. Royner went to see some kids fishing and I went in the middle of the lake to enjoy the sight, the calm and meditate for a while. I came back on the ground completely relaxed and peaceful.

We met a couple from Toronto, Canada. We had fun together speaking in English. They are spending a month holidays traveling in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. They didn’t have anything planned yet, just staying where they wanted and moving when they had seen what they wanted. At 4 they decided to come back with us to our hotel and spent a night there. Cataline is a professional dancer so naturally we decided to meet later on to go dancing somewhere. We still had some time so Royner went to get a massage in the city center while I decided to go and do some shopping. I found a really nice little shop, the only one opened on a Sunday afternoon and came out of it with 2 dresses and a nice top…yes it’s true, I promised: I’m wearing dresses now!

We had agreed to meet at 8pm again to have dinner with Scott and Cataline. Royner gave me the fright maybe not the one of my life but a nasty one: At 8pm: no Royner, at 8:10 no Royner, at 8:25 sill no Royner. I was very afraid because he was very excited about going out with them and being able to dance with Cataline. I imagined all the worst scenarios possible…and at 8:40, he came in the room, unhurt and very relaxed: he had fallen asleep during the massage and the masseur didn’t wake him up. He told me that with the face of a 5years old kid who knows he had done something wrong. I couldn’t stop myself laughing out loud!

We met Scott and Cataline and went to have dinner. We found a very nice restaurant called Imagine and all was on the Beatles theme. The atmosphere was great because they had live music and the decoration was well done.

BUT (there is always a “but” when it sounds too good) the food was just a joke. It was very expensive for what they served. Royner and I had the “amazing plate of vegetables”…at the end it was a slice of pineapple, a slice of chalupe, 2 bites of banana, half a potatoes, 2 green beans and…THE joke of the day!

We then went to the same place that the night before and we had a great time dancing all together: Salsa, Merengue, Marcado, modern songs, Shakira, Lady Gaga…Etc we had a bit of everything and it was great!

At 4:40am, Royner and I packed our bags and grabbed a taxi to go to the bus station: yes, the week end was already over and we needed to go back to the real life which is still quite a dream for me ;)

 At the bus station: "no no no, no I don't want to go back! I want to stay here in Nicaragua!"...Well to be honest the picture wasn't taken at that time but who cares.... The photo is perfect for it ;)