Todos fotos:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2608637494694.2115194.1217640193&type=1
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Granada: Worth a Visit...but maybe just a day trip
I arrived in Granada two nights ago after a long day of travel--Esteli to Managua and from there to Granada. Though a less harrowing journey than what I´ve become accustomed to (the 'expreso' is pretty fancy, and direct!) I ran into some trouble when, only a half hour into the two and a half hour trip, I realized the morning´s coffee had hit me and I had to pee. badly. What began as concentrated meditation quickly devolved, with each bump of the road, into an all out internal battle, and resulted in the ´Expreso´ bus actually stopping. This is something that has possibly never happened before, as the entire point of the express bus is that it doesn't stop. Unlike the normal bus that stops every few feet, the Expreso doesn´t tend to stop for anything, including animals, people, or other vehicles crossing the road. I had people tell me they had never seen this happen before. Leave it to a chela, I suppose.
I landed in Granada around 2 in the afternoon, sweaty and miserable. Accustomed to the cool northern breeze, the heat of Granada was shocking, not to mention the hordes of tourists! I lugged my backpack around for awhile trying to find the cheapest hostel option. As it turns out, my Moon Book is from 2008 so everything they recommended then has done well since and thus doubled their prices. In my exhausted and therefore mentally deficient state, I went with something they recommended (I´ve learned since that the Moon Book works best for me as a guide of what not to do). By the third time I had heard *NSYNC´s hit ¨Bye Bye Bye¨, over the bumpin hostel sound system, I thought maybe I´d made a mistake. It´s important to mention that this happened within the first two hours.
In Esteli I met several fun, friendly people at the hostel, and was excited to mingle with guests in Granada, but this turned out to be a different crowd, at least at my choice hostel. Granada is Nicaragua´s tourist hotspot, and the hostels seem to attract a strange crowd, many of whom are not so much traveling as hanging out. It was weird.
I did a lot of walking. Granada is a beautiful colonial city full of colorfull, grand architecture and tourists standing around taking pictures of it. People are used to tourists here, but does this does not decrease the catcalls. On the contrary, not only did incidents increase, but many locals have picked up some English slang so I got be be verbally assaulted in my own language! (Am still feeling some resentment towards Granada as a whole).
I did enjoy wandering the cobbled streets that lead down to the lake, and even took a few photos! It was hard to find things that were within my price range, though. Horrified by the prices at the nearby cafes and restaurants, I headed straight for the super (market) and spent about $2 on some fruits and veggies, pasta, bread, PB & J, and even cheese, real cheese! I'd been craving cheddar after becoming violently ill from eating cuajara (a fresh, rather foul homemade cheese) in El Lagartillo.
Besides the cheese cravings, however, I'm dealing with homesickness very well (especially now that I'm out of Granada!). The floral death of a Maine/Vermont winter can really get me down after a few months, and I'm psyched to be surrounded by all the fascinating tropical flora and fauna. I can't wait to learn more, on to Ometepe tomorrow! (Outcome: Berkley: 1, Granada: 0)
I landed in Granada around 2 in the afternoon, sweaty and miserable. Accustomed to the cool northern breeze, the heat of Granada was shocking, not to mention the hordes of tourists! I lugged my backpack around for awhile trying to find the cheapest hostel option. As it turns out, my Moon Book is from 2008 so everything they recommended then has done well since and thus doubled their prices. In my exhausted and therefore mentally deficient state, I went with something they recommended (I´ve learned since that the Moon Book works best for me as a guide of what not to do). By the third time I had heard *NSYNC´s hit ¨Bye Bye Bye¨, over the bumpin hostel sound system, I thought maybe I´d made a mistake. It´s important to mention that this happened within the first two hours.
In Esteli I met several fun, friendly people at the hostel, and was excited to mingle with guests in Granada, but this turned out to be a different crowd, at least at my choice hostel. Granada is Nicaragua´s tourist hotspot, and the hostels seem to attract a strange crowd, many of whom are not so much traveling as hanging out. It was weird.
I did a lot of walking. Granada is a beautiful colonial city full of colorfull, grand architecture and tourists standing around taking pictures of it. People are used to tourists here, but does this does not decrease the catcalls. On the contrary, not only did incidents increase, but many locals have picked up some English slang so I got be be verbally assaulted in my own language! (Am still feeling some resentment towards Granada as a whole).
I did enjoy wandering the cobbled streets that lead down to the lake, and even took a few photos! It was hard to find things that were within my price range, though. Horrified by the prices at the nearby cafes and restaurants, I headed straight for the super (market) and spent about $2 on some fruits and veggies, pasta, bread, PB & J, and even cheese, real cheese! I'd been craving cheddar after becoming violently ill from eating cuajara (a fresh, rather foul homemade cheese) in El Lagartillo.
Besides the cheese cravings, however, I'm dealing with homesickness very well (especially now that I'm out of Granada!). The floral death of a Maine/Vermont winter can really get me down after a few months, and I'm psyched to be surrounded by all the fascinating tropical flora and fauna. I can't wait to learn more, on to Ometepe tomorrow! (Outcome: Berkley: 1, Granada: 0)
Sunday, January 29, 2012
BLOG!
I'm finally giving this a try! I know everyone has been anxiously awaiting my first blog entry (and by everyone, I mean my parents), but I have not had internet access since I've been in Nicaragua until now. (For those who don't know, this is a relief for me!) I have been in Nicaragua exactly a week today, though it seems both longer and shorter somehow, as time is likely to seem warped while traveling, especially when the trip is as disorienting as coming from Maine/Vermont to Nicaragua.
TRIP OVERVIEW: last Sunday I traveled from Managua to Esteli, and from there to a small, remote village in the mountains called El Lagartillo to study at the Hijos del Maiz Spanish school (check it out! http://www.hijosdelmaiz.net/eng/vision.html). From there I went back to Esteli for the night, then came to Grenada, where I am currently (more on this later!). I don't have plans for the next few days, but I do plan to spend Wednesday night in Rivas and travel to Ometepe on Thursday, where I'm supposed to meet up with other participants of the permaculture design course at Finca Bonafide (http://projectbonafide.com/). The course is a few (?) weeks long, after which my internship will being on the farm. The internship itself is somewhat open-ended as of now, but I plan to concentrate on developing my Spanish as well as knowledge of sustainable ag, something I've heard is not always easily done with all the foreign volunteers lounging about (yipes!).
Now: El Lagartillo
On Sunday I left snow storms on the East coast and found myself enjoying a Tona (con ~), which is something like watered down Corona and pretty much the only localish beer option I've seen so far, in Esteli in Northern Nicaragua by nightfall. I ended up at gringo hotspot Hostel Luna. In my defense, this was not the first place I looked, but the only one open! Though I rolled my eyes as I sloughed my backpack through the lounge area where English muttering could be heard from various hammocks, I was psyched to immediately meet a man who had traveled to El Lagartillo a few times and loved it! Once I realized that my Spanish was somewhat less developed than I had thought, I was a bit relieved to be in an English speaking community for the night, but not for long...
The next morning I departed from Esteli on the 7 am "rurales" bus, one of three passengers as we left the station. Stupidly, I brought my backpack on the bus with me. What followed was what I should have anticipated (I've done this kind of thing before!)--the bus stopped every few blocks to pick up more people, supplies, and animals, until it was impossible to move and I had to pile my giant pack on my lap and hold on for dear life. My pack actually provided a useful sight block, so that I didn't have to actually see the roads we were traveling on, and soon became a pillow as I gave in to my inability to remain conscious in moving vehicles (apparently ANY moving vehicle!, also most likely more on this later). Yes (parents may not want to read this sentence), I fell asleep on the chicken bus in rural Nicaragua.
Coming out of my stupor, I managed to hop off the bus at the right road (a bit difficult as there were no signs and the village was a kilometer or so up the road, but I do remember 'donde esta?!!?!'). I found El Lagartillo eventually, a square of a dozen or so open-air brick casitas surrounding a school and a library, and made it to my host family's house. I was going to get into the history of the village now, as this was something that both surprised and fascinated me during my visit, but I realize I've already been rambling for awhile and will save that for another time.
Overall, the week in El Lagartillo was absolutely perfect for me, I only wish I has planned to stay at least 2 weeks! The community is tiny, only about 150 people--kind of like a mini Bath, Maine only everyone literally knows everyone else and everyone's business. There is approximately the same amount of teen angst, proportionately. I will update more with the history and part 2: Berkley vs Grenada, tomorrow.
Buenas Noches!
TRIP OVERVIEW: last Sunday I traveled from Managua to Esteli, and from there to a small, remote village in the mountains called El Lagartillo to study at the Hijos del Maiz Spanish school (check it out! http://www.hijosdelmaiz.net/eng/vision.html). From there I went back to Esteli for the night, then came to Grenada, where I am currently (more on this later!). I don't have plans for the next few days, but I do plan to spend Wednesday night in Rivas and travel to Ometepe on Thursday, where I'm supposed to meet up with other participants of the permaculture design course at Finca Bonafide (http://projectbonafide.com/). The course is a few (?) weeks long, after which my internship will being on the farm. The internship itself is somewhat open-ended as of now, but I plan to concentrate on developing my Spanish as well as knowledge of sustainable ag, something I've heard is not always easily done with all the foreign volunteers lounging about (yipes!).
Now: El Lagartillo
On Sunday I left snow storms on the East coast and found myself enjoying a Tona (con ~), which is something like watered down Corona and pretty much the only localish beer option I've seen so far, in Esteli in Northern Nicaragua by nightfall. I ended up at gringo hotspot Hostel Luna. In my defense, this was not the first place I looked, but the only one open! Though I rolled my eyes as I sloughed my backpack through the lounge area where English muttering could be heard from various hammocks, I was psyched to immediately meet a man who had traveled to El Lagartillo a few times and loved it! Once I realized that my Spanish was somewhat less developed than I had thought, I was a bit relieved to be in an English speaking community for the night, but not for long...
The next morning I departed from Esteli on the 7 am "rurales" bus, one of three passengers as we left the station. Stupidly, I brought my backpack on the bus with me. What followed was what I should have anticipated (I've done this kind of thing before!)--the bus stopped every few blocks to pick up more people, supplies, and animals, until it was impossible to move and I had to pile my giant pack on my lap and hold on for dear life. My pack actually provided a useful sight block, so that I didn't have to actually see the roads we were traveling on, and soon became a pillow as I gave in to my inability to remain conscious in moving vehicles (apparently ANY moving vehicle!, also most likely more on this later). Yes (parents may not want to read this sentence), I fell asleep on the chicken bus in rural Nicaragua.
Coming out of my stupor, I managed to hop off the bus at the right road (a bit difficult as there were no signs and the village was a kilometer or so up the road, but I do remember 'donde esta?!!?!'). I found El Lagartillo eventually, a square of a dozen or so open-air brick casitas surrounding a school and a library, and made it to my host family's house. I was going to get into the history of the village now, as this was something that both surprised and fascinated me during my visit, but I realize I've already been rambling for awhile and will save that for another time.
Overall, the week in El Lagartillo was absolutely perfect for me, I only wish I has planned to stay at least 2 weeks! The community is tiny, only about 150 people--kind of like a mini Bath, Maine only everyone literally knows everyone else and everyone's business. There is approximately the same amount of teen angst, proportionately. I will update more with the history and part 2: Berkley vs Grenada, tomorrow.
Buenas Noches!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)