Our Saturday in Granada
June 17, 2010 § 4 Comments
The next day we had a traditional Nicaraguan breakfast in our hotel, we’ve found that breakfast is included in most lodging rates. Our breakfast was tamales, a very traditional dish made of corn meal, meat and rice that is wrapped in a banana leaf and then steamed. They were delicious, Todd who doesn’t get that excited about food declared “I would eat that again.” after clearing his plate, high praise indeed.
After breakfast we went to the Tierra Tours (LINK) office on La Calzada, a pedestrian street, just two blocks from our hotel. We chose a hiking tour of Volcán Mombacho. To get there we hopped in the back of a Land Rover and headed towards the base of the volcano. Then we started up the volcano on a one-lane road with two-way traffic. In order to prevent accidents, guards at the top radio to guards at the bottom and vice versa when trucks have arrived at their destination. It’s a crazy system but necessary with all of the hairpin turns on that extremely bumpy and extremely narrow road.
Once we made it to the top, we began our hike around of the crater of Volcán Mombacho. To our surprise it was completely green, just covered in trees, so picturesque. Our guide, Rafael, pointed out all of the unique flowers and trees and also clued us into the fact that the growling/oinking/grunting noise we kept hearing was actually howler monkeys. We also heard an ocelot and a wild boar really close to the trail. Unfortunately (fortunately?) we didn’t actually encounter any of those creatures – just a few salamanders. At the end of the trail we were rewarded with fumaroles, holes in the earth that let steam out of the volcano and, the most stunning view of Granada, the neighboring town, Masaya and Lake Nicaragua.
After the hike we had lunch at Jardin D’Orion, a French inspired restaurant where we had a delicious meal topped off with blueberry crumble, a real treat in an area lacking blueberries. Our plan after that was to go to Masaya to see the artisan market but it started to rain as we were asking for the check. Instead, we went to Seeing Hands, an organization that offers massage from blind people for a very good price. Our massages were $3.00 each for 15 minutes, including a tip. Seeing Hands trains the blind students who otherwise have very few options for work in Nicaragua. Todd was pretty skeptical about getting his massage and almost backed out but after we left he deemed his experience outstanding, I totally agree.
We spent the next hour or so just hanging out at Euro Café, which houses Seeing Hands, while waiting for the rain to clear. After the rain stopped we went to La Merced, a local church that allows guests to climb their bell tower. From there we had a great view of the city, definitely a view that was worth the dollar we paid for the chance to see it.
Post church we headed to the barbershop where Todd paid a whopping $2.50 for a fresh haircut. We finished up our trip to Granada with a nice dinner at a pizza place on La Calzada. As we were leaving, break-dancers showed up on the street and gave a performance that was actually really good. It was a fun way to end a great weekend getaway.
The Sunday, after a 12 hour trip home that began around 4:00AM, we made it back to Potrero and enjoyed a dip in the pool and a quiet evening at home. Just lovely.
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