Granada, Love at Second Sight

07.03.17-11.03.17

Now that I'm back in Cologne and have a new nose. The surgery was ten days ago, I'm relatively fit again and have time to write. Once the new job has started, I don't know if I will still have time and leisure to finish what I really want to do. I have seen so much that is worth describing and telling in words and pictures. Since I hardly have any photos of my stay in Granada, most of the photos are sourced from Google. So they are stolen, so that you can also get a visual impression of the stories.

Departure from San Juan. It is still a bit difficult for me, but after three weeks I can say goodbye. I hug everyone in the villa again and off we go. Mela and I take the chicken bus to Rivas at 11:45 a.m. and there we get on the chicken bus to Granada. The whole route costs us about 4 dollars. In the late afternoon, we jump off the bus in Granada, which stops in the middle of the busy shopping street. Pretty much anything is sold on this street, mobile phone cases, kitschy ruffle aprons, bicycle tubes, plastic shoes, pirated CDs and much more. We hardly see any tourists. We walk one and a half kilometers along this hot, chaotic street to our hotel. In the hotel, we booked two beds in a 4-bed dorm and thought it would be more like a hostel. But no, it's a real hotel. Advantages: it's quiet, we have the room to ourselves all the time because apparently no one else books a dorm in the hotel except us, it's very clean. Disadvantages: it's quiet, we don't meet any other travelers, we miss the hostel atmosphere. But hey, the pool is pretty nice.

Mela's not feeling so well today, but after resting and freshening up a bit, we go out to eat something. We walk through the neighborhood and we don't like it. There is no life on the streets at all, neither locals nor tourists are out and about. We walk from restaurant to restaurant and everything is quite expensive. We didn't expect that, as it's not really touristy. We would love to go to a local restaurant, but we can't find one. Eventually, we find something nice, although there are hardly any other guests, and have a nice, relaxed evening. Tonight we go to bed early because tomorrow we want to explore the town.

The next morning, Mela is still not feeling much better. She can't really say what it is. She keeps having coughing fits. But we still go out and have breakfast at Kathie's Waffle House. It's at the top of TripAdvisor. The breakfast is amazing, at least mine. I order scrambled eggs with bacon and potatoes. More like a lunch, but super delicious. Mela has a waffle with blueberries and she keeps looking at my food enviously. Since she often thinks my food is tastier and it has become a running joke between us, she decides today that she will only order the same as me. After breakfast, we walk to Lake Nicaragua. We walk through almost deserted local neighborhoods, which is a bit spooky. The lakeside doesn't reward us with much beauty when we arrive. The promenade is nicely laid out, but again: no people!! So far, Granada seems to have prepared itself for tourists, but they just aren't here. Maybe we're here during the off-season? Or has there been a prediction of an eruption from one of the surrounding volcanoes and we don't know about it? Well, there aren't that few people around...

On our way back to the center, we stop at a pharmacy and get cough syrup for Mela. Of course, not the herbal kind, but the pink chemical one. It's probably more effective. We'll see. Then we walk to the market hall. An old, peeling building built at the beginning of the last century, if I remember correctly. It has a lot of charm and I don't understand why the stupid Lonely Planet says it would be nice if someone would renovate the building. We then walk through the hall, but even more interesting, through the area behind the hall. This area is not covered and it's a maze of paths with stands that sell everything again. Sometimes you almost feel like you've landed in the Middle Ages... If it weren't for the piñatas hanging there in the shape of minions or Superman and all the plastic stuff. It's sad again that my photos are gone. That was a really exciting detour and once again we are the only tourists there.

In the early afternoon, we return to the hotel. Mela lies down since we still want to go out tonight and she wants to be fit. I sit by the pool, write a bit, and hope that she will feel better later. Tonight, we want to go to the Treehouse. It's a hostel outside of Granada where legendary parties are supposed to take place. We can't miss that. Tonight is the Weird Wednesday Party. There's supposed to be a box of clothes for dressing up and just fun.

Around seven, after a little sleep, Mela is feeling relatively fit again and we go out to eat in a local place. Finally, rice and beans again, dry chicken, and fried plantain. Yippee! We take a shuttle from Granada to the hostel, which leaves from the main square. There are quite a few confused-looking travelers at the meeting point indicated on the Treehouse website, so we must be in the right place. At ten past eight, we get on the back of a pickup truck. After 30 minutes, the last ten minutes of which are on a pretty bumpy dirt road, we are dropped off in the middle of the jungle and are directed up a steep path. We half climb up for ten minutes and wonder how it will be possible to walk down drunk. Well, we'll see later. Then we arrive. Yes, it's actually a treehouse. There may be about 25 crazy people there, who are already quite drunk playing some strange drinking game. Unfortunately, the box with the weird clothes is already empty. Hm, not quite what we expected. Okay, let's have some beer and tequila. I just think to myself: Damn, the first shuttle back to the city doesn't leave until midnight, when Melanie says exactly the same thing. We're kind of bored. About an hour later, the costume box is refilled, we're dressed up in ridiculous clothes, another group of party guests is brought in, and we're having a great time, we're painted, covered in glitter all over our bodies, and we only take the shuttle back at 2 o'clock in the morning. Interestingly, it's almost easier to get down the hill drunk than sober. Well, it could just be my imagination, but at least we all make it down in one piece and back to Granada.

The next morning, I don't have a hangover again, but Mela still doesn't feel well. We go for breakfast at the Waffle House again to give ourselves some strength, and we meet some crazy party guests from the night before. They all still have paint on their bodies and glitter on their faces. Yes, it was already a legendary party and again I mourn the loss of my photos. After our breakfast, we set out to visit the churches of Granada. We have both seen many beautiful churches in the world and we're not so impressed. Mela still feels strange. She can't really say what it is, but just weird and she keeps coughing. So she goes back to the hotel and lies down. I still want to continue a bit and visit a church where you can climb the bell tower and the view is supposed to be great in every direction. And it really is a beautiful experience, too bad we didn't do it first and Mela isn't here now. You can see over the tiled roofs of the city to the volcanoes and the lake. Now you can also see that every block of colonial houses has an inner courtyard. Many of them are green oases. The weather is changeable, it suddenly drizzles a bit, it's very windy on the tower, but it's wonderful to enjoy the panoramic view.

In the evening, we go to eat "Chinese" food. It doesn't taste very Chinese, but at least it's a huge portion, very cheap, and we somehow like it. Later, we go to Kelly's, a bar with a dance floor. We don't pay an entrance fee and it's open bar. Perfect! We have a few rum and cola drinks and watch a group of drunk Germans dancing out of sync. Embarrassing for them, entertaining for us. Mela is not in the mood to dance at all, so we don't stay long and leave around one o'clock to go back to the hotel.

Last day in Granada, last day in Nicaragua. Tomorrow, I'm flying from Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, to Guatemala City. Since I wake up quite early and Mela, who is still not feeling well, needs her recovery sleep, I go to the pool. I underestimate the sun, I'm not wearing sunscreen, and I get a slight sunburn. More like a light brown one. When Mela gets up, she has a small enlightenment. Her condition has been strange ever since she started drinking that strange cough syrup. We remember, that pink chemo stuff. Who knows what's in it, so she stops taking it as a precaution.

After booking a tour to the Masaya Volcano for tonight, we spend the afternoon at the Garden Café. A beautiful colonial house with a tropical green courtyard. I write my blog and Mela reads a book she found in the café's book collection. At 4 p.m., we're picked up for the tour at our hotel. Our minibus driver speaks mostly Spanish. Since the two of us are sitting in the front with him, we talk. I'm getting quite good at it now. When I HAVE to speak Spanish, I manage. When I can switch to English, of course, it's easier for me. The ride to Parque Volcan Masaya takes about 45 minutes. Once we arrive there, our minibus joins a long line of cars waiting to get in. Almost an hour later, it's already getting dark, and then we are finally allowed into the park. But then we have to wait again, as the area from which you can look into the crater of the volcano is limited, only a certain number of cars are allowed up at a time. Waiting is annoying, but it makes sense. When we finally get our turn, we have a truly fascinating view of the lava flow inside the mountain. As it's already completely dark, we can see the lava glowing and bubbling, there's a smell of sulfur in the air. If there were a hell, this could be the entrance. After 20 minutes, a whistle sounds and we go back to the cars and minibuses. It was a short experience, but totally worth it.

Tonight, we finally want to have a nice dinner and go to Pita Pita, an oriental-Greek-Italian (?) restaurant with a beautiful courtyard and super friendly service. The reviews on TripAdvisor are really good. We share a large platter of appetizers and a Greek salad and we're really impressed. After that, we're stuffed, slightly food-coma'd, but of course we still want to go out and party together on our last evening. Hm, maybe not too crazy, I have to get up tomorrow at 6 a.m. Oh well, it won't be too wild. So we walk over to Reilly's. Oh boy, it's Ladies Night, all drinks free until midnight. We drink, dance, meet a lot of people, have a great time, and then my iPhone is gone. I probably accidentally left it in the bathroom and someone took it. Mela asked about it again tomorrow, but unfortunately in vain. Well, there are worse things and I will survive the next four weeks without a phone. It's just a shame about a month's worth of photos. Yes, I'm an idiot and haven't backed up for a while. We stumble back to the hotel at 3 a.m., far from sober. Unfortunately, Mela is still going through the food again in her head and I quickly go to bed. I have to get up again in three hours and I haven't even packed my backpack. This should be fun...

After some minor initial difficulties, Granada turned out to be really nice. The time with Mela was also fun and uncomplicated. Now I have to say goodbye to Nicaragua with a heavy heart, but I'm looking forward to another four weeks of traveling and to my girls.