Spring Break 2010 - Granada, Nicaragua Part I

Granada, Nicaragua Part I...

Three flights later, with a layover in Los Angeles and Atlanta, we arrived in Nicaragua at night. Shortly thereafter, receiving my first passport stamp in Central America (number 38, but whose counting?! woot!). After collecting our luggage and meeting with out shuttle guide person, we exited the airport to a crowd of people with signs - very reminiscent of Manila Airport - along with the signs, we were greeted with warm air.

Yup, the forecast before our departure was 82 degrees at night, and hot as hell during the daytime, peaking at lava flow. Excitement filled the air, well our driver wasn't very friendly and actually didn't say a word to us, so we entered the shuttle and just took in the scene to get to Granada - our destination.

We arrived in the city late at night, excited to reach our hostel while our tummy grumbled, the city reminded me of a cross between, Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Spain. At our hostel, we busted our best Spanish telling the lady "tenemos una reservation". Honestly, you can make any word sound Spanish, just say it with a Spanish accept. Repeat after me, "reservation! Reh-serrrrr-vah-shawn". Our hostel was pretty ghetto, and at age 29, we decided to share a private room instead of bunking with a bunch of kids who roam the streets and return drunk and loud, which will create friction when I tell them to STFU upon their return. Oh yeah, ghetto... so our room wasn't bad considering it was $28 for both of us, it included a bed, a fan (with a timer), a small bathroom (which smelled), and WiFi! The AC costs an additional $5, but that was not a big deal given that it was 80 degrees.

Upon seeing our room, we decided to gallivant and check out Granada, it was pretty late, and since it was low season there wasn't many people around - the way I likes it. We found the restaurant that Lola (my partner in crime wanted to visit), El Jardín de Orión, the food, good, the price, good, the ambiance, stupendamous. After stuffing our faces with various breads and our main entree, which composed of fish, we decided to explore the town further. Armed with a free map from the airport, we found the main street. Apparently, it was party time and our invite was lost in the mail as we had already eaten. Loud, dark and hospitable, the music played on the background while we walked on the cobblestone road, with restaurants, and tables on the street, filled with people, food and laughter.

One thing we decided was it was time to check out of the hostel and move to a different hotel. Nicaragua is a great country for Americans to visit as you can have a completely low end vacation ($4/night at a hostel) to higher end ($62/night at a hotel). We decided on Hotel Spa Granada. Words cannot express how much I love this hotel. The end.

Just kidding! The hotel was more than we could ever ask for. The rate was reasonable, there's even a cheaper option of $52 night. (More pics to come in Part II) The amenities were pretty much super awesome. Nice room, hot water (not included in hostel), WiFi, a pool (people from surrounding hotels come for $5 a visit) and it includes a 30 minute massage (DAILY!!) Granted it isn't as cheap as Philippines and south east asia, but if you throw in the airplane ticket price (hint hint, much closer, its definitely worth it). The number one reason why we loved this hotel is the staff. The people are super friendly, bi-tri-quad linguists knowledgeable about their city.

Old Hospital...  It was near King Quality.

Ok, so this is actually our first day in Granada, we already switched hotels and we leave the next day for Monteverde, Costa Rica. The cheapest method to get from point A to point B in Nicaragua is chicken buses. You could probably get from one side of the country to the other side for $3. BUT with our schedule we had to take the most expensive and reliable mode of transportation, King Quality. After buying our tickets, I somewhat grumbled, well I did grumble that we had to be at the bus stop at 0445AM (yawn! I know right!). Since it was basically hot as hell outside, we returned back to the hotel, and yup pool time for me. Then massage time. What a hard life...

Dinner time! After walking around Lola sawer (British accent) it, El Zaguán. Needless to say, after eating at this place, we were in tears. The food was so good, so good that my stomach rumbles in rabid desire for El Zaguán. Ummm... I don't even know how to phrase it... Let's just say you'll be hearing more about El Zaguán.

Alright, so basically after eating enough for 2 people, well 2 American people and probably 3-4 Nicaraguan peoples, we walked back to the hotel and I was basically so full I didn't really do much, watched the health care issues on TV. I woke up at 4am after a power nap and lugged our luggage downstairs. Well, more like a duffel bag and backpack for me, and a large backpack for Lola and a tote bag. So after flagging down a cab, which BTW was my preferred mode of transportation as Lola wanted to walk everywhere. Tip 411, cabs are really cheap, its 20 cordobas anywhere in town which the exchange rate was $21.80 when we were there. We arrived at King Quality bus stop at 0445.

0445. No Bus.
0500. No Bus.
0515. No Bus.
0530. No Bus.
0545. No Bus.
0600. No Bus.
0615. No Bus.
0630. No Bus.

Obviously the bus was NOT coming, so we talked to the guy well Lola did because I'm quite cranky when I am deprived of sleep and I can't vocalize my frustrations in Spanish (not yet anyways)... Supposedly, the AM bus was not coming so the next bus was coming at 1430.

We returned to our safe haven that is Hotel Spa Granada and they were more than happy to give us our room, since no one cleans rooms anywhere in the world around butt crack of dawn. Breakfast time was in order. We went to breakfast at the Garden Cafe, which was free - Holla! This threw a wrench in our plans because we had a 2:30pm bus to catch in Liberia, Costa Rica to get to Monteverde (3.5 hours by car... ????? by bus). At this point it was talking time, should we stay? should we go? We would lose the deposit at the hotel, or pay $140 for a private driver to take us from Liberia to Monteverde. After a phone call from the telephone business center to Jose in Monteverde and a drink from the center which I don't really recall what it was, and a breakdown of all the costs we would accrue with going and not going.

We decided, wheez funna go.

Alright... this time around we got to the bus stop at 1430 (2:30pm for you non 24 hour clock peoples)...
1430. No Bus.
1445. No Bus.
1500. No Bus.
1530. No Bus.

Krabby Patty

At this rate Lola is talking to a photo journalist who have traveled pretty much around the world, Martin is his name and he's from New Zealand. I felt like a puppy at a pet store looking at all the passersby asking to be picked up. I honestly needed a chiropractor after 2 hours of my neck zigzagging.

Oh yeah here's a pic of me at the stop. Not really friendly... LOL

1600. Could it be? The magical bus that will take us to foreign lands? STFU?!

It is! After the gentlemen tagged our luggage (seriously) and gave us a claim check, we entered the air conditioned bus with seats across from each other. Ok, King Quality is the equivalent of first class of buses. There was air conditioning. The young lady provided us with a box which included a sandwich and also gave us a beverage (we even got to keep the whole can. What?!) After pretending that I was reading my notes for my midterm upon my return, I decided to just look outside. Yup, it was a volcano and one of the places we wanted to visit. Omotepe. We decided earlier that this trip would be an amuse-bouche basically tantalizing our taste buds with a smidgen of Granada here and Monteverde there. One surprise to me was the presence of large wind turbines. As I would say, "Ho, there's choke turbines!", but given that we were on a bus and a lot of people were sleeping, I just kept it to myself and grinned at another moment captured in my mind that I cannot express into words. Before our arrival to the border, the gentlemen offered us treats and yeah it was hella good. It was a ribbon-esque pastry dessert that wasn't too sweet. Yet it had a gentle crunch when you bit into it which suddenly melted coating your tongue with its delicious goodness.

In case we needed further confirmation that King Quality was the bomb, they took all of the passengers passports and they stood in line for us. We were very happy yet anxious as we thought we would be in Liberia at 5pm, where our ride was now waiting to take us to Monteverde.

Stamp #39, you're departing Nicaragua. Here's where it's crazy retarded and I probably will not be visiting Costa Rica anytime soon because it does not make any sense whatsoever. Needless to say we waited in line to enter Costa Rica for 3 hours. There was 1 line for everyone. In my travels, I am always pleasantly surprised to meet very nice people who want to talk and in this case, Lola's bus neighbor became chat buddies (Cadelia) and she would help us out in more than 1 occasion.

Departing Nicaragua...

If you're going to Costa Rica from Nicaragua, be prepared. You'll need to hold on to your yellow slip and you'll need a ticket saying your monkey ass is leaving Costa Rica because they don't want you to stay in Costa Rica for more than 90 days.

2000.  We're entering Costa Rica, feeling bad that the person waiting for us is just waiting and we have no way of calling.

That my friends is the first 48 hours of my holiday.

Next... Monteverde, Costa Rica!!

Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.