Granada is about 20 minutes away from Masaya. Chris actually used to live in this town before the Masaya house and it’s where Oliver takes his Spanish classes. The town has a colonial feeling- there are still horse-drawn carriages driving in the streets. I particularly like this town because of the colorful buildings. We have yet to walk around in the Central Park, but I’m sure I’ll do that sometime while I am here.
The San Francisco Church
After brunch in Granada, we packed for an overnight trip to San Juan del Sur, which is where Chris (and Oliver sometimes) work. It was a 2 hour drive, but by the end of the drive, we would be at one of the most beautiful beaches on the western coast of Nicaragua. Instead of taking the highway, we took the more the “Chocolate” Road to get to the beach (”Chocolate’ because when it rains, the road gets muddy.) I don’t think I’ve mentioned driving in Nicaragua, but it’s pretty different from driving in the US. I don’t know how Chris and Oliver handle it because I would get stressed. Not all the roads are paved, and even if they are, there are still pot holes, dirt mounds, oxen/horse carriages, and plenty of other obstacles to avoid. But they do have a truck with 4-wheel drive, so they’re prepared to off-road.
The rural scenery of Nicaragua is gorgeous…lots of greenery, blue skys, and cloud formations that rival the Northwest (I was extremely impressed with the Seattle clouds, but I don’t know…the clouds down here have been amazing as well.) On the drive, you see school children walking to/from school, mothers and sisters walking with their children, men walking alone or in groups. You see some people working on the roads as well. It might sound a little silly when you read this, at how I am just observing people walking the distance to their destination, you don’t really see that in the States. Or at least I don’t. It’s mainly highways and freeways with the communities mainly on the otherside of a wall because it’s probably a sprawled community. You don’t really see daily life happening around you when you drive on your freeway/highway commute, do you? Granted it’s a rural setting and long stretches on the road in Nicaragua, it is pretty dynamic.
Another thing we saw a lot of were giant posters for Daniel Ortega, who recently ran (and won) the presidential election here in Nicaragua. He was previously president from 1985-1990, and was a leader in the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSNL). He lead the FSNL against the US-backed Contras during his earlier term, so there was a lot of controversy surrounding his re-election, enough for me to change my ticket to arrive in Nicaragua a week later than my original date.
Daniel Ortega
Out of all the candidates who ran, it seems pretty much like Ortega spent the most on his ad campaign. There are huge billboards of the same ad above all over towns and it certainly was prevalent in the rural areas. I noticed a lot of houses that had mini-posters or the FSLN flag hung up on their front porches. I can’t say I have asked a lot of people what they think of Ortega (due to language comprehension!) but I hope hear some opinions by the time I leave.
After a pretty rough ride towards the end of the the Chocolate Road, we arrived at our destination. Oliver and Chris had described the beach as a fun hang out: there was a bar with hammocks, good music, and a beautiful beach to boot. But it was pretty darn quite and desolate, even for a Tuesday afternoon. Oliver and Chris went to check it out, and when they came back, they had the most disappointed look on their faces. It turns out the owners had decided to close down the beach to the public. Oliver had not gone to it that long ago, since he had gone with Vannyvy about several weeks ago, so it was a shock.
We ended up going to La Playa Madera, which was near by. There was a little surf shack/restuarant/bar off the shore so we grabbed some drinks and Oliver had (of all things) spaghetti. I thought the beach was pretty nice…the water was warm and the sand was soft. There were a lot of surfers hanging around the area.
Oliver
’Serious’ Chris
Christy
Joy
Me
Playa Madera, San Juan del Sur
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