Granada, Nicaragua: First Impressions

I’d heard good things about Granada, Nicaragua. But most of the descriptions I’ve heard of it say that it is a “colonial city”. I didn’t really know what that meant.

I expected to see a lot of colonial-style architecture. What Jonathan and I got upon our arrival in Granada was a very pleasant surprise.

We got off the Tica Bus in Managua, Nicaragua (the capital). From there we took the “express” bus to Granada. This bus ride cost each of us a whopping US$ 1.75 for an hour ride.

We didn’t know exactly where Hotel Terrasol was, so we were dropped off at Central Park – right in front of a beautiful cathedral.

The park was surrounded by horse-drawn carriages. And lots of street vendors of all sorts – food, crafts, cigarettes, you name it.

We grabbed a taxi to our hotel. We were greeted by name when we entered, and given our pick of the rooms. We’d left our (very heavy by this point) bags downstairs, and they were brought up by the very nice hotel boy.

Our room has air conditioning. This was mandatory for us here in Nicaragua. It’s much hotter here than it was in Costa Rica or Panama.

We decided to take advantage of the day and check out the town. A quick glance at the map told us we were walking distance to anything we wanted to see.

On our way to the cathedral in central park, we saw another church. This one appears to be nearly in ruins, but their bell tower is in tact and study looking.

We saw that it was only US$ 1 to go to the top, and that they have the best view in town. We couldn’t pass it up.

It was spectacular! We could see all the major landmarks, and the lake. We could even hear the clock tick, and the bells chime on the hour. The bell tower is a must-do activity for anyone in Granada.

From there we went to the park to look around. Then something wonderful happened. We got hungry!

This is the first time that we’ve been hungry since we were in Bocas Del Toro (nearly 2 months ago). We stopped for some paninis at Café Europa.

The food was excellent, the drinks were cold, and the atmosphere was fun. What more can you ask for?

We walked around the town some more after that. What a great place Granada is. It’s beautiful, safe, and always something to do and look at.

Also, Nicaragua is cheap! This was a nice change after coming from Costa Rica. Here we can buy sandwiches, dessert, and drinks for under $13.

We spent some time in the cathedral and the walking plaza and then it was back to Hotel Terrasol for a delicious dinner and early to bed.

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La Paz Waterfall Gardens: Waterfalls Near Poas Volcano

La Paz Waterfall Gardens (includes waterfalls – $35/each for non-nationals – $70 total.).
La Paz Waterfall Gardens is not only a set of gardens and waterfalls, it’s also a small zoo with monkeys, birds (including toucans), jungle cats, frogs, and my favorite part of all, a butterfly house.
Carrie and I are not big fans of going to zoos. Though we think in concept they’re a good idea to get people interested in conservation and to make people aware of what exists in the world, for ourselves, we’d just rather find a way to go see the animals in the wild. But not all people are thinking that way, so it’s good that the opportunity exists in many cities around the world in the form of a zoo.
Anyway, because the road was closed due to an earthquake from a year or so ago, the only way to see the waterfalls was to pay to go through the gardens/zoo.

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Poas Volcano and National Park: Costa Rica’s Poas Volcano

Today was a great day in Costa Rica.
We spent some money to do it, but we got to the top of Poas Volcano (our second day attempting to see Poas).
On the way up the volcano, we got some very good advice from the driver of a tour minibus who had stopped his bus so tourists could take pictures of a natural sloth he spotted.
We stopped and took pictures of the sloth as well.

This Poas guide’s advice: if it’s rainy in the morning on the top of Volcano Poas (regardless of what the weather is doing elsewhere in the country), go to La Paz waterfall gardens or do zip lines first, and then go to the top of the volcano.
So we took his advice. (More on La Paz Waterfall Gardens in a bit.)
We got to the first crater of Poas at the right time for the sky to be clear and to see the whole crater ($10/person +$2/car for non-nationals).

We learned some interesting factoids about Poas that I would like to share, just in case you want to come to Volcano Poas as well.

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Crazy Costa Rica: Ruminations on Costa Rica

Irazu Volcano and National park, where we tried to go today but didn’t see much due to fog:
http://www.costarica-nationalparks.com/irazuvolcanonationalpark.html
http://www.costaricamap-online.com/php/map03/map03map.html
Guayabo National Monument, where we did go today even though we got there shortly after it was closed, but didn’t see much due to pouring rain:
http://www.costarica-nationalparks.com/guayabonationalmonument.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guayabo_National_Monument
Costa Rica. Ah, Costa Rica

This might become a bit of a rant. If you’re not up for that, this particular post may not be for you.
Looking at the past couple of days, I feel like one good thing I can say is “At least nothing bad happened.”
And I think it’s terrible to have that be one of the primary thoughts in my mind about a country which clearly has a lot to offer.
While venting these thoughts about Costa Rica on Facebook, I was a little disappointed.
Someone said I sounded like a typical American with my complaints about things not going according to plan or schedule.
I’m familiar with the “typical American,” also known as the “ugly American.”
It’s the first time I’ve been aware that something I’ve been talking about with regard to our travels has come across that way. Hopefully it’s the last time I’ll come across as a typical American in a negative context, and I’ll definitely be more aware of that going forward.
At the same time, I have felt frustrated or annoyed nearly every day we’ve been in Costa Rica, while not at all in Panama. The first week at Hotel Aranjuez in San Jose, the second week at La Tortuga Feliz, the turtle project near Bataan (south of Tortuguero), the third week in Puerto Viejo, and now, this week, outside of San Jose.
One good thing I can say about Costa Rica is that the people we’ve met here have been really nice.
None of this is a reflection on them.
Here’s what I’m running up against, I think, in thinking about Costa Rica…

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Thanksgiving in San Jose, Costa Rica

It’s always more fun to celebrate Thanksgiving with other people than by yourself. This year, Jonathan and I decided that we would invite Kattya and Ricardo over for Thanksgiving dinner.

They couldn’t make it on Thursday night, so we had Thanksgiving on Friday instead.

One thing about traveling is that you have to be flexible with what you can and can’t find in a grocery store. Our menu was a bit different than “normal”.

We had a roasted chicken (We couldn’t find turkey anywhere, so Jonathan roasted a chicken), mashed potatoes (made by Jonathan – and they were absolutely fabulous), green bean casserole (which I made from scratch with fresh green beans and a béchamel sauce, and canned mushrooms since I have yet to see any raw mushrooms in any grocery store), stuffing (again made from scratch with what I was able to find in the store), and an apple pie.

It might sound pretty traditional to you, except that there wasn’t a turkey. But, remember we’re not at our home, so everything has to be made with what we have at hand.

This means that the pie and green bean casserole were made in cooking pots, and that I used a water bottle as a rolling pin. Have you ever had to use a plastic bottle as a rolling pin? It works, but it’s not easy.

And my very favorite parts of Thanksgiving meal were unavailable: cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie. The rest of it is good, but without the cranberries, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie, it’s just dinner…not Thanksgiving dinner.

When Kattya and Ricardo arrived, we learned that it was Ricardo’s first Thanksgiving. We were very happy to get to celebrate with him.

Anyway, it was really fun. And the plus side to not being able to find turkey is that the whole meal took under 2 hours to prepare and cook. Not bad.

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Poas Volcano and La Paz Waterfall, take one

We knew after yesterday’s troubles, how to properly configure the GPS and how it was of dire importance that we know how to get somewhere by ourselves, rather than relying only on GPS.
So this morning we set off for Volcan Poas. This was a relatively easy drive (compared to yesterday, anything would b)e. But, we managed to get to the top of Poas in about 2 hours (again, an hour longer than what people say, but we’ve decided to just add an hour on to what everyone says).
The roads to Poas are better, but that doesn’t mean that they’re good by any means. And, we had to drive through Alejuela. I don’t think that there’s a non-busy street in that place. It was crazy crowded.

Anyway, when we reached the top of Poas, the guard at the gate told us that there was a storm, and we wouldn’t be able to see anything. It was up to us if we wanted to pay the $10 per person plus $2 for the car. We asked if it would be like that all day. He said it was a storm, so it wouldn’t clear.
We thanked him for his honestly and left. Again. Just like we did yesterday at Volcano Irazu.

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Adventures with GPS in Costa Rica

To see how we got in (and out of) the following, please read the whole post – it’s a long one. In fact, it’s probably the longest post I’ve ever written.

*A 6 hour day that really took 12 hours
*Irazu Volcano
*The bumpiest road ever traveled
*Guayabo National Monument (after it was closed)
*A car-swallowing mud pit
*Fog so thick we couldn’t see the end of the car
*A road that ends by dropping off a cliff
*A dead end road just before where we need to be
*11 hours in the car for 20 minutes of tourism

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We’re Thankful for Amazing People Around The World

It’s truly WONDERFUL how many amazing people we’ve met.
Kattya and her Boyfriend went out of their way to take us to Fiesta De La Maiz on Sunday, and even bought us breakfast (just the second day we were renting from Kattya in San Jose).
Rob bought us dinner only meeting us for the second time, and really is a great new friend.
Vicky bought us lunch and invited us into her home to eat dinner, use her Internet, and play cards. We’re enjoying getting to know her.
Dave and Cora broke bread with us over some wonderful meals, and also invited us to come back and house-sit for them (which we are going to take them up on). This friendship is just beginning.
Carlos slowed down his Spanish and spoke deliberately and clearly so that we could understand him (first time a local has really made an effort at that for us). We’re looking forward to having dinner/lunch with him when we’re back in Boquete housesitting.
Danny took us around in his truck one afternoon, sharing stories and background on the Boquete valley that we don’t think could have come to us as completely from any other person.
Chris let us borrow his car and drew us amazing maps so we could get to Caldera hot springs.
Dan let us stay in his guest house in Playa Coronado and introduced us to his circle of friends, as well as made an extra trip to Panama City so we could return the rental car and still have a ride back to Playa Coronado.

We’re enjoying all the people we’re meeting in the places we’ve been so far. Thank-you to all of you who have made our travel absolutely incredible!
We’re thankful for everyone who made the effort to come to our wedding two years ago — especially those of you who came from abroad. We know that it was probably not easy to get to Colorado Springs from far-flung parts of the planet, so thank you.
We’re thankful for the unique gifts of the talented people working with us as contractors in their areas of specialty (thank-you Lindsey W, Lisa C, Bobbie A, Christine B, Julie R, Andy N, and Lindsey S).
We’re very thankful for our truly amazing family and friends, you make our lives more exciting, wonderful, and easier.
We’re also thankful for the Internet, without which, our lives would be dramatically different.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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And Now For Something Completely Different

It’s all a bunch of silliness, really.
You may now continue on about your business.

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The touristy side of San Jose, Costa Rica

We thought that since we’re staying just outside of San Jose, that we should really see the main tourist sites.

We walked from the condo to the bus stop, which is about a 25 minute walk. We actually went to the wrong one first, but we asked the guy waiting, and he pointed us a few blocks away to the right bus stop.
An interesting thing about bus stops and, well, everything really in Costa Rica, there are no signs. You just have to know that you’re at the right stop. There are also no schedules posted for when the buses will come.
But one came, and we got on. It was only $0.75 each for us to ride into downtown San Jose. The ride itself was only about 45 minutes. But, we did get to see this couple across the aisle who was totally making out. The whole way. I didn’t know people actually kissed like that. Yikes.
The bus dropped us off, and thanks to the handy dandy map from Hotel Aranjuez, we knew where to go to see the National Theatre.
We see it, and try to take a nice picture of it, but there are trees in the way, then a big crane comes. So, we don’t quite get the picture we envisioned, but c’est la Vie (or in Costa Rica: pura vida).

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