After some weeks traveling via chicken buses I decided to take a shuttle from Leon to Granada at a cost of $15 US. Upon arrival in Granada I checked into the Bearded Monkey, a nice local hostel set in the historic part of Granada. I relaxed for the day in the hostel enjoying the artwork and the company of others from all over the world. The following day Moran and I decided to rent bicycles for the day at a cost of $5 US. We toured the city all day stopping along the way at various places to try the local food, see the market, walk along the lake, and rest in parks.
The bicycles aren’t new and my seat wasn’t very comfortable because it kept moving on me, but still the fun was had and we saw parts of town we wouldn’t have gone through would we have walked. Each night was spent listening to Salsa music at Café Nuit, which was just around the corner from the hostel.
The people in Granada were very friendly and I enjoyed my stay there a lot. It’s one of those places you could enjoy staying for a bit and maybe even living there. However, I wanted to see other things so I went to the Monkey Hut (owned by the Bearded Monkey) on Lago de Apoyo. I had been spending time on various beaches without sun block but here I managed to get the worse burn I’ve had in years. Now weeks later and the peeling has almost stopped, but I now wear sun block. Some of the people there didn’t know they had to bring their own food so we managed to prepare a nice spaghetti dinner and a great breakfast for 7 people with the food we brought, which we all enjoyed eating on the balcony of the Monkey Hut. The highlight was getting to kayak around the lake for a bit, which left my arms a bit stronger but sore. Then, of course, there was the night we swam out to the raft and laid under the stars just talking and enjoying the quiet night.
Next it was onto Isle de Ometepe, which is a volcanic island in Lago de Nicaragua (the big lake in Nicaragua). We had to catch a local bus to take us to Masaya and then walk a bit to catch another bus to take us down to Rivas and San Jorge.
Here is the link to the Google Map of Nicaragua.
