Beis-a-bol Been Berry Berry Good To Me

We have made it to Granada, also known as Gringolandia. It is a beautiful city, the oldest city that is still on terre ferme in the Americas. Apparently, the oldest city in the Americas is underwater somewhere off the coast of Florida. It is very nice here, right on Lake Colciboca and has beautiful colonial buildings, great restaurants, and nice hotels. In fact, it was a bit of a chore finding a hotel yesterday when we got in as all of them seem to be booked and we were getting a bit worried looking around town, carrying our backpacks. But finally we found a place just a few blocks from the main square called Patio del Malinche. We are paying WAAAAAAAAAY above our normal $35 and splurging on this place a $85 per night. But hey, we all deserve a little luxury once in awhile, don't we?

Last night we had dinner in a wonderful restaurant that was recommended by our new Nicaraguan/American friends, Homero and Imelda, called Zahuan. It's a steak lovers paradise and Amy had a tender, delicious filet mignon and I had a skirt steak that was as tender as soft butter. This was washed down by the tasty Flor de Cana Gran Reserva rum, a glass of Carmeniere for Amy and a cold beer for me. There was live Nicaraguan music and just a really nice atmosphere. It was a pricey dinner at $43, but for all of this? You decide if this is expensive.

Today we decided to go to the nearby town of Masaya, which is known for its craft market and hammock makers. We had gotten the address of a really good hammock maker from Don Alvaro in Ometepe and decided to check him out. I know, we already have a couple of Yucatan hammocks but you can never have enough hammocks!

We took the chicken bus over, which is an experience itself. We have been lucky to get seats on all the chicken buses we've taken so far and this time we got seats, too. In an hour we were in Masaya and after wandering around getting a bit lost, we hailed a cab and he took us to the market. Nothing great there, so we went down to the hammock area, a bunch of small places that make hammocks which are right on the lake. We found Mr Sauza, who was the hammock maker for Don Alvaro and bought a nice one which is off white with some blue trim. Very nice.

Right next to the hammock maker is the town baseball stadium, a nice big stadium that is similiar to some of the minor league stadiums in the US. It probably holds about 2000 fans, but today a little league game was going on and there were about 50 proud parents watching. The kids looked to be high school age. So we got to experience a Nicaraguan baseball game, which is a lot of fun. Baseball (or beisbol here) is the national pastime in Nicaragua and the Nicaraguans are big fans. We figured out who the home team was and were cheering right along with the parents.

Tonight we are back at the Malinche, swimming in the nice pool and enjoying the cooling afternoon. Again, Nicaragua has presented us with wonderful suprises and another joyfull day.