Weekend in Granada

Well, we just got back from Granada yesterday; it was a fun trip for most of us (the healthy ones).
We left on Saturday after meeting Dan and Nathan at Papa John's for lunch at Galerias Santo Domingo, the really nice mall in the city. Also it should be noted that Papa John's is a nice sit down restaurant here, not just a carry out place like in the U.S.
(Pictures are of the Mall and of us in Papa John's).





After lunch, we took a cab to the mini-buses that run to Granada and Masaya. It's always funny to walk past these as the drivers shout continuously and point at passersby on the platforms as if they just might convince you to take an impromptu trip... Anyways, we arrived about an hour later in Granada and made our way to the hotel we were staying at. This place was actually rather nice by American standards and even had a small pool. We relaxed there for a bit, and then explored the central park area of the city. There were a few interesting shops and street vendors, but most of the stuff was junk, large gaudy jewelry, or other random trinkets. We went to a local restaurant to eat that evening, and even though it was a very nice restaurant in a tourist city, the meals were about 7 a person including a drink.

The next morning, Tim and I had to make a quick stop at an island in the nearby lake to assess a house that the owner wants to power with renewable energy. The lady (a resident of California who inherited the island from her father) has many different ideas of what she wants to do with the place, but regardless she wanted to have a solar/wind system. The island itself was very nice; covered in mango trees and baby parrots that willingly will let you hold them.



Following the appraisal, we rejoined the others in the city and relaxed for the day as we were fairly tired. (Pool, reading, internet at the hotel).

On Monday morning, we decided to rent bikes ($1.00/hr) and to go around the city. We saw many interesting landmarks, churches, and an old cemetery where several Nicaraguan presidents are buried. After about two hours, the sun had started to get to us and we returned and hung out at the pool.

Tim had been feeling slightly ill for the majority of the trip, but got somewhat worse that night, so we took him to a local clinic where the Doctor diagnosed him with a bronchial infection. The clinic itself was... interesting. It wasn't dirty, but it was not up to American standards at all. Either way, the medicine seems to be helping as Tim is getting better.

The following morning we returned to Managua, and I went to Suni to get a few things done while Tim relaxed and tried to get better.

I am uploading several more pictures to the slideshow above, take a look!