A Man in Granada

I like taking photos of people and this is one of the photos I took of a man in Granada, Nicaragua.

I loved the colors of Granada, the colorful Caribbean pastels of the Colonial houses along the narrow streets and the people, who sometimes unaware, posed for me.

Visiting Nicaragua

The method by which we first arrived in Nicaragua was via a one day trip there from our hotel in Costa Rica. The hotel was offering one day trips to Nicaragua and I really wanted to go. The cost of the trip was expensive or so we thought. It was $145 US.

This made my husband reluctant and like everyone else, he thought that Nicaragua was dangerous. We thought of renting a car but then decided against it. I mean, what if Nicaragua was dangerous. We didn't speak Spanish, the roads are not great in Costa Rica and the drivers are kind of awful.

However, another couple said they wanted to go. I guess people are afraid of going to Nicaragua. I mean, the last thing you heard in the news about Nicaragua was about their civil war, but that ended in 1978 or 79. Then they had ten years of communism. Then you might have heard about some assassinations here and there and then nothing new about Nicaragua. No wonder people are afraid to go there for vacation. But the next day when we were to book the trip, they chickened out. Needless to say, I wanted to go, so husband bitching, we were going. He was bitching about the $145 US mostly.

The bus left at 5:55 a.m., and we made it.

Our tour guide was a nice Costa Rican guy.

The trip to the border was about an hour and a half. We were glad we didn't rent a car because, for one, our guide knew the roads and he could speak Spanish. And he knew how to speed things up through the border. Ten dollars US and a cold can of pop will get you through the border. Mind you, we had to wait at the border for a while and there were all kinds of guys walking around with wads of cash, trying to exchange money with you. Forwarned, we did not do our currency exchange at the border. I kind of like real banks.

We were tired when we crossed the border and we were told that breakfast would be in a half hour when we arrived at the town of Rivas and were taken to a splendid little hotel where I'm sure only the rich of Nicaragua dine. Breakfast was excellent and then we hopped on board the little tourist boss and headed for the town of Catarina.

Along the way, I looked at the houses of the people of Nicaragua. There is a lot of poverty. Sort of like the poverty of the countryside of Cuba. What Nicaragua needs is a large dose of tourism, and I'm sure that will start to cure the problems of poverty here. We will see.

Hola Nicaragua

Hola, Nicaragua,

I never dreamed I'd meet you, beautiful Nicaragua. If you don't like the poetry, then here it is plain and simple: I never dreamed I'd travel to Nicaragua. Sometimes, the best vacations are the places you've never dreamed of going and somehow by chance end up there.

Most people never dream that they would go to Nicaragua and have a vacation. Many of the peopleI spoke to were afraid to go to Nicaragua. Even my husband was afraid to go to Nicaragua and I had to force him. After the end of our visit, he loved the trip to Nicaragua so much that he now wants to live in Granada.

We had a very short trip to Nicaragua and that was enough to exite us to take future vacations to Nicaragua. We want to learn more about the country. So, I've started this blog to place my photos and stories of Nicaragua and what I find out about the country.

Ciao for now.