Crashing waves didn’t keep us up at night, nor were we woken up by the sun. We were however serenaded by some screeching birds beginning around 4am. Between that and the heat, it is difficult to get good sleep. We got ready for our kayaking tour a bit groggy, but arrived on time for our 630am start time. We were soon boarding our two-person kayak after meeting our guide.
While we were provided with the English-speaking guide, he decided that our Spanish was good enough to continue the tour in Spanish. Alright, then. We started on the lake for the first ten minutes or so, but it wasn’t too choppy. Soon we entered the mangrove forest. Bricole and our guide were the only kayakers in the mangroves at this hour. That helped our guide locate a few caimans — a cousin to the alligator and crocodile that live only in Central and South America.
They were small-ish and seemed more afraid of us than we were of them — retreating into the murky brush to hide themselves from nosy tourists. Birds were quite numerous as well, with different species flying and wading around the mangroves compared to what we had seen next to the lake. We found ourselves really getting into the muck and vegetation of the mangroves, sometimes struggling to get the kayak moving a bit. It was difficult to capture the depth and serenity of it all with the camera, but it was almost magical cruising between vines and lily pads.
After paddling around for a couple hours, we returned back to the dock and made it back to the hotel in time for a hearty breakfast of gallo pinto, pancakes, and eggs. One doesn’t know when they might get their next meal you know. It was then an hour drive back to the ferry dock, where things were bit confusing as usual. There’s no clear or defined ticket offices, so we kept getting bounced around until we felt we had the right tickets. There was no strange man in green polo to seek us out and help us today.
The one thing that remained the same was the anal micromanagement of the workers who “help” you park your car on the ferry. They tell you the opposite of what seems logical, then eventually tell you to do the thing that you were going to do anyway, but wanted to make sure it was their instruction to you. Anyway . . .the ferry seemed smoother going this direction, though it also seemed incredibly slow. We calculated how far it actually was and it’s only about 8.5 miles from dock to dock, but takes over an hour. Catalina from Long Beach is 26 miles and is done in less time for comparison. We had a decent breeze coming in through the windows, but we did get to witness a couple people looking under the weather including one who hurled over the railing. Been there my friend…
Mercifully we arrived to the chaotic and bustling streets of Granada, just under two hours later. Somehow we bagged a hotel in the town center with free parking on-site. But wait!!! We checked in and were shown to our room which had air conditioning, a mini-fridge, and a hairdryer! Xanadu! We weren’t expecting such perks in Nicaragua so we were rather pleasantly surprised.
The town of Granada, itself, has a very different feel from the other two locations we have been in Nicaragua. It’s an old Spanish colonial town from the conquistador days and is very similar in appearance to Antigua in Guatemala right down to the volcano in the background. The Plaza Colón Hotel is well situated near the main square and church of the town. Within the span of about ten minutes, we had seen pretty much everything there is to see in Granada. We got to a convent museum a little too close to closing time so agreed to return the next day.
There seem to be more tour groups here. It is, after all, the first place we’ve stayed that didn’t require a literal hike through the jungle to get to our room. It does appear infinitely more accessible in that sense. It’s a pretty little town, but has all the usual hawkers and buskers that come along with it. We ended up getting Nicole her margherita pizza at a place that had an outdoor courtyard. At 8pm, we were both ready to go to bed. Hopefully with cooler air and no need for mosquito netting and all these other things, we will sleep better tonight.
passports & pepto bismol 