Nick and I set off from Santa Rosa on the 7:30 bus last Wednesday. We then caught the 12:30 Ticabus to Granada, Nicaragua. Taking a Tica bus is VERY different from taking your run-of-the-mill chicken bus in Central America. They are air conditioned, have a bathroom, and they show movies. So the 8 hour trip turned out to be super comfortable. When we got to the border of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, we went through customs, no problem. In line to get back on the bus, I was chatting with a couple of Israelis, who just finished their obligatory service in the army, and are now traveling for like 6 months, before starting college in the fall. They tell me that most young people (like 70%) travel after the army. In any case, while we were chatting, a border official came and pulled both of them out of our line to be searched again, and questioned more extensively. We figure it is because they had Israeli passports. Anyway, it turned out that the police didn’t have a translator, and the Moshe and Gal didn’t speak Spanish. So, they asked me to translate for them. So, I translated all of the border official’s questions into English (which Moshe and Gal speak perfectly, in addition to Hebrew). Everything turned out fine, and we proceeded on the bus to Nicaragua.
When we arrived in Granada, it turned out that the Israelis were heading to the Bearded Monkey Hostel, and so were we! So, we shared a cab. Nick and I ended up spending the entire trip hanging out with Moshe and Gal, who are super sweet. I was joking with them, saying that I bought their friendship by spotting gal a dollar for the cab, but she says I really bought their friendship at the border.
Our hostel was cute, and had a good atmosphere. It was a huge colonial house, which now serves as dorms and a restaurant. In the center there is a big patio with plants and hammocks. We ate breakfast there every morning, and I had some ridiculously delicious banana pancakes, and free coffee- how much better can life get, right? Pictured at left: Moshe drinking coffee during our hostel breakfast.On Thursday, the 4 of us walked around the city, and checked out all of the historical sights (see pictures). Granada has a really pretty avenue (Calle La Calzada) running down the center, with restaurants, shops, and houses on bot
h sides, and it ends on the shore of Lake Nicaragua. Despite how idyllic this one street looks, though, there is a lot of poverty in Granada, and Nicaragua in general. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in all of Central America, behind Haiti. There were a lot of street children and people panhandling, and it made me a little sad to see it. There are problems in Costa Rica, especially in the bigger cities, but Nicaragua was definitely a shock. One really funny little boy came up and tickled me when we were eating dinner one night, and asked if I would buy some of his gum; we did.
h sides, and it ends on the shore of Lake Nicaragua. Despite how idyllic this one street looks, though, there is a lot of poverty in Granada, and Nicaragua in general. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in all of Central America, behind Haiti. There were a lot of street children and people panhandling, and it made me a little sad to see it. There are problems in Costa Rica, especially in the bigger cities, but Nicaragua was definitely a shock. One really funny little boy came up and tickled me when we were eating dinner one night, and asked if I would buy some of his gum; we did. On Friday, the America-Israel alliance traveled to the Laguna de Apoyo. It is a really gorgeous crater lake, outside of Granada. Our hostel has a house there, where you can either stay overnight, or just go out for the day. We went out as a day trip, and it was BEAUTIFUL! The sky
was clear, and the house had comfortable hammocks to lounge in, and there were kayaks and a dock to sunbathe on. For lunch, Moshe cooked us some Israeli food. I feel like I learned as much about Israel and that area than I did about Nicaragua and Central America. I can now say at least 5 swear words in Hebrew (who knows why those are always what you pick up first) plus the polite words like “good morning” and “thank you”. In fact, if you are reading this, Moshe and Gal: What up, kalba? Pictures: Nick kayaking; the view from the house's porch at sunsetOn Satruday, we all went to the Masaya, which is a less touristy, artesanial community. We walked around the market, and I bought some sweet pants. The, we took a bus to the Masaya volcano. We did the night tour that they offer- and it was totally worth it. We saw the volcano, and crater- which was emitting a ton of smoke, some lava tunnels, a ton of bats in the caves. The last part of the tour, we had to put on gas masks,
and they took us right up to the edge of the crater. The smoke and gases were pretty strong, but we could see a little bit of the red glow of the lava. My eyes were burning, and I was coughing something awful- but you only live once, right? To get home, we walked out to the road, and tried to flag down a bus. We managed to find one going to Masaya, and there we walked to another highway to try and catch a ride. Our ride from Masaya 
was… interesting… A mini bus stopped, but was already completely full. However, the driver did some arranging, and managed to stuff us in. The bus is probably meant to hold like 30 people, and I would say that there were at least 50-60. Moshe was the last one on, and he had to ride hanging out of the open doors while we went like 60 on the highway. It was an adventure. When we got home, we ate dinner, and talked to the front desk about how to check out in the am, since Nick and I were going to be leaving super early the next morning. I was glad to learn that there would be someone around to give me back my $3 deposit that I paid on our locker. Before going to bed, we shared a group hug and said goodbye to our new friends. Nick and I woke up at 5 am to get our stuff together and be at the busstation by like 6:15. However, we had a small hang up. I was trying to open up the locker where our stuff was stored, in complete darkness so as to not wake up the other 8 people sleeping in the room. But when I stuck the key in the lock, it totally came apart. Seriously, the main part fell out into my hand, and some little balls also fell onto the floor. Using my IPOD for light, Nick and I tried to fix it, but it was hopeless. I went and got the nighttime guard for the hostel, and we carried the entire locker into another room (with light- thank goodness). The lock was 100% jodido, so Nick and I walked, in our PJs, to Granada’s fire station (which was luckily right around the corner). They leant us some bolt cutters, and after some skillful wielding by Nick, we got the locker open. The guard was laughing, and told me that I was definitely not getting my deposit back… I told him that I had kind of figured that.
Well, we made it to the bus staion, and back to Santa Rosa. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. When we got on the bus, and I finally hada few minutes to distress- I realized that I had woken up with weirdo hives all over my body. I freaking hate how weird my skin gets. They are not “the itchy” that I usually get as an allergic reaction- they are different. I still have them today, but am hoping that if I keep dosing myself with antihistamines, I will stop looking like I have leprosy. Actuyally, I have no idea what leprosy looks like, it is just the disease that I usually compare my skin got. Similarly, whenever I am sick ,I say I have SARS. That’s just how I operate.
