Our first full day in Nicaragua is most likely going to be our most and only cultural day in this country.
I woke up to the sunlight and to birds battling it out at 5am. It was everything that I dreamed and feared of. The noise resembled mice fighting in our room, and the sun was burning my baby white skin. The sun rose and little by little the day became hotter and hotter. It reached a whooping 96F yesterday BEFORE we even stepped into the colorful city.
The hostel offered us free breakfast and coffee, which got us ready for the day. We packed our bags, left a towel behind (accidentally) and left to explore Granada. The town is made out of building painted in all different colors, creating almosst a cartoon feel to the streets.
Our first stop was Granada Cathedral, where we stopped and admired the contrast of the orange-yellow wall with the blue sky. The building looked new, repainted with the lively color to mask its not-so-radiant past. The cathedral was built in the 1500's and burnt twice before the year 1600. Then in the time of pirates (William Walker, to be exact)- 1800's, it was raided and destroyed. Finally, the reconstruction was finished in 1915, which is why the building fits in the skyline so perfectly, unlike Notre Dame De Paris. Within the cathedral, you can go up the bell tower, but we decided to save this for a little older and unsightly church. Inside Granada Cathedral, they are painting the ceilings with biblical scenes, including some Michelangelo and a scene from Noah's ark, where Noah clearly saved a pug from the flood. We stepped back outside into the sun to quickly explore the city for the most picturesque street.
I had looked up a few monuments and places to be, but as four Travel for Teens girls would, we wandered in and out of the little streets until we reached the Lake Nicaragua. The sun was beaming and we were sweating, but we were at awe with everything.
From the colorful walls to the lively streets to the little square our hostel was on, we barely noticed how little water we were really drinking. On the way back to Granada Cathedral, we stopped at a little juice bar were we met a Californian family who had just arrived. We chatted it up, talking about their daughters (mother was very proud, dad was embarrassing them with the dad jokes), education and travel of course. We gave them Sam's business card and went back to Parque Central to head to Merced Iglesia which is another church, with a similar history as Granada Cathedral.
We climbed up the bell tower of the dilapidated church to appreciate Granada at a bird's view. The view was completely different as the roofs were identical clay tiles. As we climbed back down (after Sam rang the bell, clearly a forbidden act), we headed back to our hotel, ready to embark to our next town: Esteli.
Brodia and Sam drove for about 4 hours and a half. We passed trucks, chicken buses, pick up trucks with cows in them, pick up trucks with people in them, motorcycles with too many people on them and other slow cars. We made it past a fake construction site, which was really a ploy for beggars to demand money and a small 9 year old to flip us the bird.
We stopped at a trucker's stop and enjoyed our first Nicaraguan meal, which consisted of ... Rice, meat, plantains and beans! It wasn't the most admirable meal, but it filled us up (honestly, the point of Central American cuisine).
We arrived at our destination, and got into our hostel. It is nothing fancy, two private rooms in a what looks like use to be a residential house. Our first night was spent talk to the Mexican worker, Jon Christian, where Brodia got to relieve me of my Spanish speaking duties and he made us all michelada: a beer mixed with crushed chili peppers and lime juice. He walked us to his favorite comida tipica (Nicaraguan food) because he couldn't point it out on the map. And so for a whole 1$ each, we ate our "carne asado" (tacos) and "enchilidas" (empanadas). On the walk back, Sam stubbed her toe, adding out first injury to the trip. Jon Christian made us another round of michelada and we sat outside talking about our aspirations, texting our parents, friends and reminiscing on our connections with each other.
After going to bed, I couldn't help but realize how much we had done within our first 24 hours in Nicaragua. We drove across the country, we tried new foods, we explored two towns and we made a new friend.
It is only fair that today we go canyoning in the scenic Somoto Canyon in wild Nicaragua!
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