The Little Hilton Granada

... br><br>There is no running water, so the shower was a bucket of rain water and a bowl, which you filled to pour water over yourself. <br><br>verything, clothes, plates, self were washed using rain water collected in a big trough<br><br>The toilet was a drop toilet &#8211; obviously no running water and a breeding read hunting ground for mosquitoes, yes my **** got annihilated <br><br>Mosquitoes feasted on me for breakfast, lunch and dinner, after counting 80 ...

... Hospital in Diriamba (next town over). My impressions so far are as follows: <br>1) a lot of babies 2) childbirth is NOT pretty 3) lots of babies 4) lots of Dengue fever 5) lots of malnurishment and parasites.<br>I am so overwhelmed between the diagnosing of things in fast-paced Spanish that by the end of the 4 and a half hours I have been there, I am pooped... and then its off to play soccer with a bunch of rowdy boys.<br ...

... us out onto and around the lake. It was pretty dark and stormy and the sky was an eerie grey colour but we had fun looking at all the islands. Apparently the lake holds over 300 islands that appeared after various volcano eruptions. These islands vary in size but most of them are inhabited by locals and some have even been bought up by rich people. There´s always the threat of another eruption and\or storms so I don´t know how happy I´d be about living on ...

... weer van de partij en krijg je twee keer zoveel kussen en ook twee kadootjes!<br>Wij hebben op je geproost met een ice-tea!!<br><br>Vanavond gaan we de motor ophalen om morgen een dagje door de omgeving te toeren...tenminste, als het weer een beetje goed is. Vorige week hebben we ook een motor gehuurd en zijn we zeiknat geregend. Iedere kant waar we op gingen bleef de grijze bui boven ons hoofd hangen. Gelukkig dat ...

... just so I&#8217;d give them money. I felt completely uncomfortable the entire time I was there. It a big city and pretty dangerous, I was glad to leave and have no desire to return ever.<br><br>Taking the bus back at 5 in the morning was another experience. All these hard working people stuffed in this bus, it smelt bad, the bus was rickety and the luggage was carried on top of this school bus. Lets just say I will never forget those 2 ½ hours.

... architecture); spent a little more time there exploring some of the other churches and sidestreets - then proceeded to make my way back to the bus stop... AND I FOUND IT!!! haha albeit was there 3 hours early (hey, I'd rather wait 3 hours rather than miss the one bus that will take me back.)<br> never travelled this way (actually letting things unfold by the minute), but I suppose as they say, there is a first time for everything.<br>

... place. So tomorrow is my 30 day mark. That's right, 30 days left. It seems like a bunch of time, but it's clear to me that this remainder is going to fly by. I think I have some great plans for it and I'm really excited to get back to Guatemala and then up to Chiapas. But, I can't get ahead of myself. Before leaving Nicaragua I'm stopping in Esteli, where Rob and Meghan and Whitney are studying! Really looking forward to seeing them again. But, until next time.

Granada is another cool colonial city in better condition than Leon and much more touristy. The heat made us very lazy so when we heard about the nearby Masya volcano which you could get a taxi right up to the edge of the crater, we knew it was perfect for us. It is known as the ...

... opening match of the baseball season. I didn`t really understand who was winning but cheered heartily and waved my can of beer in the air when everyone else did. The slightly disturbing example of police brutality (involving truncheons and bare skin, ouch) at the end against an overexcited fan gave everything an edge which reminds you (in case it's possible to forget) that Nicaragua is a third world country and force is still a much more common tool than diplomacy.

... central park, I then picked a cab driven by an octogenarian, with his grand daughter in the rear seat telling him where to go. Barb was singing my praises for the rest of the afternoon. Did I dodge the bullet? Who knows. You just need to listen to the little voice inside your head. Better cautious than sorry. We are heading south to Ometepe Island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. This is an Island formed by ...