Hotel Kekoldi de Granada

... house 1/2 block from the parque central. About 30 family members hanging around plus birds, dogs &amp; cats, but still much quieter than yesterday &amp; slept really well. Nice to have my own bathroom after about 2 weeks of sharing - nice not to have to wade through peoples flem, scum and shower babies!!<br><br>Booked my night lava tour with Nahual Tours after they confirmed 2 others had paid but when I got there at 2.45 they lied and told me the park was closed ...

... to find some food, and we ended up eating one of the best typico Nica meals we´ve had so far. It was, like yesterday, a buffet style setup. This time we knew how it worked and got a massive plate of carne with onions, chicken, rice, cheesy potatoes, and fried plantains. And of course, orange soda. It was delish. <br><br>After lunch, we decided to head to the parque and down Granada´s most touristy pedestrian street. We felt like we had been transported to ...

... particular was very chilling especially for me and my snake phobia... <br><br>This girl that we were talking to was telling us about a roomate of hers at uni, who had a friend whose family collected snakes back in England. Apparently they had quite a variety and used to let the snakes roam around the house. They also used to (freakishly!) let some of the bigger snakes eg pythons and such, sleep at the foot of their beds at night! Anyway, the snake that this girl ...

... docked again. The boat was very pleasant. No choppy seas to be worrying about. Mattan read his book, Omri stared out to see, pondering for the majority of the trip and myself and Brian played cards. The views were just incredible as we drew nearer to the island. Two giant volcanoes towering up into the sky. One shaped just as you´d imagine a volcano to be, rising up and up and coming together, hidden by the clouds in a perfect cone. The other not as high ...

... guesthouse owned by Valeria, a recently returned Nicaraguan, and her Sicilian husband. We enjoyed a warm, welcome-to-the-family overnight stay that was remarkably relaxing, as we chit-chatted with Valeria&#8217;s sister and her American husband and two babies and played with Olly, Valeria&#8217;s French poodle. <br> We&#8217;re heading to Ometepe, the largest island in Lago de Nicaragua, next. Looking forward to a 3-6 hour ferry ride (depending on who you ask) tomorrow afternoon.

... br>When the taxi driver said "we're here," I looked up and the frist thing I saw was a woman sitting with a shopping cart that had a garbage bag and food on top of it. I asked the driver if he was sure and he pointed to the station. It was sqeezed between a parking lot and a car workshop. Easy to miss if you're not paying attention. Then I realized the woman out front was not a begger as I'd thought, but actually selling snacks and drinks.<br ...

... to have dinner. Its such a sad situation for these kids of course but because of the heavy influx of tourists coming through the kids expect you to give money and even when you don´t want to just give or buy 70 bags of cashews, they have an attitude and get pretty rude and in your face. Other than that its a pretty cool place to see.

... barring a market, but was a pleasant enough place to stay for a half decent nights sleep (which never came due to the heat!), something to eat and a few beers. One thing i must add regarding leaving Utila is how nice it was to finally be exposed to an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables wherever you want and all at cheap prices! The following morning we drove towards our border crossing..and it was a very painful experience. The whole process ...

... solo travelers camera full... well that seemed really lame to write that all down but I feel a little better for at least recording the lost documentation. P.S. I´m going for the Cardinals since they´re last superbowl appearence was as a chicago team. That is all for now, and I´m sure you didn´t make it this far anyway so I´ll end with the famous words of Purple monkey dishwasher, los gatos en mis pantalones, pura vida y buenos chochas.