La Casona de los Estrada Granada

... decided that we could easily take him. Then he told us his name (something cute but impossible to remember) and that the little pieces of vegation floating in the lake were ¨water lettuce.¨ We decided that anybody who willingly says water lettuce in their job probably isn´t going to kill us. So we sat back and relaxed. We rode around the lake, looking at various houses on their little individual islands. We saw the house of the owner of Flor de Cana ...

... I first suspected. I became more determined to learn Espanol – not at all sure how it’s going, but I’m currently immersed in a rural community Hijos Del Maiz in a small village of 25 houses and 100 people, mas o menos in northern Nicaragua and am being forced to speak and listen to Spanish 24 / 7. Well not quite, I’m still dreaming in English, but you get the picture. I’m hoping after a week here my Spanish will be good enough just to be ...

... br><br>We had decided to go to Lagono Apoyo the following day and surprise surprise, we woke to another beautiful sunny but terribly hot day. Apparently Lagono Apoyo has depths reaching over 200m in the middle, being a lagoon formed in a volcanic crater. A short hop skip and jump on the chicken buses and we were lazing in extremely warm waters, surrounded by beautiful scenery. That day though, none of us wanted to do anything more strenous than the odd lazy ...

... there passed us on the way up, climbing in flipflops he was, that really made me feel good about myself. We set off from base camp and began our ascent of the volcano. To say that it was tough would be the understatement of the year. This climb was without a doubt the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. Ever. The way up was almost vertical and it was a case of scrambling on hands and feet, no leisurely stroll in the Kerry mountains let me tell ...

We zijn blij dat het weekend is....<br><br>Gistermiddag veranderde de plannen. Het Hollandse feestje kon niet op maandag plaatsvinden maar wel vandaag. Dus moesten we als een gek boodschappen doen gistermiddag, een nieuwe gasfles regelen voor het fornuis, pannen regelen, de zooi opruimen.....het zwembad verschonen en ook nog even langs het kantoor van de huurbaas om de nieuwe bankpas van Heleenop te halen die Margreet verstuurd had (denk je alles geregeld te hebben..gaat ...

Inmiddels zijn we twee dagen op weg met onze Spaanse les. Om 7.10 u gaat dagelijks de wekker en om 7.55 u lopen we de straat uit en zijn we op school. Romal, onze leraar, zit dan meestal al in een schommelstoel op de varanda op ons te wachten. We hebben een eigen hoekje in het gebouw met een koele van en een whiteboard. Het voordeel van ´les met z´n tweetjes¨ is dat je samen het tempo bepaald, elkaar prima aan kunt vullen, en ...

... it was around 5am.<br><br>Aaaaaaand, luckily, it worked out. In fact, we got the seats in the first row. Extra leg room!<br><br>Being 7am, the sun was out and people were more awake. The bus was very cold but I'd forgotten to change into my sweatpants and sweater. So i was pretty cold on the bus and couldnt sleep. <br><br>We stopped at a pit stop around an hour and a half in. It was very cute. It was made of wood and had vaquero decorations ...

... dann kann man in einer wunderschoenen Anlage chillen so mit Liegestuehlen, Kayaks, Haengematten,... Aber das machten wir natuerlich nicht. Also ja, wir gingen dort natuerlich schon hin und taten so, als wuessten wir nicht, dass wir zahlen muessen... Das ging dann auch ein Weilchen gut, aber eben nur ein Weilchen...;) Dann gings weiter nach Managua, der Hauptstadt Nicaraguas. Alle sagen ja, man solle die Stadt so gut es geht ...

... flick fix, we headed off to Managua to drop Mary and Becca off to volunteer at a garbage dump, to buy ourselves a visa for Nicaragua (as we were told we had 5days to leave the country!)...this was a make or break day in terms of travel plans! We got our visa for 10dollars...so decided to stay in Nicaragua, Mary checked in with the volunteering place (but is back with us now), and we made our way down to the colonial city of Granada. Granada is ...

... og da klokken var omkring 4 kravlede jeg tilbage mod hotellet! (Ikke pga. øllene mor, men fordi jeg havde danset så meget ;) Næste morgen skulle vi op klokken 7(Nogle kom direkte fra diskoteket ind i bussen) Og så gik turen til én af de mange vulkaner der er herover. De fleste var mere interesserede i at sove end at se vulkanen da vi nåede frem, men jeg og 5 af de andre gik til tops og fik taget nogle gode billede selvom det var meget diset fra al den damp der ...