Day Trip to Masaya

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Tuesday morning was our first day of being down one girl :( Jil had to leave early for a six a.m. bus back to San Jose because she was flying back to L.A. on Wednesday where she would fly back to Korea where she's been living and teaching English. It was kind of sad waking up and seeing her bed area empty just because you get so used to being around these girls after traveling together for so long. I really enjoyed traveling with Jil and getting to know her over the past couple weeks. Crazy to think that just two weeks ago, I had a complete stranger meet me in the airport to fly to San Jose, and next thing I knew, it felt like I'd known her for much longer.

Today was the day we would visit a neighboring town called Masaya for some cool markets and shopping. Trent and Matt joined us in the morning to walk to the bus station on the other side of the main plaza. The five minute walked led us to a small, almost van style bus that we loaded up for Masaya. The bus ride took about twenty minutes to a half hour and then we got off in search of the downtown area. The locals told us it wasn't too far of a walk so we decided to skip the taxi and just walk toward the downtown and market part of Masaya. The walk there was a cool experience because we got to pass so many local businesses that you wouldn't get to really experience up close from a taxi. Stores like plumbing supplies or flooring stores or Matt's favorite, a guitar manufacturing place. It seemed like we had been walking for quite a while and getting no where. It wasn't necessarily bad, because all I had on my arm was my purse for the day, but I felt bad for Gloria. She was staying in Masaya for the night and then meeting her friend, so she had all her luggage with her, a huge and heavy backpack as well as a daypack on her front half. As we got closer, she decided to grab a taxi to her next hostel, so we said our goodbyes and continued until we reached downtown. I would miss Gloria and was very thankful I went kayaking with her on Ometepe and got to know her for those few short days!

Because the walk was a little farther than we had expected, food was the first thing we wanted to seek out. Walking by a small party store, Niki, Matt and I popped in for a fifty cent ice cream cone which hit the spot perfectly until we found a little Mexican restaurant a couple blocks down.

As we walked into the little local restaurant, I hoped and prayed it would be nothing like the Mexican food from the night before. The restaurant had about three or four tables, two of which we pushed together to fit our group. It was cool to support a little local place like this. I started with a bottled water and ordered nachos, hoping that that couldn't really get screwed up like my vegetables medley burrito from the other place.

Food took quite a while which is something you have to get used to quickly here because restaurants in Central America aren't like the ones at home with a large kitchen staff. Often times, the same person that greets you and gets you drinks, is in the back helping the one cook prepare all of our dishes. When our food arrived, everyone was pretty satisfied with their selection. The nachos I got weren't really like the ones at home, but they were good! I've noticed after visiting Mexico and now Central America, that we season our meat way differently than they do. Anything we make with burger in it usually tastes like tacos, but this meat was more along the lines of sloppy joe meat. It was good food and really hit the spot for our hungry stomachs.

After lunch, we set out to find the markets that our book described as a very cool area to by souvenirs and other local themed merchandise. Based out of some kind of old building with open archways along the walls, we found the market and began to look around. Colorful jewelry, paintings and trinkets lined the walkway along with little booths you could walk further into with more stuff. Most of the sales people were pretty set on their pricing, unlike places I have been to in Mexico where if you don't agree with the pricing, they'll work it down. This market probably gets so much traffic everyday that they don't really have to adjust their pricing. I looked long and hard at a kind of woven or braided necklace with a cool jade stone, but ended up passing on it because I couldn't see myself spending $30 on a necklace! Of course, now I am kicking myself because I think of it a lot!

Anyways, Niki and I somehow branched off from the other four and ended up in a booth with a ton of cool canvas paintings. The ones we were scoping out were brightly colored and very simple paintings of a woman's face. We both bought one for fifteen bucks a piece. I was super excited a out my purchase and cannot wait to have a place of my own to hang it in. The ladies were kind enough to un-tack it from the stretcher and roll it up for us to carry while traveling. I was sure to snap a picture before mine was rolled up all the way because I knew that once it was rolled up and taped close, I would want to look at it again. That is what the photo would be for, and so that I could show you guys before I got home.

During Niki and I's search for the perfect painting, time had gotten away from us and our group had moved on. We searched the market high and low and had no clue as to where they went. Niki even asked a couple of the locals at the main entrance if they had seen them and all we got were negative replies. Right when we decided to give up and that they must have just went back without us, we caught a glimpse of Matt at the end of the block, so we shouted his name. He turned around and signaled with his arm for us to make an immediate left. Doing so, put us right into a local bar where we found the rest of the group.

They were already a few beers deep and had made some friends apparently. "Oh my gosh you guys, they've bought us all this beer and keep buying more, you have to help us drink it!" they said with excitement as we entered. They really weren't kidding! I look on the bar and each person has two bottles in front of them, as well as a couple liter bottles on the bar too!

Now for those of you that don't know, I HATE beer! Everyone that hears that says one if two things: 1) What?! You are not a Stawara! Or 2) Oh, you just haven't found your right beer. In response to both shocked reaction statements, Yes I am a Stawara, I may just have been skipped on the beer obsession gene and I am a trooper and try every single kind of beer in front of me, and they all make me make the ugliest face as I gag it down. Hahaha.

Tuesday was another one of those stupid days I thought I would overcome this dislike for beer, or so I thought. I'm not sure where Matt had gone at this point, but there was an empty stool and a brand new ice cold beer in front of it, so I filled the vacant spot. The beer was free, so why not, right?

I couldn't tell what was making me want to gag more? The beer that I tried drinking or the middle aged Nica men that were in love with us girls. Matt and Trent were there protecting us, so I never felt threatened, and they were all in fun. It was the blonde hair again! The one guy kept pulling me out on the floor to dance in front of the vending machine and kidding my hand and stuff. The girls were sure to snap pics of me laughing my ass off at the hooligans. Us girls were behind the bar at times and having a good ol' time dodging the old creeper men. Best part was though, the drinks were free!

After an hour and a half or so, we said our goodbyes to our new friends and began our walk to the bus station to head back. One thing we learned throughout the day at Masaya was that the way finding wasn't great and that everyone just points you in general directions when trying to find a place. We finally found the "bus station" which was a dirt field of a bunch of retired school buses. Central America is the place where all of our old school buses go to retire and upon retiring, they get ghetto paint jobs, tinted windows and any thing else you'd see on an episode of 'Pimp my Bus' HaHaHa! The lots they were parked in looked like what the parking lots do after a week long fair. Matted down dirt areas with no remains of grass because of the traffic. Anyway, we trekked across the dusty lot, past people selling juice and pop in bags, snacks for the bus and candy, toward a bus headed to Granada. We boarded the bus and waited for take off. Niki bought a small marshmallow character on a skewer for cheap while we waited. As the bus filled, more and more people stood in the aisle. One of which was a middle aged black dude that didn't speak any English. He seemed three sheets to the wind already as he winked and smiled at me. He said something I didn't understand, so Nicki was nice enough to translate that he thought I had beautiful eyes and kissed the top of my hand. I laughed uncontrollably along with the girls around me as I quickly wiped the back of my hand on my skirt. I had the heeby-jeebies from his kiss but just laughed it off with my friends. Next thing I know, he's telling Nicki how he likes my hair as he began to pet me like a petting zoo animal. That was enough and so I pushed his hand away nicely, of course while laughing and told him no. I never felt threatened, more just weirded out because I'm not used to strangers reaching out at me like ET's creepy finger, and of course it made me laugh. He just smiled and laughed with us with his metallic dental work showing with each smile. Niki told me don't laugh anymore because he thinks its funny and that when he goes in again, hit him to enforce and confirm that I'm serious. It was when he went in for a second pet, that I smacked his hand with my rolled up painting and he jumped back. I tried as best I could not to smile over the fact that I just got to swat at a full grown adult on a public bus. I told him, "No!" and tuned into the local women on the bus cracking up at my willpower. They thought it was hilarious. Trent could tell it was getting annoying and uncomfortable for me so he stood up and tried to shoo the drunk and creepy man away. He kind of turned away from me enough for Trent to sit down, before he started winking and smiling again which obviously aggravated a local guy near him enough to say something. The man in the red polo shirt sitting next to drunk man nudged him and told him that that was enough. Drunkie, then decided to slap the guy on the shoulder because he didn't agree. We all sat back holding our breaths kind of, waiting for something to happen, but red polo man just held his breath and bit his tongue. They both got off at the next stop so your guess as to what happened after that is as good as mine. They got off with others so I'm sure it was fine.

A little while later, our bus came to a stop in downtown Granada and we headed back to the hostel to shower and get ready for dinner. Matt and Trent broke off for a little while and we met back up a little after sun down to head to another clown show at the same bar as the night before. Plus our buddy Allister had met up with the clown group and weaseled his way into their performance which was going to be awesome to watch.

When we got to the bar, we called dibs on some good seats for the show and then Niki and Erin headed out to get some take out from The Garden Cafe to eat during the show. They returned with veggie sandwiches and wraps that we chowed down just in time for the show to begin. We were seated on a patio courtyard of the building around a stage that opened to the sky. As the show started, kids rolled and flipped and juggled, mimed and did tricks with a special yo-yo. It was an amazing show and really had us shouting out loud at times at how impressed we were. After the clown school's performance, Allister took the stage as a quirky OCD character in a skit that involved members from the audience and had people cracking up! He did a great job and had us wiping tears from our eyes from laughing so hard.

After the show, we headed back to the hostel and packed up our things for a morning departure and hit the hay after a bit of blogging and Facebook checking, of course.

Photos:
1) My painting I bought at the market
2) Dancing with the local dude at the bar
3) Niki and I in the bar
4) Niki and I with Trent (looking a tad bit like Edward Cullen!)
5) Me, Erin, Niki