What looked like an amazing bed, turned out to be an even more amazing sleep! I slept next to my backpack and my belongings because there was no room on the floor around me, but slept like a total baby with a fan on me and a outlet to charge my phone by my side.
The alarm went off about eight thirty to wake us up for a day at the lake. Our hostel had told us of a crater lake about twenty five minutes from our hostel that we could spend the day at called Laguna de Apoyo. The cost was only ten dollars and that covered our transportation to and from the lake as well as free use of the kayaks and tubes.
I grabbed some toast, a banana I had leftover from traveling and orange juice for breakfast, while playing on the wifi. Then we suited up, lathered ourselves with sun lotion and loaded up in a van taxi at ten a.m.
On the way there, I got a better look of the city of Granada. Like any city, there was a lot of garbage in certain areas like streams under bridges and all up and down the curb. Ignoring that though, the town was quite cool and not like anything we had seen yet. It definitely had a very Spanish/European influence to the buildings and city streets. Granada is a very old town, founded in 1524, and has a very colonial feel to it with it's elegant churches, center town plaza, bright colored adobe walls and use of decorative columns.
We worked our way out of the city and into the countryside. The road became dirt and I caught my first glimpse of the lake in the distance. They called it a crater lake for a reason, because it was surrounded by tall and green hills that our van slowly made its way down closer and closer to the water. Just like the lakes in Michigan, it was a small dirt road that wrapped around the lake and worked closer and closer to water level.
The van stopped in front of a beachside hotel and we piled out. The hotel was where we would stay for the day which was posted on the steep hillside over looking the lake. Hammocks hung unoccupied in the trees around us and a tiki looking bar sat right by some cushioned lounge chairs on a flat area chiseled into the hill. Below that, were rocky stairs leading down to the pebble covered shore of Laguna de Apoyo. It was gorgeous and blue and a lot bigger than I had expected.
My small toast and juice breakfast had worn off so I was ready for a small snack. I ordered plantain tostadas and pico de gallo. Plantain tostadas are bananas or plantains sliced very thin length wise and fried like a chip. These are super common and sold at every roadside cart and super yummy.
As we lounged, read and sunbathed, we watched a group of about ten teenage Nicas hanging out on shore by the hotel's dock and swimming area. They were horse playing, drunk and shouting things which made us not too comfortable for swimming yet. It's not that we saw them as threatening, because they were just having a good time, but based on how much attention we get on the streets, we weren't about to go down there in swimsuits and dive into the water near them. After a little while, the hotel guy running the bar keyed in on them and asked them to leave. Once they moved down the beach a little, we headed down to check out the water. The shore line was very stoney, so our only option was to dive in off the big dock which was great. The girls in the water before me prepared to judge me and the couple other hotel guests' dives. The guys in front of me were averaging sixes and sevens and then I showed them up with a perfect ten :) HaHa.
The water was crystal clear, the perfect temperature, and best of all, not salty! The fresh water lake was pretty wavey for a lake and entertaining to us for a while. After our fingers and toes were nice and pruney, we headed back up to our lounge chairs for some fresh fish tacos and another small relax session before our taxi returned at four to take us back. I enjoyed an ice cold Sprite out of a can with a straw while we waited and it was awesome! It's funny how I don't really drink pop at home, but the other girls totally agree that when you travel, there's just something about a cold Coke or Sprite.
We piled into the taxi van when it arrived and it began the ten minute climb up the steep dirt road out of the crater lake area. On our way back, we passed a funeral procession on foot, as well as a guy riding a motorcycle holding a birthday cake out in the open, no wrapper or box or anything. It was interesting to see how other people were spending their Sunday.
We got back to the hostel and showered, ordered some food from the hostel's restaurant which was a bit pricey, but convenient, and relaxed for the rest of the night. I worked on blogging for a little while until we went out to the front lobby couch to watch a movie. After a long and very relaxing day in the sun, we were surprisingly tired, dozing in and out during the movie. I am my father's daughter when it comes to watching movies....I get out right to sleep no matter how good the movie is. Instead of fighting it, I brushed my teeth and hit the hay in my own comfy and clean bed that was calling my name and fell fast asleep.
Pics from my camera of the lake
Mmmmm- Coke Light... Enjoying the blog!
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