Going to bed Sunday night, we decided to sleep in and get our day started whenever. Niki, Gloria and I woke up around the same time and Nicki and Erin had been up for a little while already.
The game plan for the day was to check out downtown Granada, its restaurants and churches and find the festival we had heard about from some fellow travelers on Ometepe. Unfortunately, for the two days we had been in Granada already, no one really knew what we were talking about. We had skipped a city to make it to Granada in time for this festival that was starting to sound non-existent.
We grabbed some toast again for breakfast and then headed out for some sightseeing on foot. Our hostel was only a block from the downtown plaza so we headed that way. Jil and Gloria were leaving the next day to head home, so they had to run by the bus station to buy a ticket. Erin and Nicki had already walked around a bit to check out the town so Niki and I headed to find a church we had read about in our Lonely Planet guide book. Walking through the Central Park area, we passed a ton of vending tents and carts selling baked goods, purses, vases, jewelry and more souvenir items. Horses and carriages lined the curbs waiting for riders. A couple blocks from the main plaza area, was Inglesia de La Merced, completed in 1539, sacked by pirates in 1655 and restored in 1862 (according to our book). The baroque, but beaten up facade didn't look like much from the outside, but was beautiful inside. The caretaker at the door stood behind a glass counter full of prayer books, rosaries, and saint medals greeted us. For a dollar, we read that we could climb the bell tower for a look at the city, the main reason we set out to find the church. Niki and I went to the cathedral area to check out the alter, snap some pics and then headed to the bell tower. The very narrow spiral concrete staircase took us to the top for a beautiful view! We looked out across the tile rooftops and could see the parque central cathedral, a main landmark for our way finding throughout the city. I loved it up there, especially after having studied so many churches in art history class! To know the piece of history we were standing on was a very cool feeling. Heading down the stairs wasn't as fun because if my fear of heights, but I survived :)
From the church, we headed to a main street off the main plaza area that was loaded with restaurants, bars and shops. For lunch, Niki and I ended up at Garden Cafe which had an amazing and nutritious menu of veggie items like hummus, smoothies, and a goat cheese and veggie sandwich on a wheat baguette that Niki and I split. It was great food, good for us and a nice change up from rice and beans.
After walking around checking out churches and the town, we headed back to the hostel to get out of the afternoon heat and see what the other girls had planned. Nicki and Erin arrived not long after us, and we grabbed our books and electronic devices and hit the hammocks. Jil and Gloria walked in about a half hour later to tell us they were headed to the spa. Jil had booked an hour massage and Gloria was going to use the pool with a cheap day pass. We elected to hang back until we headed out to dinner.
At about four thirty or five, we headed back to the main plaza where Nicki and Erin had found the clown festival we had heard about! Allister, that we had met on the ferry to Ometepe, was one of the people we told about the festival when we heard about it because he is a professional clown. He had told us on the ferry of how he went to school for it and stuff so we had to tell him about the festival!
There were a lot of people gathered in the streets and vendors were set up selling art and souvenirs. About five minutes into shopping, we hear loud festival music begin outside and rush out to see a large crowd of clowns! Mostly all of them were about our age and decked out in colors and makeup riding unicycles, doing backflips and juggling. There were mats set up in the plaza that people started to gather around so we followed suit to make sure that we could get a good standing spot. The festival leader took the mike and addressed the crowd for a few minutes. I didn't understand much so I applauded when everyone else did and felt a little out of place when everyone else was cracking up.
The applause faded, music started up and two kids took the foam mat stage. They were clearly the comics in the group, dressed in a cow suit and the other in normal clothes. They acted a bizarre skit to open the start of the show which was confusing as hell to even my Spanish speaking friends. From there though, it made a quick turnaround. Groups of teenage boys rushed the mats doing backflips, front flips, and more acrobatic tricks. My jaw was dropped at the talent amongst the group as they switched to duet routines, to juggling, to human pyramids.
As they performed, I took a minute to look around the crowd and soak it in. Adults were just as intrigued as we were, their children sitting cross legged around the perimeter of the mat, hands in lap, bright eyed at the stunts, laughing at every comical moment possible. Mixed right in with the kids, enjoying the show just as much, if not MORE than the kids was Allister, also sitting on the ground. We were so glad to see he made it to the city in time.
At the end of the performances and the show, a clown school staff member walked around with a hat collecting donations, which we gladly added to. As we were turning to leave for some restaurants we ran into Matt and Trent, who we met back in Santa Elena, Costa Rica during our first week of travel. We bumped into them again at our hostel in Ometepe and again in Granada! They were only in Granada for a couple days before they had to return to Ometepe island for some volunteer construction work.
The boys ended up joining us for dinner at a Mexican restaurant downtown where we thought there would be some awesome food. We were able to get really cheap drinks for starts and then were really disappointed with the food. The vegetarian burrito I ordered was described in the menu as a flour tortilla filled with beans, onions, lettuce, peppers, cheese and sour cream, but was nothing like its description. Upon delivery, it looked amazing! A big burrito with cheese and a sauce in top, but cutting into it was a huge disappointment as I basically cut into a vegetable medley. Carrots, green beans, broccoli, and cauliflower with a itty bitty bit of refried beans is what filled my tortilla. You totally know what veggies I'm talking about too! The ones you buy frozen from Schwanns or the grocery store or the ones that are served at cheap banquet meals. It was bizarre and gross and I was thankful that my Pre-dinner mojito had curbed my hunger so I didn't eat it all.
At seven, Jil, Gloria, Matt, Trent and I paid our bills and headed to a hotel that was around the corner from where we were staying for some free salsa dancing lessons. Jil and Gloria had checked it out when they booked their bus tickets earlier in the day and somehow, we convinced the boys to join us.
After walking quite a few blocks, we entered the hotel lobby for info on our lessons. While the girls talked with the secretary at the desk, multiple sweaty people walked by the boys and I and exited the building. Jil turned around to tell us that we just missed the class. It turns out it was at six instead of seven like everyone told us and we were actually kind of bummed out! We were able to work it out where we walked with the instructor a few blocks away to another hostel where he started another lesson. It would only cost us like a dollar or two so we began our lesson.
This lesson was actually intended for the guests of that hostel as a perk of staying there, but no one wanted to dance, so it was just us five. Best part about this lesson that we were about to begin was that this guy didn't speak a word of English, which I thought was going to get interesting. How in the heck were we supposed to learn something from someone with a different language than us? Turns out it was actually a lot easier than I thought! All he really did was count with each step and I know how to count in Spanish :)
We started practicing each step individually, then we split the room into guys and girls. By this point, quite a few people had shown interest and joined in so we had about six or seven people on each side. I got paired up with the instructor which turned out to be very helpful because he was such a good leader. At one point, Jil and I switched and I had to jump over to the guys side, which was super difficult. To reverse the removes and have to be the initiator for every step was tough! We practiced salsa for over an hour and worked out butts off. We were dripping in sweat by the time it was done and laughing so hard.
We walked back to the hostel to meet the girls and hit the bars for a little afterwards. While we were at dance, Niki, Nicki and Erin did work with some drinks and were a little ahead of us so we had some catching up to do...haha! We caught back up with the clown crowd and hung out and danced with them at the local bar.
Gloria and I ended up heading back around midnight because we were so tired. Your body really gets used to early mornings and early bedtimes, so by the time even midnight rolls around, it feels like three in the morning. I laid in bed with the intentions if typing more about my day on the blog, but fell asleep with my phone on my chest and didn't move until morning! Goodnight Granada!
Pics:
1) La Merced and bell tower
2) Inside La Merced
3) View from bell tower
4) View of plaza cathedral from bell tower
5) Niki and I on bell tower
6) Cool Granada buildings
7) Another downtown church
8) Hummus for lunch
9) Vendors at Clown Festival
10) Acrobat show
11) Stars of the show
12) More cool buildings
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