I am teaching a semi-behaved second grade class the numbers in English on Wednesday with as much enthusiasm as possible to keep their attention when outside the class I see all of the first graders, of whom I had just taught in the previous class, standing in the courtyard laughing and screaming. The teacher, dressed in her semi-nun attire, pokes her head into the class and looks at me,
"No lo sentias?" (You didn't feel that?)
"Feel what?" I asked.
"Los temblores (the tremors)! That's why my kids are outside cause they're scared."
Confused, I looked at my class and asked them, "Did you guys feel that?" They all laughed and said yes. For roughly 15 seconds, there were slow tremors that were felt all over Central America due to a 7.9 magnitude earthquake that took place in northern Costa Rica, of which no one was killed to my knowledge. I asked the teacher if she wanted my students to stand outside as well and she said, "No, it's fine, you can keep going." I laughed, "Oook!" and continued my lesson. This was the second time that tremors have been felt in Managua since I have been here, and the second time that I have not felt them. This was probably due to my oblivious nature as I was trying to focus on teaching these kids some English. Apparently, this one was pretty strong. One girl in our group, Jennifer, said she almost fell over in the shower when it happened. The tremors were all the buzz here last Wednesday. School and some work was canceled and a tsunami warning was in affect for the Pacific coast (now lifted). This phenomenon is not at all rare here, however. Nicaragua is one of the most geologically active regions in the world, situated on the edges of the Caribbean and Cocos tectonic plates, which explains the 40 some-odd volcanoes and constant seismic activity. Managua especially gets a lot of activity because of a vast intertwining network of even smaller plates constantly moving around underneath the surface. But hey, gotta live life on the edge, right? (insert drum sound).
After a few days of listening to semi-pesimistic news anchors warning us about the end of the world as we know it, and a week of class, Bobi, Zoe, and I decided to head on down to the colonial city of Granada for the weekend. We hopped on the bus in an increasingly familiar fashion and took the hour journey south. Granada is awesome. The two places that everyone hits up when they travel here are San Juan Del Sur and Granada, and it's obvious to see why when you get there. The town is very pretty with old, colonial style buildings painted in the brightest of colors. Every building and house is painted differently. The streets and sidewalks are narrow and the central plaza features La Cathedral de Granada, a huge yellow and white cathedral that towers over the city. The guidebook I read claims that you will want to take as many pictures as you can when you walk around here, and it was spot on in that regard. I might have taken over a hundred pictures. The combination of freshly painted and up kept buildings with older rustic ones would make any photographer go nuts. We arrived Friday night and found a hostel someone had recommended to us called Las Oasis. It costed $10 per person per night (a little on the expensive side) but did come with a pool, some hammocks to hang out in, and free coffee, so that it was well worth it.
On Saturday, we decided to walk into the marketplace to find a place for some cheap food. Markets always have areas with tables and food that people will cook for you called comodores. Granada's marketplace was pretty nuts, but not as intimidating as those found in Managua, so we found a comedor fairly quickly and had a delicious and cheap breakfast consisting of rice, beans, pork, and sweet plantain. We then walked down to the main street where there were places to rent bikes for the day. For $6, you can rent a bike for the entire day. We rode along the shores of the giant Lago de Nicaragua, home to the only fresh water sharks in the world (although a sighting is now rare), we ended up at this peninsula named Asesse, which is surrounded by hundreds of tiny isletas (islands). The paved road turned into dirt at the beginning of the peninsula, and this turned into a little adventure. The bike I had rented was alright to take some bumps even though it had no shocks, however Zoe had a road bike, and her back tire was already losing air. About 20 or so minutes into the ride, it had gone completely flat. Since my bike was good to go, I sped ahead to see if anyone around had a bike pump. I ended up asking a few people in their homes along the side of the road and they said there was a place close by where they'll fix it. We quickly found these guys working on some motorcycles and they said that they could patch it up the tire. After fixing Zoe's bike, we rode around the jungle some more and headed back to town.
Later that day, I headed off on my own to find this cigar 'factory' that I had read about where you can watch people hand roll cigars and even make your own. Once I found it, however, they were open but the employees only make cigars a few days a week and today wasn't one of them. Whatever, I bought a pack of small cigars and lit one up as I continued walking around the city, taking photos, and listening to someone music from someone's PA speakers. I found this other old cathedral nearby and noticed that there were a few people standing on top of the bell tower some 80 feet up, so I decided to see if I could join. I ventured up the steep and narrow spiral staircase all the way to the top and found myself looking at yet another incredible view of Granada and the surrounding area. After a few minutes of pictures and soaking it all in, a priest in a white and red robe walked up there and said to stand aside cause he had to play the bells. Awesome! I took out my camera and filmed it (should have the video up soon). It was really neat seeing him swing these huge ropes clanging the bells over and over again. The amount of sound those things make is absurd (sorry eardrums), but it was something to see! Granada weekend=great success.
I have now been in Nicaragua for two months and am still having an experience of a lifetime. How this place seems virtually unknown as a travel destination to many Americans is a question I find myself asking with every new volcano I see looming over a new town, every empty beach we find, every colonial city I walk through, every tourist I hear speaking English in every accent except and American one, and every time I ask "Wait, for one dollar?" Yes. One dollar for: this entire meal, that beer, the bus ride to another amazing city, an infinite supply of various fruits, and so much more. Nicaragua is stupid pretty, and stupid cheap. I hate to say it, but the guidebook nailed it. "World class views, from a $3 boat/bus ride," was an incredibly accurate description of this country. Many won't even consider Nicaragua when thinking of a travel destination, but sometimes, when you're standing on top of a cathedral bell tower with an entire view of a beautiful colonial city and not one, not two, but three different volcanoes in different directions, you're kind of ok with that.
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