Sorry for the delay here! We’ve been busy exploring!
Oh, Granada! Where to start... First off Granada is an old town originally occupied by indigenous people then “discovered” by the Spanish in the 16th century. There are amazing old massive Catholic Churches that have seen a lot of things(burned in various uprisings, pillaged, etc.) which give them a stunning patina. The colonial houses are beautiful with vibrant paint colors, open air gardens in the living spaces and amazing tiles. They sit in rows with shared walls made of mud, straw and cane(all of the homes you see in the pictures have mud walls, it’s crazy!) and all have iron bars on all the windows and doors with unique designs. We are staying at an Airbnb in a massive room in an old colonial that has been restored and well taken care of. I feel like every time I sit down here I look up at a beautiful view of sun and plants. The family that lives here has been here for about 5 years from the States. They have 3 young boys 4, 6, and 8 and they run 2 restaurants in the city. They have been amazing hosts! Lee has been enjoying their kids book collection and playing chase with the boys and Grant loves all the commotion. We spend our days wandering through the streets on little errands and playing in the pool. We went on a tour of Mombacho Volcano and saw some amazing bugs and some monkeys. We went out on Lake Nicaragua on a little boat(panga) and puttered around the little islands that were formed when the volcano we visited blew. Granada is small and very walkable as long as you watch your step for holes in the side walk and can leap over the muck in the gutters. Lee is an excellent gutter hopper! I think the grey color of the water motivates him to make the leap! Everyone is very friendly and the city feels very safe. I’m regretting not spending more time on my Spanish before the trip but I’m becoming a fast learner! Luckily the hosts here help out with planning our bigger tours and so far we have been able to get by. Grant is very popular and everybody stops to touch him and pinch his cheeks saying”Gordo” and “guapo”. It’s pretty cute. Lee got a fanny pack stuffed with toys from his wonderful teacher Eleonore when we left Seattle and he wears it everywhere! He carries toys, some candy and some money I gave him in there. I had an idea to find something we could bring on our trip that Lee could give people and settled on bringing a couple boxes of those little plastic wrapped candy canes. Tommy thought it was silly and they would have cheap candy canes here but it’s been a huge success! We haven’t seen a single candy cane here and Lee carries a few in his fanny pack and hands them out to kids he meets. The kids are so pumped when they get one, it’s been really cute! Nicaraguans know how to celebrate! When we first arrived there were parties and parades everyday leading up to Dec.8 which is know as Purisima. A day(more like weeks) that they celebrate and honor Mary. All day and all night they let off fireworks, called Bombas that sound like we are in a war zone. There is an alter of Mary on wheels that they cart around from house to house on a different street every night. At every house they pull her up to the door, a brass band of about 6-12 members plays some songs then bombas are lit, then off to the next house. It’s so loud! The evening she is scheduled to come down your street everyone sits outside and the street shuts down with venders selling fruit, candy, ice cream, balloons, all sorts of things. It’s wild! On the day before Purisima the churches put out elaborate Mary alters with fresh flowers and balloons and at 6p people go up to it and yell. It’s hard to find out wtf they are doing but it’s loud and more bombas are lit off. On Purisima there is a parade, more bands and bombas all culminating at a large park. We skipped that one(this partying every night for Mary is exhausting) but every taxi, motorcycle and horse carriage was headed that way! The next night was another party parade called Hippica. I’m not sure how it relates to Purisima but it’s cowboys on fancy dancing horses in another parade with brass bands. Our hosts blocked off the front sidewalk of their house and invited friends ove. We all sat outside and watched the party/parade and had bbq. The next night our kids were invited to the neighbors house for a children’s Purisima celebration. The kids here at the house assured Lee that it was worth going to because you get a bucket full of candy so off we went. The front room of their house was cleared out and filled with plastic chairs facing an alter of flowers and balloons honoring Mary. Lee sat and sat and sat either the other kids waiting for the thing to get started with patience only a promised bucket full of candy could garner. Grant was less into sitting so I was up with him trying to keep him entertained and the hostess kept saying we are just waiting for the music when I would look like I was leaving. There were about 20 restless children and the same amount of restless adults. Finally, in hustles a trumpeter, a tuba player, and two drummers. Of course! A brass band! A woman goes up to the alter says some prayers the brass band plays and people sing along more prayers are said, more brass band songs then the hostess as the band continues starts handing out buckets full of candy, plastic bags with pink rice juice, beach balls, cotton candy and more candy to all of the kids. It was bonkers! The band played the kids were showered in things for about an hour then we were outta there. Lee might think twice next time he’s lured with a bucket of candy! The nightly bombas and celebrations continue but we are a bit partied out! We went to the Nicaragua butterfly reserve which was absolutely amazing. We have been going to every bakery in the town to find the best cake to get for Grant for his birthday. Yesterday we went to see the lava in the Masaya volcano. We’ve heard there are only 3 places on earth you can see lava and this is one of them. We went up to the viewing point just as the sun set so we could see the lava best and it was amazing! You peered over the edge of the crater of the volcano into a vast pit with a massive pool of lava churning at the bottom. It made a deep roaring noise and had plumes of steam and smoke rising out of it. Crazy! Other then big trip we just wander around this little town and check things out like the port, the market and the quirky houses. We leave here at 4am Saturday morning to take a long drive then a boat ride down the Río San Juan through the jungle. Love you all!! Oh! And sorry about the photos. I have no way to edit them or change their order on here. I also can’t get all of my photos to show up so check back I’ll try to add more!
Oh, Granada! Where to start... First off Granada is an old town originally occupied by indigenous people then “discovered” by the Spanish in the 16th century. There are amazing old massive Catholic Churches that have seen a lot of things(burned in various uprisings, pillaged, etc.) which give them a stunning patina. The colonial houses are beautiful with vibrant paint colors, open air gardens in the living spaces and amazing tiles. They sit in rows with shared walls made of mud, straw and cane(all of the homes you see in the pictures have mud walls, it’s crazy!) and all have iron bars on all the windows and doors with unique designs. We are staying at an Airbnb in a massive room in an old colonial that has been restored and well taken care of. I feel like every time I sit down here I look up at a beautiful view of sun and plants. The family that lives here has been here for about 5 years from the States. They have 3 young boys 4, 6, and 8 and they run 2 restaurants in the city. They have been amazing hosts! Lee has been enjoying their kids book collection and playing chase with the boys and Grant loves all the commotion. We spend our days wandering through the streets on little errands and playing in the pool. We went on a tour of Mombacho Volcano and saw some amazing bugs and some monkeys. We went out on Lake Nicaragua on a little boat(panga) and puttered around the little islands that were formed when the volcano we visited blew. Granada is small and very walkable as long as you watch your step for holes in the side walk and can leap over the muck in the gutters. Lee is an excellent gutter hopper! I think the grey color of the water motivates him to make the leap! Everyone is very friendly and the city feels very safe. I’m regretting not spending more time on my Spanish before the trip but I’m becoming a fast learner! Luckily the hosts here help out with planning our bigger tours and so far we have been able to get by. Grant is very popular and everybody stops to touch him and pinch his cheeks saying”Gordo” and “guapo”. It’s pretty cute. Lee got a fanny pack stuffed with toys from his wonderful teacher Eleonore when we left Seattle and he wears it everywhere! He carries toys, some candy and some money I gave him in there. I had an idea to find something we could bring on our trip that Lee could give people and settled on bringing a couple boxes of those little plastic wrapped candy canes. Tommy thought it was silly and they would have cheap candy canes here but it’s been a huge success! We haven’t seen a single candy cane here and Lee carries a few in his fanny pack and hands them out to kids he meets. The kids are so pumped when they get one, it’s been really cute! Nicaraguans know how to celebrate! When we first arrived there were parties and parades everyday leading up to Dec.8 which is know as Purisima. A day(more like weeks) that they celebrate and honor Mary. All day and all night they let off fireworks, called Bombas that sound like we are in a war zone. There is an alter of Mary on wheels that they cart around from house to house on a different street every night. At every house they pull her up to the door, a brass band of about 6-12 members plays some songs then bombas are lit, then off to the next house. It’s so loud! The evening she is scheduled to come down your street everyone sits outside and the street shuts down with venders selling fruit, candy, ice cream, balloons, all sorts of things. It’s wild! On the day before Purisima the churches put out elaborate Mary alters with fresh flowers and balloons and at 6p people go up to it and yell. It’s hard to find out wtf they are doing but it’s loud and more bombas are lit off. On Purisima there is a parade, more bands and bombas all culminating at a large park. We skipped that one(this partying every night for Mary is exhausting) but every taxi, motorcycle and horse carriage was headed that way! The next night was another party parade called Hippica. I’m not sure how it relates to Purisima but it’s cowboys on fancy dancing horses in another parade with brass bands. Our hosts blocked off the front sidewalk of their house and invited friends ove. We all sat outside and watched the party/parade and had bbq. The next night our kids were invited to the neighbors house for a children’s Purisima celebration. The kids here at the house assured Lee that it was worth going to because you get a bucket full of candy so off we went. The front room of their house was cleared out and filled with plastic chairs facing an alter of flowers and balloons honoring Mary. Lee sat and sat and sat either the other kids waiting for the thing to get started with patience only a promised bucket full of candy could garner. Grant was less into sitting so I was up with him trying to keep him entertained and the hostess kept saying we are just waiting for the music when I would look like I was leaving. There were about 20 restless children and the same amount of restless adults. Finally, in hustles a trumpeter, a tuba player, and two drummers. Of course! A brass band! A woman goes up to the alter says some prayers the brass band plays and people sing along more prayers are said, more brass band songs then the hostess as the band continues starts handing out buckets full of candy, plastic bags with pink rice juice, beach balls, cotton candy and more candy to all of the kids. It was bonkers! The band played the kids were showered in things for about an hour then we were outta there. Lee might think twice next time he’s lured with a bucket of candy! The nightly bombas and celebrations continue but we are a bit partied out! We went to the Nicaragua butterfly reserve which was absolutely amazing. We have been going to every bakery in the town to find the best cake to get for Grant for his birthday. Yesterday we went to see the lava in the Masaya volcano. We’ve heard there are only 3 places on earth you can see lava and this is one of them. We went up to the viewing point just as the sun set so we could see the lava best and it was amazing! You peered over the edge of the crater of the volcano into a vast pit with a massive pool of lava churning at the bottom. It made a deep roaring noise and had plumes of steam and smoke rising out of it. Crazy! Other then big trip we just wander around this little town and check things out like the port, the market and the quirky houses. We leave here at 4am Saturday morning to take a long drive then a boat ride down the Río San Juan through the jungle. Love you all!! Oh! And sorry about the photos. I have no way to edit them or change their order on here. I also can’t get all of my photos to show up so check back I’ll try to add more!
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