This weekend, we had our first Amigos excursion to the beautiful city of Granada and a relaxing beach hostel at Laguna de Apoyo. Although I was sick during the entire trip, I still enjoyed it and had a great time thanks to a lot of ibuprofen and cold medicine!
Here are some beautiful views of Granada that I took from the top of La Iglesia de Merced:
The main cathedral
You can climb to the top of this tower, which is where I took the photos from! It's an amazing view of the city.
Inside the main cathedral in Granada:
Street view of the cathedral:
Horse-drawn carts sponsored by "Claro" and "Movistar", the two phone companies in Nicaragua:
Granada definitely has a more touristy vibe than León
Funny story: while walking down the street in Granada, a boy selling bracelets started to follow us. As we kept walking, he suddenly came up to me and began flirting with me. He asked me my name, to which I responded, "Maria!" (Felt like having an alternate identity that day) and how old I was (20). Then he told me, "Eres hermosita y lindisima!" (You're beautiful and cute!) and some other flirtatious sounding things I couldn't understand, and I thought he was still trying to get me to buy bracelets, so I told him, "No, gracias". Then he took my hand and kissed it! I was so surprised and I laughed. It was really shocking but funny and cute.
On our first day, we went on a boat tour through the mini-islands in Granada.
Many of these islands have large, luxurious homes built on top of them and are owned by affluent families. Interestingly, up until recently the majority of these homes were owned by wealthy Nicaraguan families, but now they have shifted hands to being owned by mainly wealthy foreigners.
The volcanoes
National flower of Nicaragua, sacuanjoche
We visited Monkey Island, a super tiny little island inhabited by a group of monkeys left their after a scientific study. Now, the locals feed them and tourists visit them by boat. Pictured here is a mama monkey with a baby on her back, who is obviously very comfortable with humans since she hopped right onto the boat.
Another funny story: one night it was stormy and rainy, and I was laying down on the bed alone in our room at the hostel. All of a sudden, parts of the ceiling began to move up and down (the ceiling is covered with those foam sheet things, like in a classroom). It also sounded like someone was walking around above. So I called out, "Hola? Hay alguien aqui?" Nobody responded. The ceiling continued to move up and down, and eventually it was kind of creepy because it really seemed like someone was lifting it up and down. For a moment I was thinking that maybe there was a spooky ghost in the room! But it turned out to just be really strong winds lifting it up....or so we think.
The next day, we went ziplining!
Upside down!
Hands free!
The funniest part is that we signed zero waivers, yet we got to do some pretty crazy stuff! I've gone ziplining once before, and we definitely didn't get to hang upside down.
Afterwards, we went to the spa and got massages! Also got to swim in a really nice pool.
On the last day, we went to Laguna de Apoyo and stayed at Paradiso Hostel. It was beautiful! We relaxed on the beach, went canoeing, slept in hammocks, and went swimming. A nice way to end a long weekend!
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