OK, so I´ve been here for 2 weeks now and I´m finally set up a blog for this little sojourn to the land of chickens, stray dogs and rice w/ beans. To kick things off I´ll do a couple of catchup posts. First the week in Granada, Sultan of Nicaragua and the oldest city in the region.
Got in late on sunday the day after the annual halloween party (thanks to all for the hangover!). The party was great fun and a success since i think i freaked a fair number of people out with family guy old pervert costume. Thanks to Andy and Nate for putting up with the dirty comments and a special thanks to Paul for being a good sport and being Chris to my Herbert.
Now onto much prettier things. Granada is a great town. Probably a few to many american expats, but hey, I was easing into another culture. Met some new friends on the way from the airport to Granada. Helyn and Nick are down here for a little vacation and language training before they move to France, don´t ask why spanish and france. Great couple and i spent the next week+ travelling with them a bit. Nick and I were in the same spanish school. I´m not sure it made my spanish that much beter, but it certainly helped me to be much more comfortable attempting to chat with people. Right now I feel like I have functional traveller´s spanish. Not great, but at least it is something. Tere, please don´t try to test me after a bottle of tequila in Oaxaca next month.
Anyway, so I spent the week in spanish school. Each day we had an afternoon activity. First was a little ceramic making town. Didn´t buy anything because you figure the first day of an 8 week trip is NOT the best time to buy something relatively heavy that will barely fit in your pack. Other days we went to a mariposa reserve on Mumbacho Volcano, which has been extinct for a 1000 years. The best one was a boat trip around Las Isletas in Lago de Nicaragua. Got really close to some monkeys while going around an island. There are bull sharks in the lake, but sorry Mike, I can´t find any proff that the sharks eat the monkey, but I bet they do. Sharks gotta eat.
Granada itself is beautiful. Old colonial architecture, lots of sidewalk cafes and best of all people who are really easy to talk to, welcoming and patient with my crappy language skills. They really want to chat with you and learn about you and have you learn about them. The best way, of course, is to talk to the homeless who will chat your ear off for the price of a hot dog (10 cordobas).
Anyway, here a few pictures:
Cathedral in Gradada
How many can you fit in a a tuk tuk (our answer, 8) 
MONKEY!!!!
Got in late on sunday the day after the annual halloween party (thanks to all for the hangover!). The party was great fun and a success since i think i freaked a fair number of people out with family guy old pervert costume. Thanks to Andy and Nate for putting up with the dirty comments and a special thanks to Paul for being a good sport and being Chris to my Herbert.
Now onto much prettier things. Granada is a great town. Probably a few to many american expats, but hey, I was easing into another culture. Met some new friends on the way from the airport to Granada. Helyn and Nick are down here for a little vacation and language training before they move to France, don´t ask why spanish and france. Great couple and i spent the next week+ travelling with them a bit. Nick and I were in the same spanish school. I´m not sure it made my spanish that much beter, but it certainly helped me to be much more comfortable attempting to chat with people. Right now I feel like I have functional traveller´s spanish. Not great, but at least it is something. Tere, please don´t try to test me after a bottle of tequila in Oaxaca next month.
Anyway, so I spent the week in spanish school. Each day we had an afternoon activity. First was a little ceramic making town. Didn´t buy anything because you figure the first day of an 8 week trip is NOT the best time to buy something relatively heavy that will barely fit in your pack. Other days we went to a mariposa reserve on Mumbacho Volcano, which has been extinct for a 1000 years. The best one was a boat trip around Las Isletas in Lago de Nicaragua. Got really close to some monkeys while going around an island. There are bull sharks in the lake, but sorry Mike, I can´t find any proff that the sharks eat the monkey, but I bet they do. Sharks gotta eat.
Granada itself is beautiful. Old colonial architecture, lots of sidewalk cafes and best of all people who are really easy to talk to, welcoming and patient with my crappy language skills. They really want to chat with you and learn about you and have you learn about them. The best way, of course, is to talk to the homeless who will chat your ear off for the price of a hot dog (10 cordobas).
Anyway, here a few pictures:
Cathedral in Gradada
How many can you fit in a a tuk tuk (our answer, 8)
My spanish teacher Paola
Sunset over Lago de Nicaragua
And the one, you´ve been waiting for....
MONKEY!!!!
4 comments:
Pinché gringo!
can´t hide my gringoness behind ablino white skin and crappy spanish, so might as well embrace it!
Where's the content? Need more content!! Entertain me!!!
(Oh yeah, hope you're having fun. We all miss you terribly, and remind you that you need to cut holes in your backpack so your new houseboy can breathe till you make it out of customs.)
I'm sorry you had to hear this from me. See what happens when you leave the country?
http://sparklepony.blogspot.com/2008/11/tragic-day-ursula-is-out.html
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