Sunday was another busy day in Granada. In the morning, I did my own walking tour of the city with Valeria and Octavio, two of Enrique’s kids. It was a good chance to take lots of pictures – especially when we went up in the bell tower of one of the old churches. This also proved to be an interesting experience with the kids. I was nervous enough about climbing the tiny winding staircase myself, never mind the fact that I was also responsible for two high energy children. It all went pretty well though, minus, perhaps, the part when they started shrieking when they rang the bells in the tower. It was loud though, I’ll admit it.
After the bell tower, we walked through the central square and down to the house of the children’s grandfather where I got to see his chickens. Then it was time to leave Granada.
From Granada, Enrique drove me to a place called the Monkey Hut at the Laguna de Apoyo. There, I met my roommates for an extremely relaxing day by the lake.
The Monkey Hut is a hostel that also sells day passes to hang out by the Laguna. They have snacks, a kitchen you can use, hammocks, tables, a pier, inner tubes and a raft – basically everything you could want to enjoy a day at the lake. In fact, it reminded me a bit of camp or of trips up to the Northern part of Wisconsin though, as my mom and I discussed, it is a little different because Laguna de Apoyo is a volcanic lake with thermal vents that is surrounded by mountains and palm trees. So, not quite like Wisconsin after all, but incredibly scenic and beautiful in its own respect. The pictures don’t really do it justice, but they do give you some appreciation of the accommodations. In all, I think I spent almost 4 hours swimming in the water or floating on a tube and I loved every minute of it, even if I did get a bit more sunburned.
Rounding out a weekend of yummy food, we had some awesome Hummus that Kelly made for lunch while we were at the hut. Then, on our way home, we stopped for pizza at a local chain called Valenti’s. According to the locals, this chain isn’t that good – they prefer Pizza Hut and Domino’s (so, not sure I really trust that advice) – but the pizza really hit the spot. Plus, I got to have cold pizza for lunch yesterday!
All in all, it was a great weekend, and the best part is that both Granada and the Laguna are less than 1.5 hours from Managua via microbus. I definitely have plans to return to both places before I leave.
More pictures!
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When I read that you were dropped off at a place called Monkey Hut...I kept thinking of Pizza Hut, but instead of pizzas...they served MONKEY!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI first read that as "My Fantastic Grandma," and I thought maybe you got sent Granda Mittens.
ReplyDeleteWhich would not be useful in Managua.
Ha, I just found these now. Neither of those thoughts are true - no eating monkeys, no wearing mittens - but thanks for the laugh!
ReplyDelete