Old town New Year.

New years day was relaxing and quiet, I think everyone was sleeping it off so the streets were practically deserted. We had a relaxing day kicking around the hotel, Brenda even had a nap. On the 2nd we headed out leaving our little beach town behind, I doubled Matt on my bike as we were heading to Ometepe, which is an island in Lake Managua. The Island is made up of tow volcanos one active one extinct. We arrived at the ferry terminal just in time and basically drove right on.


The little ferry chugged away bucking the waves on the lake. It is very windy in this area of Nicaragua, as I said before there is a windmill farm on the shore of the lake. The island itself is not very big and we managed to circumnavigate most of it and still have time for a beer before catching the last ferry back to the mainland. We must admit that this was not the proper way to enjoy the island, the best way is to spend a few days there and do alot of hiking. We promised to return in order to see the island properly, as it was very peaceful and is home to some rare birds and wildlife.
Once back on the mainland we said our goodbyes to Matt as he was heading back to San Juan and we were heading to Granada. As it was almost dark we decided to stay in Rivas, which is only about 40km from San Juan, but we had made the decision to move on even if it turned out to be only 40km down the road. We ended up seeing Matt a couple more times that evening as we looked for a hotel and he looked for the bus terminal, we would turn a corner and there was Matt so we would wave again and yell ADIOS again...finally that game ended as we checked into our hotel, that Matt found for us. Really you can’t make this stuff up.

Granada is another central American survivor. The history of the city is much to lengthy and complex for me to even try to summarize. Within a few minutes of checking into our hotel we met Ron, a gentleman from Texas who is living in the hotel. He has one of the two apartments in the hotel and has been living there for almost 2 years, the other apartment has been is occupied by another expat for the last 5 years. Ron also gave us some other tips on things to see around town so after settling in we graabbed the cameras and hit the town. We walked around for about 2 hours getting the feel of the town and taking pictures of the amazing buildings and street scenes. We also found the spa that our porch sitting buddy mentioned and decided to take advantage of the 2for1 hot stone treatment he was offering. This was a fantastic treat for us both after a couple months of riding.







The next day was filled with more walking of the city and lots more photos. We climbed a church bell tower to get a different perspective of the city, it was amazing to be looking down on city and watch the flow of its people. The cars would be broken up by the occasional horse drawn carriage, the horses sometimes have large elaborate bows tied to the tops of their heads as a way to attract customers. We also stumbled onto a large marketplace, they had all the usual stuff but we tried on some jeans just for fun. It was getting late in the afternoon so we had to head back to the spa for our Shiatsu massage (deep tissue), we had booked the appointment the day before. “Balance Spa” is located in Hotel Bocana.
From Granada we thought we would go to Masaya and then North to the border after that. There are a couple of things in and around Masaya, there is a large market everyday plus a volcano and an former prison. We checked out the former prison which is now a tourist attraction run by the Boy Scouts. The Coyotepe prison was used by both the Sandonistas and the Samos at different times in history, the most recent was in 1990, and it is hard to imagine that this prison was used so recently. The guide explained how different cells were used for torturing inmates and others for solitary confinement. When the prison was first built it did not have any power for lights, only some natural light that could get in through the 8 inch space along the roofline gave the prisoners any indication of time of day. The space at the roof was also the only source of air and ventilation for the extremely overcrowded cells, between 10 and 60 people were held in each cell depending on size. The lower level of the prison had no light at all and no ventilation, so complete darkness and one can only imagine the stench. Toilets consisted of a hole in the floor and the meals were few and far between. There are some survivors that have shared their stories of imprisonment but the records of all detainees were burnt in a fire, so it is not known exactly how many men and women were held there over the years.