Random thoughts walking around Granada

Random thoughts walking around Granada running errands.

The noise level here is VERY high, all the time.

There are a lot dogs and they all look similar. They are quite docile, appear to be fed but with no owner. Not sure about that?

Lots of kids work, all day, all hours.

Fireworks are going off as they frequently do and it is 1030pm.

Random cars and trucks drive through the street with loudspeakers blaring some message. I cannot yet understand it but they seem to be different messages. I think some are for services –like fixing iron things or offering to haul away stuff you don’t want. Others seem to be more about politics. Some are about shows or meetings. They are loud!

I saw one of the “message” trucks today with a rope tied around the hood holding it down and a guy holding the speakers in the bed of the pickup truck. Most of them are not in good shape.

You can buy twenty band-aids for 50 cents at the pharmacy. They put them in a little plastic bag for you.

Taxis are fifty cents a person for a ride anywhere in the city. At night it is a dollar. Taxis have signs on them and they honk at you as they near you to let you know they are available. They will pick up people until they are full so it may take a while to get where you are going, but it is interesting to meet different folks….or would be if I could talk more.

Today about ten fancy carriages each pulled by two horses raced down my street. Cannot imagine why they were going so fast, it is a narrow street and intersects at the end of my block with a very busy main street. Those running horse’s feet made a very loud clippity clop sound.

How weird is it to be on the internet talking to someone in Atlanta and hear horses’ clippity clopping by your door? What a contrast.

Granada is a city of contrasts, much beauty and much poverty.  Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere after Haiti. Many things are inexpensive here, particularly eating out.

I am going to Costa Rica tomorrow by Tica Bus. It is $29 one way and for that price I could go from Managua to San Jose, Costa Rica. I am not. I am going from Granada to Liberia, which is not as far.  No problem doing that but I pay the same price, one price from Nicaragua to Costa Rica period.

Next post will be from Tamarindo, Costa Rica. Very different from Granada, on the Pacific and very much more tourist oriented. Granada is tourist oriented for Nicaragua but Costa Rica has been at it much longer.