Where Have We Been?
Exploring Volcanoes, Hanging with Former Glue-Sniffing Street Kids, and Generally Chilling (in the Heat)
in and around Granada, Nicaragua

I'm supposed to be writing a real, objective, 3rd person travel article about Granada right now, but I thought I'd address one of our reader's questions:

Shamma writes: "Is your 'dry spell' due to work or a lack of access?"

We can't blame either. Susan and I have just been bad bloggists. BUT!...

Here's why we've been away....

We went to in Granada, the first colonial city on the American mainland. Specifics include:

Los Quinchos: Los Quinchos is a project to get Nicaraguan kids off the street. It is supported by the aid organization ProNica. We went to see the project Casa del Lago on Lake Nicaragua. About 30 boys live there in the woods making hammocks and bracelets and attending school. We swam to an island and the inhabitants gave us mountains of mangos. I took the boat back!

Volcanoes: Your narrators walked to the magnificent crater lake of Apoyo for some skinny dipping. The next day we took a truck to the 1.5 km summit of Mombacho. On the way we met an ornithologist who invited us to go bird banding in the cloud forest. It was my first time in a cloud forest or bird banding. Susan identified the first bird as one that summers in Michigan. I got to touch a hummingbird for the first time as well.

Granada: A place of great divides. You can get expensive hotel rooms and around the corner you'll find kids sniffing glue and old men shitting on the sidewalk. We stayed at La Calzada, an inexpensive family-run hotel. The owners are vocal in their opposition to water privitization. It's better than the usual backpacker hangouts.

From here....Susan is off on a week-long ornithological expedition banding birds. I'm moving into the Managua Quaker House for a few days. It's a place where volunteers and groups can stay. After that, Costa Rica be our next home. Still, Managua is growing on me.