Disclaimer...this keyboard is really hard to write on...do not judge grammar, spelling or punctuation.
A great second day travelling in Grenada. Our hostel is decent- our room a bit of a concrete cave- with a fan...but it is in a good location. We have slowly been acclimating to the humidity and the weather has been great so far. We knew we were booking during the rainy season, so had reason to worry. Two nights ago we had negotiated with a tour group to do several activities yesterday- starting with them picking us up at our hostel- seeing a few volcanoes and a market. The first part of our tour was wonderful...our guide Felipe was giving us Spanish lessons on our hike, we convinced him to teach us to salsa in the forest while we hiked...and all in all- it seemed to be going okay.... until we were in the last leg of our trip and Felipe tells us he "accidentally" only charged us for half the trip and would need to charge us for the "other half" of the trip right then. He said he had pre-paid our way into a volcano (which we knew was not true) and this and that of stories that kept changing...and so we would owe him more money. It was not the money he was trying to charge us, but the principal behind the choas....so, we told him we could not pay and he would have to take us back. Soon his story changed and changed some more...and soon enough we were still on the tour with a minimal charge (not even close to half of what he wanted to originally charge). At the end of the tour- Jessica gave him a small tip and kindly explained to him that he would have recieved more of a tip...if he had not tried to scam us in the middle of the tour. She called it a "talking tip" instead of a money tip....I have no doubt he appreciated her lesson.
After our tour I really needed to use the restroom and so we walked into a really nice hotel that seemed to be having an event going on...a ridiculously fancy event, I might add....but nobody seemed to stop our entrance...and to us that is an open invitation. The party was situatiuated around a pool- people drinking nice glasses of wine- dressed to the nines. With minimal coaxing Jessica found it appropriate to strip down to her sports bra and shorts and take a dip. The strange thing is that nobody seemed to really bat an eye as she swam.
After her swim, we decided to go and check out some of the vendors (turns out it was an event to promote having weddings at this hotel)....and one of the random vendors was selling fair trade bags...a perfect fit for Threads! We enjoyed talking with her...and she even asked Jessica if she was a surfer (based on her wet hair and clothes...I guess).....she then invited us to a fashion show of her bags and other clothes. We tried to explain that we felt a bit grubby going to a fashion show....but then figured well....why not? Soon we were in our disgusting travel clothes at a beautiful fashion show...daring eachother to walk the runway. To calm all of your fears...none of us did walk the runway...although Jess said she would for $125. classic.
We headed back to our hostel in Grenada, with plans to take a swim, have a glass of wine and head to bed. On our way back to the hostel we saw what appeared to be Karaoke....Jess with all of her amazingly-broken-spanglish....asked if she could sing. She was turned down for some unidentifiable reason (ie: she could not understand what the man said). We continued on our way and immediately got into the pool at our hostel, where we were convinced by some American guy that we should join him for a drink out. It did not take much convincing....and we showered and headed back out with him. To be honest, although Grenada feels really safe during the day, our hostel is on a pitch black alley (i have volunteered to fund a light for the street)...and so after coming home the first night after dark....we had decided not to come home late again. BUT since we were going to be with more people...we felt much safer going out after dark. We headed out and agan Jessica came across the Karoke place and chose to ask if she could sing even though we had still not yet confirmed if it even was a karoke party, which makes the fact that she was asking even more hilarious. Needless to say, no gringos got to sing last night, but many Nicaraguans gave us the Karoke show of our life!
We ended up at a bar that was reported to have a pool in the middle of it....turns out it was true and as we were pushing our way through the crowd Ang is yelling at us "keep walking all the way into the pool, like you do not see it...act surprised and jump in"....I am not exactly sure why we listened...but again the four of us ended up in the pool...the only people swimming- others just enjoying the scenery of three white people now in the pool in the middle of the bar. Always a great time....
I am loving being here in Nicaragua...I keep comparing everything to India, which was such a hard trip for us mentally. Nicaraguans seem happy and fed and it is a beautiful country! We feel safe and that our minimal spanish is enough to get us around. It has reminded me how much I love travelling in central-south america...and I cant wait to figure out what is next!
A great second day travelling in Grenada. Our hostel is decent- our room a bit of a concrete cave- with a fan...but it is in a good location. We have slowly been acclimating to the humidity and the weather has been great so far. We knew we were booking during the rainy season, so had reason to worry. Two nights ago we had negotiated with a tour group to do several activities yesterday- starting with them picking us up at our hostel- seeing a few volcanoes and a market. The first part of our tour was wonderful...our guide Felipe was giving us Spanish lessons on our hike, we convinced him to teach us to salsa in the forest while we hiked...and all in all- it seemed to be going okay.... until we were in the last leg of our trip and Felipe tells us he "accidentally" only charged us for half the trip and would need to charge us for the "other half" of the trip right then. He said he had pre-paid our way into a volcano (which we knew was not true) and this and that of stories that kept changing...and so we would owe him more money. It was not the money he was trying to charge us, but the principal behind the choas....so, we told him we could not pay and he would have to take us back. Soon his story changed and changed some more...and soon enough we were still on the tour with a minimal charge (not even close to half of what he wanted to originally charge). At the end of the tour- Jessica gave him a small tip and kindly explained to him that he would have recieved more of a tip...if he had not tried to scam us in the middle of the tour. She called it a "talking tip" instead of a money tip....I have no doubt he appreciated her lesson.
After our tour I really needed to use the restroom and so we walked into a really nice hotel that seemed to be having an event going on...a ridiculously fancy event, I might add....but nobody seemed to stop our entrance...and to us that is an open invitation. The party was situatiuated around a pool- people drinking nice glasses of wine- dressed to the nines. With minimal coaxing Jessica found it appropriate to strip down to her sports bra and shorts and take a dip. The strange thing is that nobody seemed to really bat an eye as she swam.
After her swim, we decided to go and check out some of the vendors (turns out it was an event to promote having weddings at this hotel)....and one of the random vendors was selling fair trade bags...a perfect fit for Threads! We enjoyed talking with her...and she even asked Jessica if she was a surfer (based on her wet hair and clothes...I guess).....she then invited us to a fashion show of her bags and other clothes. We tried to explain that we felt a bit grubby going to a fashion show....but then figured well....why not? Soon we were in our disgusting travel clothes at a beautiful fashion show...daring eachother to walk the runway. To calm all of your fears...none of us did walk the runway...although Jess said she would for $125. classic.
We headed back to our hostel in Grenada, with plans to take a swim, have a glass of wine and head to bed. On our way back to the hostel we saw what appeared to be Karaoke....Jess with all of her amazingly-broken-spanglish....asked if she could sing. She was turned down for some unidentifiable reason (ie: she could not understand what the man said). We continued on our way and immediately got into the pool at our hostel, where we were convinced by some American guy that we should join him for a drink out. It did not take much convincing....and we showered and headed back out with him. To be honest, although Grenada feels really safe during the day, our hostel is on a pitch black alley (i have volunteered to fund a light for the street)...and so after coming home the first night after dark....we had decided not to come home late again. BUT since we were going to be with more people...we felt much safer going out after dark. We headed out and agan Jessica came across the Karoke place and chose to ask if she could sing even though we had still not yet confirmed if it even was a karoke party, which makes the fact that she was asking even more hilarious. Needless to say, no gringos got to sing last night, but many Nicaraguans gave us the Karoke show of our life!
We ended up at a bar that was reported to have a pool in the middle of it....turns out it was true and as we were pushing our way through the crowd Ang is yelling at us "keep walking all the way into the pool, like you do not see it...act surprised and jump in"....I am not exactly sure why we listened...but again the four of us ended up in the pool...the only people swimming- others just enjoying the scenery of three white people now in the pool in the middle of the bar. Always a great time....
I am loving being here in Nicaragua...I keep comparing everything to India, which was such a hard trip for us mentally. Nicaraguans seem happy and fed and it is a beautiful country! We feel safe and that our minimal spanish is enough to get us around. It has reminded me how much I love travelling in central-south america...and I cant wait to figure out what is next!
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