January 28, 2008
Sylvia and I got up about 8 am and were going to do a little tour with her aunt of where she used to live. Of course she does not drive so I get the keys again. This drive was a little bit more difficult because she was doing more talking with Sylvia then she was being a navigator but we made it. Our first stop was her aunt’s bakery. I know what you are saying, "Why do you want to see a bakery?" 
Well, the answer it is simple, because Sylvia’s old house is now her aunt’s bakery. Her neighborhood has changed a lot. It used to be all residential but now it is a commercial area. After a tour of her house we went out to the sidewalk and we noticed that the same people still live next door. We knock on the gate and 
Sylvia’s friend who is the same age as her and who she used to eat dirt with and her mother were home. They had about a 20 minute reunion and then we were on to the next person to visit who was Sylvia’s mom’s best friend. It was another joyful reunion for 20 minutes or so and then it was time to move on. We headed back to the house to saddle up and move on.
We left at noon and headed for the town of Granada with a brief stop in Masaya. On the way to Masaya we drove past the same traffic cops that pulled me over a week earlier. As we drove by I had Sylvia get a photo of them. We then
stopped at the town square in Masaya for a little break where we ended up getting some good tourist info and ate some local Konchas Negras. It is a local shellfish like an Oyster or Clam. Next stop was the Volcano Masaya. It is a active volcano that you walk up to and look in. We were not able to see any lava due to the smoke but we were told at times you can. It was a nice short tour but it was time to get to Granada.
It was only a short 20 minute ride to Granada which is an old Colonial town on the shore of Lake Nicaragua. Once there we located a very nice hotel for $60 with Internet. Now settled into our room we decide to look around a bit. The town is very beautiful with friendly people. We stopped by a tour office and booked a tour of The Isletas and Lake Nicaragua. The Isletas translates into little islands in English. There are 365 of them and many of them have native locals still living of them while other have been sold to wealthy people for vacation homes. It turns out you do not have to be wealthy by our standards as an
island with a house on it can be had for $150,000. The tour worked out really well for us because it was close to sundown and they had a store right by the boats and I bought 7 beers in an ice chest for our 1 hour boat ride. At one point we were by the island called ironically enough Monkey Island because of the monkeys on it. Our tour guide invited Lucy on to our boat and she ate the driver’s leftover lunch.
When the tour was over we were driven back to our hotel where we met a couple by the name of Chris and Connie from Portland, Oregon. They were quite unlike the people I usually hang out with as they were here doing volunteer work building houses for the people who need them. We had a very nice dinner with them and Sylvia and Chris were able to talk a little shop because they work in the same field.
I tried to get some updates done while at the hotel but the power in the city would keep turning off every 10 minutes or so and I would loose all my work so I gave up.
Sylvia and I got up about 8 am and were going to do a little tour with her aunt of where she used to live. Of course she does not drive so I get the keys again. This drive was a little bit more difficult because she was doing more talking with Sylvia then she was being a navigator but we made it. Our first stop was her aunt’s bakery. I know what you are saying, "Why do you want to see a bakery?" 
Well, the answer it is simple, because Sylvia’s old house is now her aunt’s bakery. Her neighborhood has changed a lot. It used to be all residential but now it is a commercial area. After a tour of her house we went out to the sidewalk and we noticed that the same people still live next door. We knock on the gate and 
Sylvia’s friend who is the same age as her and who she used to eat dirt with and her mother were home. They had about a 20 minute reunion and then we were on to the next person to visit who was Sylvia’s mom’s best friend. It was another joyful reunion for 20 minutes or so and then it was time to move on. We headed back to the house to saddle up and move on.We left at noon and headed for the town of Granada with a brief stop in Masaya. On the way to Masaya we drove past the same traffic cops that pulled me over a week earlier. As we drove by I had Sylvia get a photo of them. We then
stopped at the town square in Masaya for a little break where we ended up getting some good tourist info and ate some local Konchas Negras. It is a local shellfish like an Oyster or Clam. Next stop was the Volcano Masaya. It is a active volcano that you walk up to and look in. We were not able to see any lava due to the smoke but we were told at times you can. It was a nice short tour but it was time to get to Granada.It was only a short 20 minute ride to Granada which is an old Colonial town on the shore of Lake Nicaragua. Once there we located a very nice hotel for $60 with Internet. Now settled into our room we decide to look around a bit. The town is very beautiful with friendly people. We stopped by a tour office and booked a tour of The Isletas and Lake Nicaragua. The Isletas translates into little islands in English. There are 365 of them and many of them have native locals still living of them while other have been sold to wealthy people for vacation homes. It turns out you do not have to be wealthy by our standards as an
island with a house on it can be had for $150,000. The tour worked out really well for us because it was close to sundown and they had a store right by the boats and I bought 7 beers in an ice chest for our 1 hour boat ride. At one point we were by the island called ironically enough Monkey Island because of the monkeys on it. Our tour guide invited Lucy on to our boat and she ate the driver’s leftover lunch.
When the tour was over we were driven back to our hotel where we met a couple by the name of Chris and Connie from Portland, Oregon. They were quite unlike the people I usually hang out with as they were here doing volunteer work building houses for the people who need them. We had a very nice dinner with them and Sylvia and Chris were able to talk a little shop because they work in the same field.I tried to get some updates done while at the hotel but the power in the city would keep turning off every 10 minutes or so and I would loose all my work so I gave up.
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