Granada - Cute colonial town and lovely lake nearby!

In the main square of Granada
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Tuesday 25th September – Granada (Mum's Birthday!)

Brimming with energy after a good nights sleep that included a fan which stayed on all night we decided to hire bikes and go for a ride down to the port to checkout the lagun and surrounding islands. We found a little place that hired bikes for $1per hour so we booked for 3 hours and set off. The bikes were a little rough but they did supply us with brand new helmets which they explained the purpose for them was to keep the sun off our heads – no mention of protection. We did question if they would protect us anyway with the way people drive.

The lake we went to on our cycling trip
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Off on our way we quickly got to the lakes edge and were let down as we had expected a rather bustling strip with restaurants and people swimming. Instead we were charged 50 cents each by some man with a rather larger gun before we were allowed to enter the esplanade. Although it is low season it is hard to imagine this strip being any different in high season. There were heaps of little pubs that were like shacks, rather run down, so we decided to skip past them and head for the port. During a water break we were approached by a local chap trying to sell us a ride to the islands. He must of thought we were millionaires as the quote he gave us was ridiculous! We laughed at him and he dropped a little bit. Not wasting any more time we gave our most used phrase - NO GRACIAS and headed off.

Pretty street where we had lunch
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We reached the tiny port and watched the locals coming and going on their boats. There were a few boat touts but they did not bother us. It was baking hot but the lake and was not at all appealing, so we decided to give the swimming a miss. We headed back to town and stopped in a pub/restaurant for lunch. We maybe should have eaten inside as it was air conditioned and the football was on, but we were enjoying the heat so ate alfresco. During lunch we were joined by 2 young girls selling small ceramic whistles. After some ruthless bargaining between Leigh and the girls we got 2 whistles - Jo a turtle and Leigh a parrot for under $2. We were a little peeved at receiving the bill as it was + tax + tip and we also got ripped off on the exchange rate as we only had USD's. The waiter even had the cheek to hang around waiting for us to give him the change – yeah right!

Around the market
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We dropped the bikes off and decided to do a “cigar factory” tour through the same company we got our bikes from. We paid $2 each and with a translator we set off. The “cigar factory” was infact only 3 doors down and was the size of a small bedroom. It was however very interesting though we did wonder what we had paid for as the owner spoke pretty good English. The company was family run and the owner and his wife demonstrated the manufacturing of 3 types of cigars.

They were both very skillful craftsman and really enjoyed us as an enthusiastic audience. After the demonstration they lit us up a “Churchill” - a rather long and thick cigar, based on what the great leader used to smoke (Churchill). We got a lesson on how to drag and puff properly. No matter what you learn and see somethings still don't change – the taste was not appealing and really smelly although Nicaragua is the 2nd best producer of cigars in the world, we are sure conocers would appreciate them more than us! All the workers were in histerics and both Jo's attempt to smoke the cigar and her screwed up face after tasting it.

Watching the cigars be made
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In the evening we again ate at our hostel, simply because the food is delicious and cheap. We also got talking to a nice NZ couple.

Wednesday 26th September – Granada (Laguna de Apoyo)

We were both looking forward to today as we really wanted to go swimming due to the heat. After going to the pharmacy and getting some malaria tablets we jumped on the back of a ute with a guide and lots of people from our hostel and enjoyed the drive at speeds along the motorway - probably illegal in most countries! On arrival we were impressed at how the landscapes were similar to that of Lake Taupo – very lush and beautiful clear water. We wandered down the drive to the eco house which overlooked the lake. The house had beautiful, private views and excellent facilities.

Leigh trying out the "Churchill"
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Without any hesitation we raced down to the lake and grabbed two kayaks. After a bit of paddling we realised how much hard work it was, due to the heat so we turned around and went swimming in the very warm water for the next four hours! It was so much fun, we used the inner tubes to paddle around with and Leigh did back flips off the platform in the lake. We chatted with lots of the people there before working up an appetite for lunch.

We decided to walk to the local shop and grab stuff for sandwiches – at a slap down price of $2, including bread, tuna, mayo, lemons, tomatoes, bananas, cold drinks and treats! We enjoyed lunch with everyone on the deck and spent some time chatting before heading back down to the lake to try and cool off.

Jo not enjoying it one bit
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We went kayaking again and basically relaxed in the very warm water for the rest of the afternoon. We decided to not stay the night there and headed back, again on the back of the ute to Granada at about 6pm. We chatted to a Canadian couple who have given some good tips and were so excited that we are going to be there for Halloween! In the evening we chilled out and chatted with a NZ couple, enjoying a few drinks and dinner from the hostel again. Due to the early start we decided to try and head to bed around 10pm.

View from the church tower across to town
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Thursday 27th September – Granada – San Pedro Sula

We knew today would be a hard one as it was a full on travel day. We got up at 2.30am, ready for our 3am private taxi to Managua. Thankfully he turned up on time and got us to the Tica Bus station in Managua for the 4am check in. Our bus also left on time at 5am which was when we were finally able to got some more sleep before reaching the Nicaraguan/Honduras border. As per usual we handed over $16 US for the officials to look at our passport (but not stamp it as one stamp covers 3 countries apparently). After the police officer went through most of the bags in the hold (it looked like she got bored after a while), we eventually re-boarded an hour later.

At the church tower
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Now was time for the DVD's to start playing and luckily the first was in English, but we had already seen it (Fracture with Anthony Hopkins). Jo then watched a brilliant Spanish movie that was a real chick flick while Leigh dozed. We spent the rest of the day dozing, when Leigh almost jumped out of his seat. He was peering out the window and saw about 30 armed people and thought the bus was going to get hijacked. Luckily the bus sped past and it wasn't long before we stopped for lunch. At the lunch stop we were fortunately allowed to pay with US dollars, but were surprised at the extortionate price for pot noodles, yoghurt, an apple and a tin of fruit ($10!).

At the monkey hut enjoying the platform
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We then headed off again both of us dozing and were surprised to get to our destination – San Pedro Sula an hour and a half ahead of schedule at 4.30pm. We decided to stay a night here, although it is a very unsafe town as we missed the last bus to Copan which is our next destination. After getting a taxi to the hostel recommended in the Lonely Planet, we were both surprised at just how many armed guards there were. Our hostel was no exception, with a guard fully armed with a riffle. The hotel was really nice and we were just glad to have a clean room, but again no hot showers!

Underwater shot!
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We decided to go for a wander to find out what time the buses left the next day and were lucky enough to get some help from a lovely lady on a street. We ended up getting Executive bus tickets, which is not what we wanted but departed at a reasonable hour and then headed back to our hostel. It was actually pretty scary walking the 8 blocks back and we crossed the roads every 100 metres as there were so many dodgy people about. One guy we avoided had a massive machete on him. There also seemed to be guns everywhere.

We stopped off and got a fruit smoothie, which ended up being more milk than fruit. To avoid risking our lives again, we decided to eat at our hostel and not knowing what we were getting were surprised to receive tortillas with beans, sour cream, fried bananas, sausage and ham. We actually both enjoyed it then headed to bed for an early night after watching cable TV for a while.