Friday, June 15, 2012

Las Isletas, Nicaragua, May 16

What an excellent day so far.  I saw Catedral la Merced this morning and also booked a tour of Las Isletas for the afternoon.  The tour guide thought I was Tica, which is a great compliment!  Everyone is so impressed with my Spanish, too, which is also a big compliment.  This is a really cool place.  I'd love to bring all my family here.  We'd have a lot of fun.  I loved Las Isletas, formed by lava from Mombacho.  It is supposed to be best seen in the evening for the beautiful sunsets, but I booked early to avoid running into Marty later and having him want to join.  Anyway, the tour guide said that some biologists believe that the islands formed by simply emerging out of the water in Lago Nicaragua (Lake Nicaragua).  You can tell by the type of rock that the rocks were definitely formed out of lava, even if they might have been covered by water for a while.  There were so many kinds of birds; someone with a really good camera would have a field day.  I would have loved to see a shark, one of only 2 kinds in the world that can live in both fresh and saltwater, but there aren't many now, so I wasn't surprised.  According to the guide, the government allowed the Chinese to fish them in the 70s, and the "chinos locos" (crazy Chinese, in the guide's words) practically wiped them out.  anyway, it's a really pretty trip with lots of vegetation and water flora, a very relaxing way to spend the afternoon and learn a little about the history of the islands, the people who live there, a mixture of fisher families and wealthy elites with their getaway islands with natural moats.  One of the funniest things was seeing that some of the islands are for sale, so you see signs that actually say "Island for Sale".  You don't see that everyday!  With any luck, I'll have the rest of the day to myself, too. I ate some funky stuff yesterday, trying a raspado, which is supposed to be like a snow cone with condensed milk, though mine didn't come with one, and it was weird.  Too sweet and contained at least one bug.  My digestive system is complaining now. I hope to have maybe a smoothie for supper and perhaps a snack.  Marty's wanting to go to these tourist restaurants makes me eat when I'm not hungry.  I don't want food tonight, even if I run into him I'll just be firm.

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Later...

Unfortunately, I could not escape Marty around supper time.  I was in my room watching TV, and he knocked on my door.  I told him I wasn't hungry and that I just wanted to find a smoothie or licuado somewhere.  I wasn't ready to go then either, so he waited even though I told him he didn't have to.  Great.  Unfortunately, the place I wanted to go to had closed for the evening already.  So we ended up at the Irish pub since we knew they do have good smoothies.  Somehow he wasn't hungry anymore either.  I tried to get him to stop somewhere he wanted to eat, and I'd just go on my way, but no luck.  I don't know why I felt so bored with him, just no connection.  It was a strain to converse.  I ended the night as soon as I could, and when we returned to the hostel, he gave me his email address.  I have no intention to stay in touch.  I think I might have even lost the card already.  At least he's leaving Granada tomorrow.

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