I got the wake up call at 4:30 in the morning for my bus back to Nicaragua. As I was leaving the hostel, a nice German girl was leaving as well. After some terribly bad broken Spanish we found out that we were heading to the same bus so we shared a taxi to the terminal. As we got there another girlfrom the same hostel was arriving via taxi for the same bus, although she was Dutch. A few minutes later a British chap hopped out of a taxi and, lo and behold, he was at the same hostel as all of us the night before. We said hellos and during the ensuing 9 hour journey we all chatted with each other individually and in a group. At the border crossing we talked more and decided to stay in the same hostel in Granada, our destination city. The German girl had been to Granada before and knew of a decent place. I have to say with all the uncertainty of travelling and trying to find accomodation, food, striking up conversations and alone time, when someone you get along with has a bead on atown, you happily float behind them, and let them lead you. We all stayed in a 4 bed dorm style room and got to know each other better over dinner and drinks. The German girl, Alina, is a bohemian style hippie chick who makes jewelry she sells (barely by her own admission) along her journeys. she spoke almost no english but was more proficient in Spanish than the lot of us. Janika was the Dutch girl who always smiled, was happy no matter what and seemingly positve in any situation. James was the happy go lucky Brit who was dragging around a 7 foot surfboard in a case and was your typical dry humored Englishman in Nicaragua. That is to say, I have only met one Brit in Nicaragua but he strikes me as the type I would imagine, although I am a bit biased as I adore Brits and their dry sense of humor and love for beer. We made a motely crew and fr two days were nearly inseperable. We went out for drinks, discovered the market, got lost in the market and fought for the 2 hammocks in the courtyard of the hostel. Everywhere we went we felt like a joke (A Brit, German Dutch and an Amereican walk into a bar...).
Later on in the weekend we met up with a few Swiss teenage girls on their 'we just graduated high school trip'. It felt a little like European Vacation with me being the only 'true gringo' in the bunch. the two Swiss teenagers had met Janika in the dorms a few towns back and they had arranged to meet back up in Granada. Most of us went on a boat tour of these little islands that were formed by volcanoes way back but now are owned by Nicaraguan elite. Except for this little island that the monkeys ruled but the tourists fed.
So wrong in so many ways! At least I got proof this time. Next I headed to Leon that is, yet another colonial city. Like all the rest of them it has churches and people and t-shirts that I can't buy because they don't fit me. It seems that XL has a meaning more like medium wile 2XL means the same as in the US, which for me is a moo moo. I like this city, actually like it a lot, although i'm getting tired of towns trying to replicate th touristic success of more famous towns by advertising themselves as 'colonial'. I guess I just wish they would advertise what they really are as opposed to what they think people want to hear. Perhaps i'm getting a little jaded, who knows. Alls I know is that next i'm heading to a tiny fishing village with surfing, hammocks, horseback riding (which I will be doing shirtless, of course) and the obligitory volcano. They are out of internet service as of now, so i'll be back with you folks in a week or so.
