Granada, and a visit from a friend

So we were recently visited by our friend Emily Hopkins. She ventured from the cold temperatures of Boston to us here, in Nicaragua, all just to see our smiling faces, and well, maybe a little bit to get away from that cold weather.

I would like to take you on a photo tour of some of our adventures this past week.

Welcome to Granada! While over run by tourists (not entirely unlike us), it is a beautiful city, if a little hot. There are so many affordable hostels to choose from, and many beautiful buildings to look at, not to mention the yummy food. Here we are on the first day in one of the parks. Emily and I chilling on an ancient looking bench.


We went to Laguna de Apoyo for a day and a night. It is a lake that has formed in the top of a volcano. It is consequentially, gorgeous. It was a really chill place to go. The water was clear, the right temperature, and beautiful. We stayed at this groovy hostel called the Monkey Hut. Here is the view of the lake.


There were many pets at the Monkey Hut, here are some of the friendliest.
This is Congo, the French Poodle puppy who made me miss my puppy even more. He would fetch his little toy and let you rub his belly. So cute. He belonged to a woman who ran the reception during the day.


There was also this cat who was super friendly, and posed on top of this stool for us.


The cat later jumped into Dylan's lap while he was sitting at a bar stool. He really liked the pettings.

This is one half of the couple that ran the Monkey Hut, holding their adorable dog, Chacha. Turns out, at the Monkey Hut, one couple runs the place for three months for a place to stay and a salary, then a new couple who wants to take on the challenge follows them, and so on and so forth. What a cool deal.


This is the cutie Chacha again, enjoying a well-placed belly-rub


One of the managers at the Monkey Hut offered to take our picture. We all look a little awkward, and you can see mine and Dylan's slight sunburns (don't let Emily fool you, all of hers were placed on her legs and top chest and armpits...we're not sure how this happened).


We travelled to the Masaya Artisan Market, and purchased two Chino Rectos (those chair hammocks that are awesome). They were a little bigger than anticipated, and so to take them home Dylan attached them to our backpack, but then had to walk through town looking like some sort of weird samurai.


We are now home again, preparing for the next brigade, which comes tomorrow! Agh! Then, next week my cuñados come, along with one of my bestest friends. More updates to come. Thank you readership for your loyalty.

p.s. Here is a picture of our puppy Fyedka who is being watched by his grammy back home. Isn't he just too adorable not to miss?

Phone Books

So this is a picture of the phone book here. Yes, that is the book for the entire country. Note its relatively moderate size. No really, the whole country is in that thing.

A rapi-tour

Here is a sped-up video starting outside of our house, and ending in the back (turns out regular speed takes forever to upload, something I should have learned from my time of the blogging team of the DR trip). Enjoy!

p.s. The little buses (/van things) are called rapi-buses, thus the titled. WORD-PLAY!

Points in Nicaraguan History: William Walker

Many of you reading our blog might not know that much about Nicaraguan history, especially if you were taught in public school in the same decade as me. Therefore, I have decided to start a series of posts labeled Points in Nicaraguan History. These will not be chronological, but they will be dated. I think this is an important thing to understand, because before we can become involved in Nicaraguan politics (or even community organizing) we have to understand our past relations to understand the presence of our current relations. So I hope you enjoy these tidbits.


Our first point in history in a very interesting, and for me shocking, event. It deals with a very special man named William Walker. Our dear friend William hailed from the proud state of Tennessee. He was a college educated man and a self-declared filibuster. Meanwhile, in Nicaragua, the Conservatives and Liberals were going at it again, a classic rivalry continually splitting the nation. The Liberals saw a chance to achieve victory with our friend William Walker. In 1853 they invited him and his band of thugs (rounded up from San Francisco) to come and help them fight the Conservatives. The Liberals and Walker won, and two years later Walker usurped power from his Liberal friends, rigged a fraudulent election, and declared himself president. As president, some of the first things he decided to do were legalize slavery and declare English the national language. Needless to say this pissed off basically all Nicaraguans, and the agitation even spread to the neighboring countries in Latin America. They all pulled together in a group effort and at the battle of San Jancito on September 4, 1856, Walker was soundly beaten. On his exodus from the country, he and his men took their time to burn the city of Granada to the ground, leaving a sign stating “Aquí Fue Granada” (Here was Granada). Shortly after, he was captured and executed by rifle squad in Honduras. He kinda got what was coming.

I find this story to be great representation of the United States of America's Involvement in Nicaraguan politics. Don't worry folks! We don't go away any time soon, and next time perhaps I will relate another story of Nicaraguan-US relations. Until then, Adio!