¡Ven arriba!

Hello dear readers! I am back again from my mountain adventures, the last leg of my trip...so bittersweet.
Monica´s and my last day in Granada was spent going to the Masaya marketplace, the lookout at Catarina, and drinks with conversation in town followed by a lovely dinner of watermelon and coleslaw.
And then I waved good-bye to Granada on a train of long bus rides far North to coffee country. Stop number one is Matagalpa, home to guirilas (tasty, thick, steaming corn tortillas filled with cuajada queso) and some sort of thick corn and cream pudding-thing that comes with them. The city itself is just a nice place to walk, with rolling San Francisco-like hills and a pristinely white castle of a main cathedral. I stopped several times for coffee, some of the best cups I´ve had in a while, and read Alice in Wonderland while sipping my treat. Though it was lovely people-watching with overflowing baskets of produce seeming to seep from the corners, the tours into Cerro Negro and coffee plantations were expensive, so it was time to move on.
And so I moved East to Estelí, home of Hospitaje Luna to which I was highly recommended by travel-buddy Brodie. There, I booked my stay at La Perla in the Miraflor reservation further North and bought lots of goods made by the Women´s Group of Estelí. They make their own fair-trade soap, paper, and jewelry, and the woman I stayed with in La Perla, Maribel, is part of the cooperative. But before leaving, I spent an improv-day with Dan from England who I met in Catarina and Margaret the ESL teacher. We rode (and walked for big hills...) to a waterfall in a nearby reservation, and lolled in the freezing water underneath the mists all morning, then got a big lunch and read all afternoon. I moved onto Flappers and Philosophers by F. Scott Fitzgerald, but I never seem to be able to get into his books. But I regress, we spent the night searching for Nacatamales and pizza, and had wonderful conversation with a Dutch couple about veganism and McDonald´s.
The next morning I awoke to my singing wristwatch at 5am, at which time I hitched a 10 córdoba cab to the bus station for a rather bumpy and upward (which afforded some of the best views in Nicaragua of bearded trees encased by endless ridges of jungled mountains) ride to Puertas Azules. Maribel, my care-taker, had a daughter who was on the same bus, and we walked together to Posada La Perla. We were greeted with a big pancake breakfast and café con leche from Maribel. Since it was Sunday, everyone was just sitting around and talking with family all day. I don´t think my Spanish has ever been so challenged, but Maribel was a great teacher...she helped correct my awful grammar and fed me the right words when I described them. We sat in the kitchen talking about ourselves, our families, organic farming, Nicaraguan life and American life, and even Nicaraguan government and immigration problems in the US. I made oatmeal-raisin cookies for everyone in the afternoon (massively improved by freshly crushed cinnamon, note) and wrote down the recipe and a banana-bread recipe for the family. I hope they make it and remember me :)
On Monday I witnessed tortilla-making from start to finish. They ground the fresh corn, added some water, ground it again, and patted the dough on plastic into perfect patties. They dropped them on a tortilla pan over a fogon (fire-oven) and took them off when there was little black spots and they puffed up with steam. I got to make a couple, but I definitely slowed down the process so I didn´t do too many. Then I got to help milk a cow (again, I was really slow), which was subsequently transformed into my café con leche (if you never experienced this, you must put it on your bucket list). Then I practiced English the daughter, Joli, and Maribel took me to plant some cucumber and chayote seeds. She mixed ash into the soil and planted three in a plot, then showed me how she made hills in the garden to divert the rain. I expressed to her how sad it was that I was just coming to her now, since our project could certainly use her lifelong expertise, but I suppose that´s what the future is for.
I had to hurry off just before noon for 6 hours of bus rides back to Granada so I could make it back to Playa Gigante for last good-byes. Now I enter my final days in Nicaragua.

I have a confession to make...

...I am still in Granada. Let me explain!
After I last wrote, travel-buddy Jenny and I completed a guide-book-museum-tour of Granada. Our choices were the Tres Mundos art school inside La Casa de Los Liones near the main plaza, the museum of history in La Iglesia San Fransisco, La Fortaleza La Polvora, and the chocolate museum. We also spent much time in el parque central drinking tiste and chicha, and on the street behind la Plaza de la Independencia drinking iced sangría, or back in the park with a local cigar after dinner. We enjoyed much street food, and even viewed the sunset and bell-toller in the cathedral La Merced. The city-center is colonial, with tiled rooftops scooping into central courtyards stretching into a view of Volcánes Mombacho y Concepción, as well as the hilltop city Catarina. Jenny was due for a flight Tuesday, so we went back to Playa Gigante with all our purchases. Turns out, since Erin, Alex,and John were leaving soon they were heading back to Granada with our newest addition (Monica) to see some sights. As Eliot and Russell were leaving for the Corn Islands soon, at the prospect of staying at the project alone I decided to return to Granada. And here I am still!
But I haven´t just been sitting here on the internet. My new travel-buddy Monica and I went ziplining in a canopy in the base of Mombacho (at a local´s price, since I had a misunderstanding about what a canopy-tour is and thought that $28 per person was outragous for a walk around some trees). The first time was terrifying, the others were fantastically fun. Then we spent the rest of the night eyeing street vendors, and talking before John left for the airport. In the morning we all had breakfast together, and while the girls went to Masaya for the market-place I rented an all-day bicycle and rode uphill for two hours to the lookout at Catarina. Toward the end I got off to walk twice because the hills became so steep, and stopped between Catarina and San Juan de Oriente for a passionfruit refresco...but I made it! Again, a place I cannot explain. I will tell you I cried at the top from the sense of accomplishment and the mind-blowing view of la Laguna de Apollo, Granada, and the Lago de Nicaragua. I met a few travellers at the top, had a lunch of tostones, fried cheese, salad, and beef stew at the overlook, then coasted at top speed all the way down to Granada along huge red cliffs, Volcán Mombacho, fíncas, and mango trees. When I returned, Monica and I climbed the belltower of Catedral de Granada to watch the sunset and see the bells toll. From there we got macuá coctails and returned to the hostel to talk late into the night with a sweet woman and her daughter.
Today, we kayaked through Las Isletas. They are gorgeous, verdant water-pastures with a small Spanish fort on the outskirts of the Lago de Nicaragua. The guide was helpful and sweet, giving us a taste of a lemon-tasting fruit that grows in the water and pointing out rocks that landed in the trees after an insect created an explosion (?? I swear that´s what he said because I asked several times, but perhaps my Spanish isn´t that good. I told him he was lying and he swore it was the truth!). He talked about how life in Nicaragua is difficult now, because for the past four years things have grown more and more expensive. Four years ago, Nicaraguans could purchase 15 units of rice for the same amount that 10 units costs now; two shirts then cost the same as one shirt now; and he says that he does not ally with any party, Sandinista or no, because he observes that those in politics keep promising a better life, but they never work for it. So the best political alliance is none, only work pays for the costs of life. He was eager to hear about what we did for our Playa Gigante project and wished us the best of luck with continuing it in the future. Like most Nicaraguans, he was very patient with my broken Spanish and good-natured. Afterward, we grabbed pupusas and kebabs for lunch, discussed life and religion for hours, then explored town in time to hear the students playing instruments in the music academy and watch a spray-paint artist perform for a crowd. We found the heart of the market-place and bought more than enough for our dinner for 23 córdobas, about a dollar. At the hostel we feasted on steamed corn, sweet tamales, avocado, and leftover rice (after an appetizer of pan de leche) and prepared coleslaw salad for tomorrow´s dinner.
Where shall we adventure from here? Hasta luego!