 Welcome to Blue Ocean Studios  Around the World Ok - Mario got lucky with last night's food - it only took him out of commission for the night! After a quick breakfast, Manuel, our water guide, picked us up at 8 am at our hotel. As we drove along the lake front of Nicaragua, we passed a few local bars along the lake - they looked as if they were very hip places to be at one time, but these ill-maintained bars had become decrepid overtime. Manuel told us how these bars were once very popular, but due to the governments control of the land, and their unwillingness to give the town ownership, the mayor of Granada has basically convinced the town to boycott the bars - too bad - as this is a great lake side piece of property.
After our bat encounter, we moved onward to Ghost Harbor, where boats come to die in Lake Nicaragua. We got up close to a former Russian ship that was used by the Russians along the lake during the cold war. Once again, we encountered some "friendly" bats which attached themselves to the undersides of the ships (strange?).
After about 4 hours, we headed back to Manuel's - it was a great ride - and Jaimie held her own throughout the grueling 4 hour paddling (impressive!).
Well - after this extended day - we were beat - we headed back to our hotel to catch up on pictures/journals, take in dinner, and call it a night! We're off to Isla de Ometepe tomorrow - the largest lake island in the world!
Day 8 - Granada < | Index | Photo Galleries | > Day 10 - Isla de Ometepe © 2007 Blue Ocean Studios, LTD. All rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Services | About | Contact Prints | Return Policy | View Cart World Travel Galleries | World Travel Blog | Links |
Anyways - we arrived at Manuel's lakeside dock to begin an extraordinary journey in Lake Nicaragua water. We were off to a 4.5 hour Kayak tour through the Isletas of Lake Nicaragua and dense forested canals. Along the journey, we saw remarkable amounts of wildlife including monkeys, white eagle, parrots, and a number of other fascinating birds whose names we can't remember :). We paddled along the Lake and past dozens of islands formed by eruptions of Volcano Mambacho - just outside Granada. The choppy water of the Lake was agonizing for 2 hours - so we stopped at a restaurant island for some drinks. After recovering, we went back into our kayaks. On the way out, Mario lost his balance in the kayak and flipped the kayak! Luckily, he was close to the bank, and the water was shallow - he was able to stand, flip the kayak back over, and grab the camera bag all at the same time (luckily, we only had the small camera for the kayak - and Manuel had lent us a semi-waterproof bag)! Well - we had declined to go swimming in the Lake, but Mario got one afterall! :). 
Next - we pulled up to fort San Pablo - built by the Spanish in the 18th century to guard Granada from any unwanted visitors. We pulled up and had a walk around the fort, strolling through homes of a plethora of bats! Luckily, they were sleeping.
Manuel then lead us to the highlight of our Kayak tour, the dense forested canals, highly populate with wild life, including areas most tourists don't get to see (as the motorboats can't squeeze into these areas). It was a very tranquil atmosphere, where we came upon endless amounts of birds (again, nice to be in a Kayak, as these birds takeoff when they here motorboats in the distance). As we paddled deeper into the canals, the water turned into what looked like a forest floor. Little lilly-like leaves consumed the entire face of the water, making it feel as if we were paddling on land - it was a stunning sight to experience.
Once Manuel dropped us off back at our hotel, we washed up, did some laundry in our sink (about time :)), and headed out for lunch. We then took a walk over to the Convento San Francisco. Here we took a guided tour who gave us some background on Granada, and customs and traditions of its indigenous people. We came upon a room which had about 2 dozen stone carvings from the 19th and early 20th century - by indigenous people in Nicaragua. 
As we walked to another church, we passed through the central park - where we hopped on a 20 minute horse buggy ride (we hadn't had enough yet today :)). Our Spanish-only speaking tour guide gave us a little history of the buildings in Granada. 
After our horse carriage tiny-tour, we walked over to yet another church, La Merced, which had a bell tower. When we tried to go up the bell tower, a man quickly came over and pointed at the donation bin asking for about $0.55 per person - strange that there was no sign - but I guess the closed gate that I opened should have hinted at that :). We walked up the multiple cramped spiral stair cases of the iglesia - while the spiralling stair cases were beautiful, it was pale to the views we received at the top. By now, the sun was just a few minutes away from setting (perfect timing!!!:). We caught magnificent roof-top views of the town as well as its main attractions of a few churches, the colorful streets, and Volcano Mambacho.
