Overlooking the town of Masaya
Granada from a bell towerMasaya was a great place to start our travels as it was easy to get around (it advertises its artesanias a great deal – we even ended up carrying around a piece of art for the entire trip after looking through the Mercado Viejo). For the most part, the items for sale are the same throughout Central America, but there is always something that shows a local “flavor” and we found the painting style here was just what we like. In addition to walking around the Parque Central and taking a stroll to the malecon (a promenade along the Laguna de Masaya) we visited a century-old fortress overlooking Masaya and the surrounding area from atop a hill just north of town.
Coyotepe Fortress provided a beautiful view of Masaya and the Nicaraguan landscape. Its location was selected so Masaya could be protected from invasion, particularly by North American armies. Later in its life, an underground prison was constructed and the site was used to hold political prisoners in small cells filled with 10 – 15 men. We took a tour through the underground tunnels, which were still in use as a prison into the 1980’s. We saw the varying levels of torture rooms as well, including one used for psychological torture that has absolutely no light and in which men would be left for days, weeks, months, or longer.
We also had our own little adventure on our first day when we began our return to town from the bottom of the hill of the fort - colectivo van stopped for us, asked where we were going and when we said Masaya the conductor waved us on. As we went around the rotary into town, we went onto a street just after the one we’d come out on. We didn’t worry much since the man said we were going to El Mercado and it’s a bit outside the town center. When we kept getting farther and not seeming anywhere near our stop, I quickly reminded the conductor of our destination and suddenly he was confused. We were on our way to Granada a day early! He offered to let us stay on since they return to Masaya, but we were hungry and didn’t feel like riding all the way just to come back (they are close, but not that close!). So, we got right out and caught the next bus coming in from Granada. Despite our lee detour, it was a great day and the bus ride was no more than 50 cents total, so no big loss!
Outside Masaya, Nicaragua from atop Coyotepe
Trying not to blow over from the wind and get the perfect shot!After our full day in Masaya, we headed out to Granada (to stay this time) by making our way to the bus terminal. It’s a really busy terminal with painted buses ready to make their runs between several different points and vendors galore. The Granada trip was nice and short (about 40 minutes) and we were at our next stop before mid-day. We spent our nights at Hostal Oasis, a nice hostel right off the main Calle Atravesada, which is filled with merchants selling anything from toenail clippers to pastries to chickens. We were also just a few blocks from Parque Central and several churches.
This is why they call 'em "chicken buses" (this is from the Masaya bus terminal)
Granada is named after Granada, Spain, the home town of conquistador and founder, Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba. Our first excursion in town was to Iglesia de La Merced where we walked up a long and steep spiral staircase to the bell tower for an amazing view of Granada that extended to the lake, Lago de Nicaragua, and to the far reaches of the city on the other sides. The bells are very sturdy, when Ginnie bumped her head she tested that out! Not a fun thing to bump into (solid steel and all), by the way, so be careful up there :) After looking at the city from above, we made our way to Parque Central to have some lunch. We found ourselves on Calle La Calzada, which travels behind the Catedral all the way to the lake and is filled with cafes and shops and even another church, Iglesia de Guadalupe (which was originally a fort).
I saw the sign, yet still bumped my head!
In the bell tower
Men making hammocks at their workshop in GranadaThe rest of our first day took us to Casa de Los Leones, which is home to an art school and gallery. We also stopped by the Convento y Iglesia de San Francisco, a very uniquely built light blue church – the front looks like a piece of a set for a play or movie as it is just a large concrete shape and then there is a gray concrete building behind it that does not line up with the front. It may have something to do with the fact that the original building was burned down by William Walker, a filibuster from the US who wanted to take over Central America and caused a lot of destruction in these beautiful cities.
After a long day of walking the city, we returned for more the next morning. On our way to the lake to hire a boat to take us out to Las Isletas, we met Allan, a local whose “office” is Parque Central. He was very nice; he and Anthony spent time talking about Granada while Ginnie was off taking photos of the buildings surrounding the park; we decided to take him up on his offer to teach us about the history of Granada and join us on our boat trip and a walking tour of the city. We had a great trip out on the boat (and got an even lower rate because Allan brought us to his friend, the boat’s owner) so we hopped onto a 12-seater boat with just us and the driver and toured Las Isletas.
Las Isletas were formed over 10,000 years ago when Volcan Mombacho erupted. They consist of 365 small islands just offshore of Granada. Many islands remain inhabited. While on the trip, we even stopped at a village on one of the islands for a Coke and a short break. That day they happened to be having a funeral and we learned about how they hold their funerals and take the body and the mourners by boat to the island cemetery just a few islands away. There are also islands owned by wealthy Nicaraguans who have huge houses on their isleta. We stopped by Monkey Island to get up close to the remaining 6 monkeys (5 spider and 1 capuchin – this one is tormented by the spider monkeys, we are sad for him). You can bring food to feed the monkeys, but we suspect that may be why the population has dwindled from once being in the hundreds – if humans feed wild animals, they lose their need to hunt and then they starve, it’s not good. Since these monkeys are basically dependent now on this food, we did bring along bananas, but they were not interested in the ones we had! The monkey would take it right from our hands, sniff it, and toss it on the ground. Funny thing is when we bought them Allan said they didn’t look great, but they weren’t for us – well the monkeys didn’t want really ripe bananas either. After the visit with the monkeys, we came to Isla San Pablo where the infamous small fort, El Castillo, sits. This fort was built to guard against British incursions in 1784. From here we could see Volcan Mombacho towering overhead and the skyline of Granada in the distance. Allan tells us the fort was also used to protect against pirates.
The monkey who joined us on the boat
On El Castillo with Volcan Mombacho in the background (this wall is where teenaged Granadans come to carve their names in the bricks)
When we returned to dry land, Allan suggested we see a place that was filled with the most beautiful artwork, the cemetery. Neither of us has ever seen such dramatic tombs and they truly were artistic and stunning. It was amazing to see what people have built in honor of their loved ones. From the cemetery it’s a quick walk to Fortaleza La Polvora, another military garrison turned into a political prison during the 1980’s. We could see over the tops of the neighborhoods of Granada from one of the five points of the fort and learned more about the torture of prisoners (whose options all led to death since by speaking they would be released back into the hands of the revolutionaries who would kill them for speaking and by not speaking, they would be tortured to death). Just down the street we came to another church (one that was replicated on a cemetery tomb) and then walked further down Calle Real Xalteva to Iglesia de Xalteva, which sits outside of a small park of stone benches and walkways. This park was one of Central America’s first market sites where parishioners would come on Sundays after services to pick up their food for the coming week. The original stalls for fish and washing produce are built into the park and still remain, but are empty now. This is where we parted ways with our friend Allan as he was right near his neighborhood and we were just a few blocks from the hostel.
Tombs at the Cemetery in Granada
After a busy day of walking, we had a nice dinner back by the park and stumbled upon a Christmas concert at El Catedral, so we stopped in to listen to the carols being played by a small orchestra. It was just a perfect holiday evening listening to the carols in the church overlooking the park at night (particularly because Ginnie had just been lamenting the lack of any Christmas music so far on this trip - and it turned out this was the only time we heard any Christmas music). Earlier that evening, we had stumbled upon a band playing outside a hotel across from the church and picked up gelato at a great café where we also ate bagels both mornings. Granada was a beautiful town. From there we headed to Laguna de Apoyo, more to come on that in a next post.
Enjoying an outdooor show in el Parque Central
A Christmas Concert at El Catedral
Colonial Costa Rica
Later in our trip, we passed through several colonial towns on our trip from La Fortuna, Costa Rica to Alajuela. We stopped for more pictures of the pretty churches overlooking the unique parks. One park in one of the towns (whose name now we can't recall!) was full of fun-shaped bushes – including crazy arches leading to the church and many shrubs cut in the shape of dinosaurs. We also noticed a red church in the town of Grecia, later learning it's the only metal church in the country and was sent to Costa Rica from Europe (and evidently was supposed to go to Greece, but ended up in the village of Grecia…). We didn’t stop as we traveled through, but we did return on the last day of the trip to see the red, metal church and the neighboring town of Sarchi, famous for its painted ox carts. Being New Year’s Day, nothing was open, but we enjoyed both parks and seeing the world’s largest ox cart in Sarchi!
The crazy arches made of bushes in one central park along the route
The world's largest ox cart in Sarchi, Costa Rica
Another town with a gigantic and historic church is Cartago, which lies south of San Jose. La Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles is a huge and intricately designed Basilica which contains La Negrita, Costa Rica’s patron Virgin. Legend has it that La Negrita (or the Black Madonna) appeared to an indigenous girl who then took it home, only to find it missing and reappearing where she had originally found it. After a few attempts, it was evident La Negrita was not meant to be in the woman’s home and she remains in the Basilica by the rock where she appeared and where pilgrims come to her for her healing powers. Many visitors walk on their knees down the center of the church; annually on August 2nd, pilgrims will walk from San Jose to Cartago (many on their knees), a 22km trek. Also in Cartago are Las Ruinas, the shell of a church by Parque Central which it is said was ruined because only the Basilica should exist in Cartago. Legend tells that attempts were made to build this church, only to be destroyed by an earthquake, and when construction began again, another earthquake destroyed the church (never effecting the Basilica) so it was decided there would be no further attempts to build another church in town.
La Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles
Our stops in the colonial towns and to see these legendary churches left us with a lot of education and history of many areas, we hope you’ve enjoyed our stories and learned from them as well.
What Christmas is complete without a giant Coca Cola tree? This is just one of many seen in San Jose, Costa Rica
Next Stop…Las Playas
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