7/1/10 - day 29.

got up at 7 and got ready for the taxi to take me and the others to moyogalpa and the other end of the island, where to ferry goes from. we were supposed to leave at 9am but the 3 of them were arseing aound and and we didnt leave til nearly half past. i wasnt used to this waiting around for people, after nearly a month of solo travel and not having to wait for anybody else to do anything, i found this quite frustrating!

we got to the ferry with literally 5 mins to spare. as we were leaving i noticed a plume of smoke coming down of volcan concepcion on the island - im pretty sure it wasnt erupting but there was definitely some sort of activity going on. about an hour later, we got to san jorge where i lost the others i went over with in the mass off people at the port and i got a taxi to rivas and got straight on a bus to granada.

met 3 aussie guys on the bus who were also going to granada - stu, dom and jack. bus ride was about an hour long and was usual mix of cramped, sweaty conditions. the bus dropped us off about 16km from granada which was annoying but since there were the 4 of us know plus 2 other american backpackers, sharing 2 cabs to the centre of town was pretty cheap.

as soon as we stepped out the cab, begging kids were all over us. i tried to ignore them which wasnt easy as they were touching us. i eventually said i had no money. right before i pulled my wallet out my pocket to pay the taxi driver and revealing a wad of notes. me and the aussies checked into the same hostel, and headed out for some lunch and a couple beers. had something they call "plato tipico" which had like 7 different typical nicaraguan foods on it.

went for a wander around the town which i instantly took a liking to as its got a really laid back kind of atmosphere and the colonial buldings are all the brightly coloured and picturesque. went up to the top of the bell tower which has views over the town and the nearby volcan monbacho. did a bit more meandering then went back to the hostel and had a couple more beers.

went out for dinner about 8pm and had "pupusas" which are like tortillas which are stuffed with cheese and then chicken or pork or something else. i loved them. and their price. back to the hostel after, went online for a bit then bed about 10ish.