Saturday, March 23, 2013

Take Flight Day Four: Granada and Las Isletas


By: Bella, Lola, Shanice, and Kris


Today, we got to sleep in a little and get up at 7:30 (if you call that sleeping in). We all got up and went down for breakfast. After that the Magnificent Don Pablo picked us up and drove us to Granada over the course of an hour. On the way, we stopped by for our tour guide, Eduardo, to go with us. Eduardo is a friendly person. Then, the Magnificent Don Pablo dropped us off and we boarded four horse drawn carriages (four people per carriage). We stopped five times at churches and old forts to protect the Nicaraguans from pirates long ago, while Eduardo talked about how all of Granada was burnt to the ground by William Walker, who was an American who tried to control the trade route through Nicaragua and eventually became president of Nicaragua. 




After we got off the carriages, Tr. Kate, Tr. Steve, and Eduardo gave us a task: we must interview the random Nicaraguan citizens around the square and ask them these four questions.


  1. What is a typical Nicaraguan food and how is it prepared?
  2. What is your favorite place in Nicaragua and why?
  3. What do you think is the most important holiday in Nicaragua and why is it important?
  4. What is one thing that people from other countries should know about Nicaragua?

It was more difficult than you would expect. Just over half of the group cannot speak Spanish, so it was difficult to communicate through mostly hand signals. Some of their dialect was said very quickly and was hard to understand, while others still refused to be interviewed. After we finished interviewing, we had ten minutes of downtime in the park to roam. Almost everybody shopped for souvenirs, and others just sat and rested. It was extremely difficult to bargain with the vendors (we noticed that they charged a lower initial price for natives than to people who appeared to be American). Lots of people of all ages, though mostly young children, came up to us and asked for money or food many times. We didn’t really know what to do in a situation like that and were overall stressed about the entire situation. We have been presented with this situation quite often. It has been getting easier to say no, to word the response, but it hasn’t really been getting easier at all. You know what to say to make it stop temporarily, but not to solve the problem.





After shopping, we went off to lunch. At lunch, an amazing man named Alan crafted personalized maracas for us. The amazing part was that he carved with lightning fast fingers and exacto knife. He is also the third best carver in Masaya. The restaurant itself was mostly outdoors, with a flourishing garden and beautiful paintings. Lunch was excellent, and we were all looking forward to the boat ride in the afternoon.     





After our tour of Granada, Eduardo took us on a boat tour of a typical lifestyle of the city Granada.The lake we took a tour on was called Lake Nicaragua. Eduardo talked about the heritage of Granada. During the tour we saw traditional houses, restaurants and huge beach house on islands also known as las Isletas. some of the houses were very big and had 2 to 3 sets of the houses which were surrounded by bodies of water, where people can only be transported by boats. The traditional house were on the other hand more historical than the others because the rich get better houses than the poor. the rich have more property than the original houses while the traditional houses have historical value. The coolest part of the tour was seeing spider monkeys! After that we went back on the boat and went to a small island to get these amazing drinks.we all had different types of juices but the main ones people had were coconut water, fanta orange soda, pineapple cocktail, and the best one was strawberry cocktail. The tour was the most fun and “redonckulous”  experience we’ve ever had!







Now the most awesomest part of the day was when we took a picture of our driver Don Pablo and we also made a song for him and he was happy. Now our favorite part, dinner. We all tried quesillo made with a burrito wrap, a type of cheese that tasted like string cheese and fried plantains and all the toppings you wanted on your food.The best part of the whole meal was dessert.The main desert everybody wanted was brownies and  tres leches. After dinner we finally arrived home and had our our meeting we talked about how we were feeling and what was the best part of the trip. Now we’re here. All I can say is that we miss all of you guys and we know y’all feel the same way.BYE!!!

Click here to see the Day Four Slide Show

19 comments:

  1. Wow! I'm loving these posts and photos!

    xoxo,

    Laura

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  2. Nickkkk!
    It sounds like an amazing day, you guys most be exhausted. Granada and Las Isletas, it all must have been a blast. Things here are ok, they’re calling for 3 inches of snow on Monday, which is pretty weird considering where you are now, and if it actually snows, which it probably won’t. . Kate has been missing you pretty bad since you’ve been gone. To sort of make it up to her and to make her feel better, I bought her a pony and a puppy yeaterdY; she was sooo sad without you. And yeah, ok our house is too small for a pony and a puppy but I figured I can put them both in your room, and you know set you up in a nice box under the stairs, but you know a nice box with a blanket and everything, ok? See you in a few, enjoy yourself.
    Love – Dad
    Btw don’t bring home any monkeys.

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  3. Hi Hannah,

    I love all the pictures, it looks like you guys are having so much fun. Was the young lady at the Chacocente school trying to get you to Dance or play, either way, I love that photo. I really miss you much, and so does everyone else. I know you will have a ball today at Volcan Mambacho and the zipline. I cannot wait to see those. I love you so much, and am so proud of you and your friends. Until next time!!Don't forget to say your prayers at night.

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  4. Grandmom (Macho's)March 24, 2013 at 6:01 AM

    Another day filled with lots of adventures and fun. In looking at the pictures I actually feel like I'm there with you all. Can't wait for Macho Luis) to play his maracas and sing the don Pablo song. I thought the little monkey is so cute. Coconut water, did you drink some Macho? Hope you all continue to enjoy yourselves. Be blessed. Love you Macho. Grandmom n Grandpop. Grandpop is enjoying reading about your adventures. Dios te bendage.

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  5. Munchkin!!!!! The house is quite without you!!! We miss your Crazy dancing!!!(btw DON'T do them over there!!!) Our friends keep asking daddy how is your Mini Me. Then daddy throws himself on the floor and CRY's Iiii missss himmmm!!! ahhhhhh!! I on the other hand am enjoying my break from having to say "is your homework done yet? how long is it going to take? Let's gooooo finish it!!! :) The pictures and the blogs are helping us see your more than ok. Enjoy every second, takes lots of pictures, and lifted all to the Lord.
    love you, miss you.
    Mom and Dad

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  6. P.S. A special shout out to M. Steve and M. Kate. Your doing an amazing job with our children. We all thank you.
    God Bless
    Morales Family

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  7. Grandmom (Luis - Macho)March 24, 2013 at 9:21 AM

    I tried to view the pictures for day two to show my husband but for some reason they are not coming up. Does anyone know what this day is not showing up. we can only see the ones posted and not the entire group of pic for that day bummer. No worries at least we have seen the other three days so far. Loving the pics. Hats off the one taking the pics. Have a blessed day.

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  8. Hey There Nick:

    We spent the morning at the river-it was cold but nowhere near as bad as last week! Kat's boat won, placing first in the women's novice 8+! She was very excited but later fell asleep on your bed! You looked a little "under the weather" in today's photos. Could it be the heat? Grenada (and Nicaragua overall) looks beautiful but, seriously, I would never survive there. Anything warmer than 70 degrees makes me want to move to Alaska. I hope you and the group are having an unbelievable experience. Shout at you soon. xo

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  9. Leslie Brown-BookerMarch 24, 2013 at 1:39 PM

    HEY KRIS, I WAS LOOKING AT THE NEW PICS, I'M TOTALLY ENJOYING THIS. I MISS YOU EVERY MUCH, THE WHOLE FAMILY SAID, "HI". I LOVE SWEETIE YOUR MOM XXOXXOO

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  10. we miss you Buttercup (Grammy's name for you)!!!!!!! BTW Marc's says "Hello" to Hannah, LOL!!!! blog back soon!!!!!

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  11. Bella, I humbly apologize... It's nice to see your smiling face in the above photos... I am so thrilled for you... It looks like you are having an amazing time! We will miss you at tomorrow's Seder but I will save some chocolate covered matzah for you €:D
    Btw, Louis got up into the crawl space under the kitchen the other night! I went upstairs when he refused to come out. Apparently down was more difficult than up because I heard a slow motion/sliding crash coming from below. Don't worry, he emerged unscathed. Have a great day tomorrow! xoMomxo

    P.S. Tr. Kate... I love the picture of you with your coconut drink!

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  12. Hi Bella.. we will miss you tomorrow but from the photos an see that you are having a great time! We cannot wait to hear all about your trip when you come home.

    Love, Jeri, Baba & Rachel

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  13. Hi Alisha, I'm loving the pictures! Have fun, love you. your mom

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  14. I'm loving reading all of your observations and descriptions of your adventures! It looks like you all had an amazing time in Granada and Las Isletas. I'm impressed with your level of thoughtfulness when it comes to the need that you're encountering first hand.

    "We didn’t really know what to do in a situation like that and were overall stressed about the entire situation. We have been presented with this situation quite often. It has been getting easier to say no, to word the response, but it hasn’t really been getting easier at all. You know what to say to make it stop temporarily, but not to solve the problem."

    I wonder what Nicaraguans might say about what it might take to combat poverty.

    Can't wait to read more!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I'm loving reading all of your observations and descriptions of your adventures! It looks like you all had an amazing time in Granada and Las Isletas. I'm impressed with your level of thoughtfulness when it comes to the need that you're encountering first hand.

    "We didn’t really know what to do in a situation like that and were overall stressed about the entire situation. We have been presented with this situation quite often. It has been getting easier to say no, to word the response, but it hasn’t really been getting easier at all. You know what to say to make it stop temporarily, but not to solve the problem."

    I wonder what Nicaraguans might say about what it might take to combat poverty.

    Can't wait to read more!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Kaiana
    I loved reading about day four.... And the pictures..... Wow are phenomenal...... I live everyday through your stories and I really look forward to reading about them everyday ..... Ana, Rosie and the kids came by today and I read them the past days and showed them the pictures they are we're very excited and hope to see you soon..... I hope you had a better day today than yesterday.... Miss you greatly... By the way Isaac tells everyone that you went to church and that Alberto is going to get you soon...... I love you very much

    See you soon...

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  17. Hey aaliyah. It's me. Sorry this is so late. Are you even reading these? Probably not... anyway I made a new friend today, you'd be very proud. She lives in NY though. Also, I think I can get FOB tix on craigslist, but I can't pay for your ticket so if you wanna come you gata pay for your ticket. (I'm not going without you, so you should totally convince your mom to but the ticket haha) Its may 30, and the price is still questionable. Anyway, the pitures look cool, you look like you're having fun! You're lucky it's warm there, it's supposed to snow tomorrow... ugh. Ok ciao for now,
    Love,
    L

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  18. Hello Tilly

    I see you guys are having a blast. I was trying to get on but it was giving me some trouble. Everyone at church said hi and when are you coming back. Mom Mom, Mat, aunt TT and myself went to red lobster for dinner. I should mom mom the pictures. Well love you buddy.

    mom

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  19. Kaiana!
    Wow, am really enjoying your trip through those wonderful pictures! You all are doing a great job! Am so proud of you all! Though I am missing you very much, I am so happy to see you having such a time. Wish you all the best and please enjoy every moment because is a blessing from God. Love Dad

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