"Rain, Rain, Rain"

"26/06/2010"

We took it easy as we headed off for Granada, having a bit of a lie-in, before getting on another air-conditioned bus to Granada. The hassle at the bus terminal is very reminiscent of the tro-park experience in Ghana and indeed listening to the "mates" screaming out destinations took me back to the days of "circ, circ, circ, circle!!!" and "thirty sev". Good times :)

It hadn't rained during the night, but it certainly made up for it this morning, chucking it down all the way to Granada.
Arrival in Granada, the rain decided to lift, so we went in search of the hostel I'd booked online. This turned out to be a wild goose chase as it had closed down (thank you hostelworld), so we ended up at La Libertad. It looked really funky, the sort of interior I'd opt for, but as soon as we saw the room, I wished for somewhere else. The whitewashed walls were so dirty, with some sort blanket for a roof. Bugs and mozzies could easily crawl in and the toilets and showers were horrible. It was so dirty.

Neither of us could be bothered to trawl further with our rucksacks as the sun was finally out.
We meandered around the bussling Parque Central, somewhere that was becoming very reminiscent of a European capital, especially as there were far more backpackers here than anywhere else along our trail. For lunch we went to a lovely Mexican restaurant with what was the best food I've had on the trip. I had a veggie burrito and the vegetables definitely felt good after days of snacking.

After lunch we took a boat trip on the lake to visit the islands that have formed as a result of previous volcanic eruptions. The rich have built summer properties on these isalnds, worth millions of dollars. The tour also tooks us to see monkeys and there were plenty of pictoresque views of the volcano which slowly, but surely clouded over more so as the storm brewed.
I should highlight that we are sitting on the edge of a tropical so the rain and poor weather may hit us over the next few days. Fingers crossed it will miss us.

We got caught in the rain once on land - I wish we hadn't left our waterproofs behind. The rest of the day was chilled out, checking the internet and relaxing.