Well, it´s quite a leap for me as an Aussie to understand the whole nature of borders. An invisible line which dictates the division of one country from another, it costs money to cross and you must have your passport with you...strange goings on. When you get to the other ´side´ of the line, there is different money, different customs, different food and much more music. So here we are in Nicaragua. We spent three glorious restful days in beautiful Granada. A colonial town established by the Spainards in the 16th century it has retained much of it´s original splendour. Nestled (hehe) against Lake Cocibolca (very big inland lake, very very big) it has this lovely sleepy feel to it, as if the inhabitants have all gone indoors to escape the heat. All the doorways which open directly onto the footpath, are these double intricately carved solid wood masterpieces which is kinda hilarious as all the people are really short, gives the impression of hobbits. Very few if any windows on the exteriors of the building because they all have these glorious indoor courtyards with glorious gardens and water features. Nicaraguensas look different to Costa Ricans, you can see the indigenous hertitage in their skin colour and slightly slanted eyes. Speaking of Nicaraguan eyes, every five or ten people or so have these knock you out eyes, these rich caramel, green, grey, olive eyes, hard to explain but it´s as if they glow from within, very striking. Will try to get the courage to take some piccies.
It´s sort of funny being a regular tourist again after getting used to being in Puerto Jimenez, where Gabriel if not related to most of the people in town is certainly known by them. People often call out ´Juancarlitos´ to him (little Juan Carlos). So here being back on the road again I have that familiar sense of the duality of tourism, how it bouys the ecomony of a developing nation like Nicaragua but how it changes it also. Little bit of quantum mecahnics there. The observation changes that it is wishing to observe.
We arrived in a new town this morning, Rivas, it is much less endearing than Granada and simply put really dirty. But as Gabriel pointed out to my grumblings, people always see the worst bits that we are´t used to it at first and then you don´t see them any more after a while. So after we were set down by the bus in the middle of a insane, filthy market place, carrying all our worldly belongings and no idea which direction to go, this lovely young softly spoken lad omehow caught my attention amoungst the several taxi drivers and people tugging at our arms and bags and he signaled us toward his transport vehicle. Not unlike the Thai tuk-tuk, this is a human powered bike with a double seat carriage mounted on the front. We piled on with our several bags and in all honesty must have weighed a good 200kils between us and he biked us the twenty minutes to our hotel door, I simply couldn´t give him only the 10 cordobas (50 cents) he asked for, despite my reluctance to support the notion that all foreigners tip, but he was my hero as well as our driver.
So after a little bit of shopping in the morning we will head back across the border to Costa Rica. Don´t think that´s the end of our adventures for those of you still tuned in, I suspect we still have bit of juice in the tank before we return to the safety of Puerto Jimenez (thats funny, when you know the town). Hasta Pronto
Besitos
Kate
