Granada horse cart tour, churches and baseball disappointment

After a leisurely breakfast, we ventured out to take the much-anticipated horse cart tour of Granada. Sullivan was most eager to actually ride on the horse cart and the rest of us were very interested in seeing some more of the city.

We passed a sculpture dedicated to the Sandinista government. On a side note, we had a nice conversation with a gentleman staying at our hotel. He and his wife are here from Minnesota. He fled Nicaragua in the early 1980s after fighting against the government. He had been imprisoned for three years in an old fort which was also showcased on the tour. This was his first trip back to Nicaragua. I was very interested in hearing more details but did not want to pry too obnoxiously.

I have to admit to being the most impressed by the sheer number of large and colorful churches that we passed. We went back and climbed up the tower of one of them later, which is purported to offer the best view in Granada. Our tour included a stop at Lake Nicaragua. At this point in time, our guide said that his brother operated boat rides and gave us a sales pitch for about a tour right then and there. We respectfully declined and he seemed to be okay with it, although a bit disappointed. We struggle with wanting to support all of the local folks that we meet and struggle a little bit with this balance.

We cooled off with some drinks and chocolate in a nearby café. It was here that a particular sign caught my eye. I opted to take a 15 minutes chair massage offered by a small group who employs blind folks as massage therapists. My massage cost five dollars. It was a fantastic and unique experience. During my 15 minutes of bliss, Erica and the kids perused the used books before finally settling on only the third Harry Potter book. A midafternoon siesta followed back at the hotel.

Feeling refreshed, we ventured out again, this time in search of views and food. We climbed the tower of a beautiful old church and did revel in the 360° views of this beautiful colonial city. We tested our luck with some street quesadillas and hamburgers in a small shop before hiring a taxi to the baseball stadium. We had heard that the Granada baseball team is very good and was playing at 6 PM. Unfortunately, the stadium was closed and empty when we arrived around 5:30. A man there told us that the next game was on Wednesday. I was really excited about seeing a professional baseball game here in Nicaragua. Fortunately, We made this discovery before we got out of the taxi. Our entire 20 minute trip cost about three dollars.

It was great that we had another plan for evening, however. We walked around the corner from our hotel to the local movie theater. We watched a version of Jack the Giant Slayer. It was not very well attended but was a unique experience in the auditorium style theater complete with a bat or two flying around during the movie. It was in English with Spanish subtitles. I think the movie was supposed to be in 3-D but we had no glasses. The popcorn was pretty darn good and we even splurged on some Coca-Cola simply as a cultural experience, as the Coca-Cola here is apparently made from cane sugar instead of processed high fructose corn syrup. It was still very sweet. We carried a very sleepy boy home and forced everyone to go to sleep.