Today is Friday. Ryan is here today but we have no plans. So once everyone was awake we started trying to figure out what we are going to do while Ryan is here.
For lunch, Ryan and I went to Cafe Isabella so that he could try local traditional Nicaraguan food. We had a nice lunch and were going to bring food home but Dominica and the girls ended up eating so we didn’t.
I was just home writing most of the day. By around two in the afternoon, Ryan and I set out to do some errands and to see about renting a car. We wanted to know how large of a vehicle that we might be able to get as we have three adults now instead of just the two of us. We will not fit well into a Yaris.
We hit the bank, the shop and then stopped by the Hotel Plaza Colon to check out the car options. All that they had that we could consider was either the same Yaris that we had before, literally the same one, or a massive Toyota Prada five speed turbo diesel that would seat eight for three times the cost of the Yaris and who knows how much fuel consumption.
We thought about it a bit and tried sitting in the back of the Yaris and decided that while it would be tight, the Prada was ridiculously impractical and we knew the Yaris. So we rented the Yaris and drove back to the house with it.
I wrote for a little longer while Dominica packed and planning for the weekend was done. We decided that we are starting with a trip to San Juan del Sur and then going to the Isla Ometepe. I suggested that given that it was already started to get dark that it would not make sense for us to go tonight because the entire drive down would be lost in the darkness and all we would do is get there early, spend a lot of money on an extra hotel and have too much time there tomorrow. Instead, I felt, that we should hang back in Granada tonight and go early in the morning so that we can enjoy the drive and not be down there too early.
We did not have any plans this evening so around five I asked Ryan if he wanted to take a quick drive out west from Granada to see an area that he would not be getting to see otherwise to make use of the remaining light. So far he has only seen the city and this would be his chance to see something more. He thought that that was a good idea. So he drove and we headed south and west out of Granada on Route 4.
We drove down through Diriomo and up to Catarina and then to the west through Masatepe where we got pulled over for something that clearly did not happen. They claimed that we were speeding in a construction zone when there was no construction zone. The cop was really shady and weird. He just kept lingering by the window and not really making any sense. He kept saying something about using a computer or paying in Managua. He stepped away for a minute and I told Ryan that I was pretty sure that he was waiting for us to bribe him. Ryan had seen the fine listed on the paper that the guy was holding, it was five hundred Cordoba, which we had handy in cash. I got Ryan to say “it is permissible to pay here?” and show the money. The guy instantly grabbed it and told us to get lost immediately. So we did.
We drove on to San Marcos and turned south to Jinotepe which I have been told is a really cool town. It wasn’t bad but I am unclear what people liked about it so much.
As we headed east from Jinotepe we found a cool little asada called El Gallo Pinto. So we stopped in and grabbed gallo pinto. It was awesome. I got fresh fried plantain chips to take home to Dominica too.
Straight back to Granada from there. It was dark and there was nothing more to see tonight.
We all went to bed early. Want to be up and ready at a good time tomorrow.