Hello again

It rains here.

Who didn't tell me this was the "rainy season"??

oh I guess I knew it. But with a better idea of what can be done in the rain vs what can't, I changed my plans pretty considerably for the next couple days. This "better idea" was supplied by a guy who has nothing to gain by me going to Ometepe, but will get a bunch of money out of me by taking me personally on crazy tours nearby tomorrow. (And yes, he is from a legitimate company so stop worrying. I talked a guy from Arizona he took out a couple days ago. He said it was definitely worth it.)

So this means I'm staying in Granada for two days, and my too-long legs will be spared a further 4 hour knee-banging bus ride to Rivas, to get a taxi, to get a ferry, then to get another taxi somewhere on the island, then do it all again except in the reverse order tomorrow.

At first, in retrospect, I thought to myself "Man! I just got totally taken advantage of because this guy just got my business by telling me to not follow my original plan, which I thought for some stupid naive reason he would be impartial with me about!"

But then in further retrospect, I'm actually really happy I'll be with a good guide (for pretty much all day) tomorrow, and not on a jouncy bus right now wondering where I'm going to sleep tonight. Plus I just went on a boat tour of the lake and saw monkeys and ospreys. No good pictures of them though, sorry. - I think. I didn't bring along my big telephoto, I thought I was going to just walk around town and take pictures of cathedrals (very large and very old, like from the 1500's old. That's as old as anything called a "cathedral" can be in this hemisphere.) Then i met this guy by the docks with a tourboat, and he took me out. I practiced spanish with him for nearly two hours, and he tried to sell me property. "Mira! Este isla es 800,000USD solamente! Este es 'rugged.' Mira! Los monos! Ohhhh. Tres monos. Mama, Papa, y baby." - meaning monkeys. He made sure I told my family that this is a good investment, and gave me his business card with his realtor-ish information. And, the values are appreciating! (I had to look up a bunch of those words when he was telling them to me so I would understand.)

So what do you think, family? I actually think most of the islands that are currently unsold aren't really suitable for building, though. They kinda seemed like you should wear waders - or even a life jacket - when standing on them. Most of what you see of them - the vegetation - is probably floating.

So you see, Granada is on the same lake as Ometepe, and it has a big ol' volcano behind it too. And I have my own cheap room at a hostel with free internet for two nights. So I'm still happy I'm here.

Volcano tomorrow! Canopy tour tomorrow! Kayaks tomorrow!

Pictures won't be up until the weekend. Unless I'm feeling super enterprising tonight. The free internet here comes at a cost: these computers are the oldest I've seen anywhere but junk heaps for years. I'm not sure how my camera will confuse them.

ALSO: there's a vegetarian "hindu" restaurant here in Granada! Vishaka wins. I thought I wouldn't see any Indian places.

AND: has anybody heard of "dragonfruit"? It is weird. But at least in smoothies it is very, very good.