6/26 to 6/27/09
Leaving El Sunzal meant catching a bus to San Salvador. Not the prettiest of cities. With the assistance of one of our fellow bus passengers, (a women,usually the only trustworthy people in these cities) led us to the bus station that was to get us to our next capital city. We got to our bus station just on time, purchased our tickets and proceeded to to wait for a bus to Managua, Nicaragua. Our bus was suppose to arrive at 8:30am which would put us in Managua just before dark. Come 11am the bus pulls into the station--shit, this puts us in Managua well after dark. On the way to Managua we passed through Honduras--the medias newest favorite latin american country in turmoil. With their President hiding in Costa Rica and riots in the streets we opted not to do anything but pass though. Arriving in Managua we jumped in a cab and hightailed it straight to our hotel. There were signs in the lobby saying to not walk the streets at night, so we had the front desk call us a pizza--our first US style food since we left.
Managua is a gnarly city, not just in the crime sense but it's past is rather sad. The entire city was destroyed in 1972 by a massive earthquake that killed 10,000 people. It was then rebuilt only to be destroyed again by hurricane Mitch in 1998. In between that there has been a massive civil war.As of now there are no plans to rebuild the city and it remains a flattened mess of ghettos and open air markets. So we got the heck out and cabbed it instead of chicken bus to Granada, Nicaragua.
6/27-6/29/09
Granada, Nicaragua
We arrived in Granada late morning and checked into our hospedaje. A nice place run by a scantily clad Nica women named Valeria. We tossed our bags on the bed and went for a stroll around the city.
Granada is a beautiful 
500 year old city set right next 
to Lago De Nicaragua. The town was never destroyed by earthquakes like Managua so all of the old colonial buildings are still intact. The next few days were spent exploring the region. We went to Masaya--a smoking crater of an active volcano, paddled and motored around Lago De Nicaragua and just enjoyed walking and eating the city. Oh and we also got to visit an island in the lake with monkeys--they jumped on our boat, let us pet them, and then stole our stuff.
to Lago De Nicaragua. The town was never destroyed by earthquakes like Managua so all of the old colonial buildings are still intact. The next few days were spent exploring the region. We went to Masaya--a smoking crater of an active volcano, paddled and motored around Lago De Nicaragua and just enjoyed walking and eating the city. Oh and we also got to visit an island in the lake with monkeys--they jumped on our boat, let us pet them, and then stole our stuff.
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