Getting to know the great people of Nicaragua

The second day in Nicaragua the Ministry of Tourism of Nicaragua(INTUR) picked us up to go see the historical center of Granada. Once we arrived to the main plaza we only had about an hour there; 30 minutes to hear historical facts about the sites and another 30 minutes to walk around on our own and shop.

After the hour we were ready to leave but we couldn't because there was people from the group missing. We ended up having to wait about an hour and a half because people would leave to make phone calls or get drinks as we waited for the ones missing to show and then we would have to wait for them to get back. La Ruta had set rules at the start of the trip in case something like this would happened, the rule was that we would wait for ten to fifteen minutes, then would leave and the person left behind would have to find their own way to meet up with La Ruta. This rule was in place because we have a very tight schedule and if we start running late we would miss things we had to see and that is just what happened in this situation, we wasn't able to see two stops. To add to the delays when we were all now really ready to leave there was something wrong with the bus and had to wait another few minutes till it got fixed.

We didn't get to stop at the Lake of Nicaragua because of the delays but at lest we were able to look at as we drove by. The Lake of Nicaragua is the largest lake in Central America and is home to the Bull Shark which is the only shark that is able to live in fresh water.

The next stop was a little town that had a large part to do with Nicaragua's revoultion over their old government. Here we was once more greeted with great typical food, drinks, music, and dances. There was a point were even some of our members joined in the dancing.

Just before all the great activities were done I went out side and walk around a little. I noticed that the people in this town had a great intrust in us, there was tons of people sitting out side or on their door steps as well as sticking their heads out the window to take a look at us. I think that as I attempted to capture them trying to get an glimpse of us is when I really realized that people from other places are just as interested in you as you are about them, I would love to studying that in depth in the future.

After a great time at our last stop and getting to know the great people of Nicaragua, we went to an arts and crafts market were we met a group of young Nicaraguans that explained to us about their history and then was as able to go shopping.

After we had learning so much about the Nicaraguan culture, INTUR took us to eat at a restaurant were we ate the same typical dish we had eaten the at our first diner in Nicaragua. This typical dish consist of yuca(a vegetable that's a root like the potato), meat, and on top there is a salad thats like coleslaw but without mayonnaise.
Once we had eaten we left to Managua which is the capital of Nicaragua. In Managua the first place we went to was the bulding were the revolution had started, there they explained to us how the rebels went about entering and taking over the government at the time. This building now has been turned into a museum and were able to walk around and learn a lot more about their culture.

One of the things that I learned this day was that Nicaragua is left winged and a lot of the people really look up to El Che. As soon as I found this out it all made sense to me why I thought I knew about Granada, I had heard about it on some Che documentaries I had watch before. Back in high school some of my friends were Che fans but I really did not know who he was and didn't understand why he was so important. So I did some research on him to find out I like him in his youth but really didn't like the way he went about getting things done late in his life. Because of the fact tones of people in the US like him but he fought agents the US really interested me on why people love him so much in the states. Now in days in the US El Che is just a hip icon and most people that wear something with his face on it do not even know who he is so when I realized I was in a country were he was a extremely important and is a hero to them I just had to take the time and talk to the people and get their point of view.