Team Granada is off to an amazing (and extremely early) start! We woke up at 5:00am and rushed everyone onto our bus in order to reach Granada in time for breakfast. Thankfully our comedor is only about a block away from the hostel where the Glimpsers are staying, and its breakfast service is exclusively for us! After filling our stomachs with omelettes and passion fruit juice, we headed back to the hostel where we covered important aspects of Nicaraguan history.

At the hostel, we discussed some cultural differences and street safety practices, and then we took a walk around the city. We oriented ourselves with the Mombacho volcano, visible from almost everywhere in Granada, to the south and learned that compass points are actually quite important for giving directions in Granada! For example, it’s not “200 Calle Atravesada” but rather “Calle Atravesada, 2 and a half blocks south”. This might take a bit of getting used to, but the Glimpsers already know their way around on foot due to the city tour.

Despite looking for shade whenever possible and constantly drinking water (thanks GG Leaders!!), the sun in Granada was relentless, and ice cream was obviously necessary to cool ourselves down. Our lunch, which came after dessert, included indio viejo, a traditional dish made of cornmeal, tomato, onions, and meat.

In the afternoon, we visited the museum in the San Francisco church. Our wonderful guide, Karla, led us through several exhibitions and shared with us the knowledge she has gained with over seventeen years of experience. The first room showed paintings from a rural community that specializes in a unique style of painting. Generations of families have passed on these techniques, which they originally displayed on jícaro, a hand-sized fruit with an extremely tough exterior.

gg_jun05_blog2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We saw a small scale replica of the city of Granada in another room where we were really able to “see” the line of churches on Real Xalteva Street. We ended with the stone carved statues from Zapatera Island, and then finally we headed back to the hostel for some well-deserved rest.

Tomorrow we will go to San Juan del Oriente, just outside Granada, in order to participate in a pottery workshop! Hope everyone is as excited as we are!!

gg_jun05_blog3

Hasta mañana!

gg_jun05_blog1

gg_jun05_blog2

gg_jun05_blog3