Granada

Day 425.

We headed back up the country for NYE, to the colonial town of Granada. Quickly deciding we'd be opting out of the numerous Gringo only raves at the beach! Fortunate to have been reunited with Max and Paula amongst other friends from Leon here also, for many reasons but particularly for facilitating our dodgy fireworks purchase - which limbster would simply not have condoned otherwise..

Granada, filled with churches, horse pulled carts and relatively hectic markets had instant appeal. It certainly was hard to claw the gopro from my hands even on a quick trip to the ATM - and for good reason. Our favorite past time here more than any was just watching locals go about their daily life - with one particular highlight. The tradition that is families bringing out their rocking chair furniture into the street and enjoying dusk time together, as a result take any back lane off the main Granada strip at sunset and the streets are teeming with life!

Not one's to miss out on a local cuisine, we didn't waste a minute before tucking into Vigoron (think raw root vegetable, topped with pork scratchings and wrapped in banana leaf- and boy what a mistake this was. Limbster has a very clearly defined decision making process - and eating food she doesn't enjoy always trumps awkward embaressment in front of the waitress, thus she was quick to leave this god awful dish all to me to do with what I could. It wasn't long before we had made a quick dash and returned to our long lost El Salvador Ian favourite - Puspusas, and boy they didn't dissapoint.

I'm sure it's been mentioned more than enough of late but I really cannot get over abundancy of passion fruits here - I'm now picking up 3 a day, each easily exceeding the size of my hand and for a grand total of £0.22. Its becoming a problem.

Just 30 minutes out of town was something that you can only see in 4 or 5 places around the world - an active volcano with bubbling lava that you can get within 150 meters of for about half an hour (dependent on which way the wind is blowing the deadly gases). As expected we couldn't resist, arriving at the volcano for sunset was pretty perfect and we couldn't quite take our eyes of the splashing and crashing of waves of lava down below.

Masaya volcano was certainly a good warm up to NYE but we had a feeling we would see plenty more explosions come the 31st. It was a fairly educated guess given 4 of us had visited the local firework market that same day. A very legit, particularly safe establishment consisting of 15 shacks, made of wood and yes, stuffed full of fireworks. No chance of an accident mind because they all had a 100 litre barrels of water ready and waiting outside, problem solved I'm sure. It was like being a kid in a candy shop - although this candy shop sold exclusively fireworks for much cheaper than candy would cost you back in the UK. After picking up a few flammable men, bombas and the odd rocket or two we headed back for a Flor de Cana and a game of Perudo.

As expected at midnight the streets came alive. Children and families all congregated street by street, letting off fireworks and welcoming in the new year together. Shared a particularly happy midnight kiss with Limbster before getting down to business - our own fireworks, plus a Cuban cigar or two. Safe to say apart from a lost chest hair or two they all went off pretty smoothly.. a strong start to 2020.

It was at this point our night took an interesting and very unexpected turn, and before we knew it we had a table at the deaf and gay community centre of Nicaragua and were welcomed with beers and open arms - it was certainly one we won't be forgetting in any hurry.

Breifly mugged tonight also around 3am. But due to my tiny shorts combined with my brick of a phone it would have been impossible not to notice the weight change and I was quick on my heels albeit a little worse for wear. After an awkward confrontation and some support from a local or two it was back in my possession - and just like that my first (and hopefully last) pickpocket experience was over.

January 1st, as expected was spent well and truly in bed. Venturing no more than 5 minutes from the door for takeaway Pupusas (and maybe a subway..)Leer más