Managua and Granada (12/6/10-12/9)

Lost again, Managua

After saying goodbye to Gordon and Pita in Penitas, it's a pretty nice drive down to Managua, about 2 hours along the shore of Lake Managua with a few of the ever-present volcans to the east. Gordon drew me up some directions to the Toyota dealer and they worked well until I was thisclose. I missed one turn or another, asking 3-4 people where CasaPellas (they say the Pellas family is maybe the richest in C.A.) was and I find my way over to a CasaPellas. This is the wrong facility, but Claudia speaks English and helps me out. Turns out, though, they have no record of my having an appointment today (Monday) and the soonest they can do anything is Thursday, being that a very big religious holiday closes many things down for the next two days.

Luis is driving over to the correct building so I follow and can't believe how far off I was. Managua is a sprawling city with very few street signs and lots of traffic circles making it quite confusing. I spend an hour there talking with Luis, Manuel and Giancarlo (the interpreter) before everything is hammered out for Thursday. They use 5W50 oil here instead of 5W30 because of the temperature difference and it took some emails back to the dealer in Denver to decide that this was okay. I then fill up with gas...at $4 a gallon!

Granada


parked in front of the Hotel Granada
at the east end of Calle Calzada

I drove south to find a place called Poste Rojo to actually camp for $3 but I get completely lost for about 2 hours driving back roads, dirt roads, you name it. I find my way back to the main road to Granada and that's where I decide to go. Trying to find a place with secure parking took another hour, and I settle on the Hotel Granada, not the cheapest by a long shot, but I'm am clearly done for the day.

cathedral and Lake Nic. from the La Merced belltower

dancing lessons in Granada

Granada is Nica. oldest city and has a lot of the colonial charm of Antigua, but with less cobblestone, more horsedrawn carriages, more overhead wires, way more pastel and more "dirt under the fingernails". There are a fair number of tourists here, though, and I run into Lenny again, walking right by my hotel. He's staying the week to take spanish lessons, but Brian has moved on. Lenny and I and Amy, also from the spanish school, have drinks and pizza (me only) at one of the many outdoor cafes along the Calle Calzada. A nice evening in Granada.

Granada lakeside...kinda trashed

I was planning on heading up to Managua for the night so as not to miss my early appointment when Ellen, the hotel manager, said "so, you're leaving us?" I told her my plans for CasaPellas, and did she know anywhere in Managua I could safely spend the night. She thought anywhere that had secure parking would be fairly expensive (as is this!, I wanted to say), so I begged a little by asking if she could help me out if I stayed one more night. She agreed and gave me 10% off for my 3 nights. Small miracles. And she said she'd draw me a map so I wouldn't get lost going back north to Managua. I walked down to the lakeside park, but it's not the most attractive spot and I'm surprised there aren't more people here since today (Wed.) is the big holiday.

Back to Managua

Originally, I thought I'd need maintenance in San Jose, Costa Rica. There is a real RV park there outside of town and it would have been a lot easier and cheaper, but I put many more miles in Mexico than I had figured on (blame it on Las Pozas). And then to time this around a holiday didn't help; something about the best laid plans...

Ellen had left early yesterday because of the holiday so I never did get a map. Between Managua and Granada is Masaya. I got caught trying to make a left merge when I was in a righthand turning lane and a cop was standing right there. 20 minutes later I get out with a 300 cordoba fine (~$14). They had wanted 500 but I said I didn't have that much. Anyway, the cop had me and there was really no wiggling room.

Up to Casa Pellas where Big Yellow gets driven into the "operating room". The cleanest service garage ever, the mechanics - doctors? - wear gloves and face masks! Two hours later it comes back out spic-and-span and the bill is $186. $86 is for the 6 litres of synthetic oil alone (I think it's because all of this stuff has to be imported). While I was waiting for the car I wandered to a sitting area outside only to find a folded up $100 US bill! When they asked how I'd like to pay, I said US dollars, please. The other cool thing was, not only did they wash the vehicle, they steam-cleaned the engine! Ever had a dealer do that for you? Me neither. I'm still smiling about that one.