Hotel Spa Granada - Day Two

I slept great last night after going to bed around 9:00pm which is extremely early for me as I tend to hit the hay shortly before the sun comes up.

The room had air conditioning which I only used for the first half of the night. Conveniently, the air conditioner has a remote so I didn't need to freeze instead of getting up to turn it off or be bothered with getting out of bed.

I had two massages this morning after breakfast. The carrot-orange juice was delicious as was the coffee. There is a ton to eat. Breakfast is from 7:00am - 12 noon. It is all you can eat. Granola. Fruit. Fresh bread. Cheese. Omelet. Yogurt. Bananas. And much more. They have a grill, so basically, just ask if there is something you want. Breakfast is free for those who stay at the hotel and $6 US for anyone else.

Apparently, coffee is free all day for guests which I did not know yesterday as I was charged for it several times. Today, it is free.

My massages were very nice this morning. I'm always at a loss with tipping here. Yesterday I tipped $3 US dollars for a free massage that came with my room but would have cost $12 US. Today I was out of small bills in US Dollars and only had 50 dollars in Cordoba which is only $2.20 in US money but I'm told they don't tip here at all so hopefully that will do. I have another appointment this evening for an hour long deep tissue massage. I've gone to the bank and have restocked on Cordoba.

Did I mention that this trip was Sophie's Birthday trip? I probably did. In any case, it is but she decided to stay in NYC with her friends. I'm glad she didn't come. I didn't feel safe in Managua and am only really beginning to feel safe here in Granada today. I read that the police in Nicaragua stop women traveling who look to be between 16-30 to check for prostitution rings. I think it would be much more difficult to travel with a girl within that age range than to travel on my own. Many of the American local men seem to act as though women traveling on their own are fair game rather than assuming the women are just traveling and experiencing different cultures. I met a man who had been traveling with his wife (from the States) he said, "Men are pigs!" Apparently, he hadn't been to impressed with the treatment of women by the men - he assessment in no way seemed to be speaking of local men but rather the way men treat women down here in general.

I met several Americans this afternoon while out and about. There is a street by the large yellow cathedral - on the left hand side if coming from the Hotel Spa Granada - where I ate lunch at Cafe Margarita. The service was very friendly. The Chicken Quesadilla was delicious although I thought I had ordered a chicken enchilada. Honestly, it doesn't matter. I enjoyed the food and the restaurant. They also have rooms. I'm guessing it is fairly inexpensive to stay there. In fact, there are many hostels in the area and several just a block or two to the right of the yellow cathedral on the same street. I'd guess it would be hard to find a room for more than $8 US and it would not be surprising if the rooms were as little as $4-6 US.

I met a boyfriend and girlfriend from Minnesota. They spent the past 5 weeks in Belize. They had rented a house or an apartment for the month in a town and left after two weeks from pure boredom. From there they went to San Pedro which they much preferred and found to be no more expensive. Overall, the couple found Belize to be equally as expensive as the United States.

Next, I met a lady who owns a bar in Costa Rica. Well... she doesn't really own it but it is now in her name and she is working toward owning it. It holds 20 people and is on the water. She's been in Costa Rica for 11 years but is originally from Canada. Apparently, prices in Costa Rica have skyrocketed in the past 5 years. She is here with a friend from Atlanta, GA who is visiting her. Her friend has had an amazing amount of plastic surgery which went well with her little summer dress and nearly platinum blond hair.

I hit the open air market today on the advice of the Minnesotans. By the way, all four people I met were very happy with Granada. Apparently, Granada is the nicest city (town?) in Nicaragua.