Since I am staying at the Hotel Spa Granada a half hour massage, a pedicure, a facial or a manicure comes with each day of my stay.It was always my intention to also have longer massages along side my massage or treatment that came with the room.
On my first day, I had a half hour 'mini-session'. It was fine. Nothing special and nothing that really felt like it had an added benefit - meaning I didn't leave
feeling any more relaxed or rejuvenated after the massage than before it. I decided to not decide for or against the hotel massages until later. I decided that it was entirely possible that I was just rather pent up and it would take time for me to relax and unwind.
On the second day, I went back for a one hour massage by the same lady. It was to be a half hour of a 'mini-session' and a half hour of reflexology. It ended up being the same thing I had the evening before accept with a little bit of foot rub attached, plus ear crunching.
Ear crunching is when they take your ear and crunch it. You can hear the cartilage crunching. This is not okay. It can cause cauliflower ear. It's not like the masseuse asks first and it's not like you know it is coming so by the time you're ready to say, 'Hey, don't do that'. They've moved on to something else.
It seemed very much like this lady had a problem with the fact that I don't speak Spanish. I've been to several countries. Is her suggestion that I only travel to countries where I speak the language? If so, there is a lot of business Nicaragua would not get because many travelers do not speak the language, nor do we wish to learn it for an 8 day vacation. I came to relax, not to get scorned by the people I am paying to pamper me.
There is a 'blind man' who also gives massages at the school. I decided to go to him next. The lady had a bit of an attitude and didn't use strong pressure. Basically, going to her felt like a waste of time and money. My assumption was that the man would be able to do a deep tissue massage.
I did a one hour deep tissue massage with him. He didn't leave the room when I changed and laid down. I was not comfortable with this. Especially since he initially turned around but as soon as I started taking my clothes off he turned around and seemed to be looking straight at my body through his dark glasses. After working on my shoulders he ripped the towel off my bottom in an exaggerated fashion then took an oddly long amount of time to start working on me again. So, I turned my head around to see what was taking so long. He had something in his hand facing down toward my body and as I turned to see what was going on he quickly jerked it away in the opposite direction. I felt uncomfortable with his actions, to say the least.
The 'blind' man's massage was no better than the woman's massage no absolutely no more helpful. I really didn't feel tense or like I was having a hard time relaxing. It just felt like the massages weren't good or useful. At the end of the massage the man told me that I had a lot of problems in my shoulders, that I had terrible posture and did not take care of my posture. I said, "Uh huh, that's why I got the massage." Oh, so he could feel the tension in my upper back. So, why didn't he work on it? Working out the tension was exactly why I was there. Hearing that my posture sucked was not why I was there. Nor was the ripping off the towel incident or the ear crunching or eye smooshing.
I decided not to go back. Sometimes free just isn't worth the time spent.
The next day I went to a place called Pure. They have a gym, offer massage and an array of other things. A lady named Claudia gave me an hour long massage. She was okay. Really, not better than the others at the Hotel Spa Granada. She smooshed my ears. I'm likely to have cauliflower ears after those three masseuses. Sometimes it felt like they just didn't like foreigners so it was a passive aggressive act on their part. Claudia did not speak English but that didn't seem like an issue. The other two didn't speak English either but they were noticebly annoyed that I didn't speak Spanish.
I decided to go back again the next day. I had an American man, Mark, give me a 90-minute deep tissue massage. He was wonderful. I told him that I was in Nicaragua to relax and was hoping to work out any tensions that might be stored up in my body through massage. He had his own business in the States where he did massage. He would close shop and travel around Europe for a couple months then go back and work again. Then, he came down here and has been here for a somewhere between a few months and maybe as long as eighteen months. I think he finds this lifestyle to be much cheaper but prefers Europe. Although, he didn't like France. He liked Holland best but stayed out of Amsterdam for the most part due to how touristy the city would tend to be.
Marc was great. I set up another 90 minute appointment for today. His hands were in tune with the body and he knew what he was doing. I felt like he was working tension out of the muscle and finding the sore spots. Well, except for the neck. Maybe he'll be able to work on that today.
If I come down here again I will probably stay at the Hotel Granada, not the Hotel Spa Granada. The Hotel Granada has a larger pool and the doors to the rooms look much more solid and not like it was take a credit card to get in the room. In my room, the doors don't meet the wall so people can just look through and see it. Also, I was going to the bathroom and when I came out someone was running out of my room and the doors to the room had been opened. A mop was holding one of the doors open so I knew the maids had 
opened the room (without knocking first) but when the person ran out of the room I became uncomfortable especially since my closet door had been opened where all of my valuables were. Now, even if just going to the bathroom I make sure the closet door is locked and all my valuables are put away or bring them into the bathroom with me.Mark said the Bearded Monkey Hostel and the Oasis Hostel both have good reputations although the Bearded Monkey is currently going through some changes and has had to shut down the bar area.
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