Sometime in the night the city experienced a citywide power failure, which meant no fan and no water. We woke at 6:30 but lazed in bed until 8 before going out unwashed and unrested to find coffee and breakfast. Most of the small restaurants on Calle La Calzada where we’d eaten the previous night were closed or did not have coffee—no generators going—so we walked across Park Colón to the Hotel Alhambra and had mediocre, high-priced, touristy Nica breakfasts (rice, beans, eggs) in its Café Deliet while deciding on our plan of attack.
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Alhambra courtyard and pool |
Right across from the hotel restaurant were several rickety carriages pulled by bony horses. We took a half-hour horse and buggy ride around the city, looking with interest at the pastel painted facades.
When we got back to the park, I bought a little ruffled street-vendor-type apron for Sonja, and we bought a cold juice, and then we returned to our hotel. There was still no electricity or water. The proprietress told us that the water would be turned on at 2 pm. Jess moved us upstairs to a larger, breezier room but checked only with Eva, the chambermaid who was cleaning it, and not with the proprietress. The proprietress later had words with her chambermaid, which we surmised was a dressing down. Twice they’d had to re-clean a room because of our moves. At 2:45 there was still no water or electricity.
At 3 pm we walked to Tierra Tours and took a panga (little wooden boat with bus-like seats and a roof) tour of Las Isletas, a miniature archipelago of 365 tiny tropical islands. There were big, rich houses on many of these islands that were created when Volcán Mombacho threw off huge chunks of lava 10,000 years ago. On Isla de Los Monos (Monkey Island) our guide called down two white-faced and three spider monkeys for the amusement of those in the boat. He fed them cookies. The panga also stopped at an old fort/museum and we dutifully toured it and took pix of each other, despite hoards of mosquitoes. Then we motored to “Restaurant Island” were we were free for half an hour to get a drink etc. We found a cool spot by the dock and watched kids jump off a nearby diving board set in the concrete wall. Had I been able, a bicycle tour would have been much more fun.
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Our Las Isletas Tierra tour
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Mombacho towering still above the 350 or so islands it created 10,000 years ago
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Jess and me at The Fortress |
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A typical island home |
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Two kids rowing past the spot where we were relaxing in the shade on Restaurant Island
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Kid jumping off the diving board in same spot at Restaurant Island
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Lakeside tree serves as an egret rookery |
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Cacique or Oropendola nests, can't remember which |
At Tercer Ojo we shared an appetizer of smoked salmon on toast and then had curried shrimp, green salad with blue cheese dressing, green & black olives, coffee, and a banana crêpe for dessert. This time my crêpe didn’t have a funny little face on it.
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Tercer Ojo |
At 9 pm the water was restored! I took a long, hot shower. My chest is itchy and peeling.
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Eva, our Granada chambermaid, always folded our towels into swans and flowers when cleaning our room and leaving linens; of course the towels have been useless because we had no water
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