The vagabound adventures: leg two

We left San Juan del Sur and traveled in Monolo's truck to Granada. We stopped along the way as he "wanted to show us his homeland." We saw fields and our first glimpse of the Volcanoes that make up Ometepe island. He drove us through Granada and pointed out the 4 huge beautiful Catholic churches. Monolo said "there are 4 churches here and if you have a lot of sins you go to all 4." We said adios and gracias to Monolo, found our hostel and settled down.

                                                                   One church

          Church Two                                                                                          Church Three

Church Four

We took a walk around town looking around and searching for a place to eat. We found a little used book shop instead with Troy who used to live in Seattle. I could have lived in his tiny shop (he did live in the adjoining space). Great books and he had beautiful original photography hung up. Troy directed us to the Garden Cafe where I had an avocado BLT. They put avocadoes on everything here, but it is so good!

                      Troy's bookshop                                         The Garden Cafe

 The next day was Christie's last day. She was just here for June and her flight home left soon from Costa Rica. We miss her! After a long time of deliberating over plans the 5 of us who would be staying decided to stay in Nicaragua instead of traveling to Panama. There was still so much to do here! I'm still very determined to make it to Panama before the summer is up.
We walked to the lake hoping for a beach and swimming, up it was pretty dirty and the water was rough. We found a tour instead around the Isletes just off the coast and said why not. The Isletes were fairly pretty and there were some for sale. Anyone want to buy me an island?

One of the islands

By the time we got back we were all wiped and hung out at our hostel for the night.
The next morning Christie left us :( but we all journeyed on to Masaya for the day. We spent hours bartering at their huge market. They had everything for hammocks and jewelry to souvenirs and clothes.
Our final hours of the day were spent on buses to continue our journey on to Isla de Ometepe. Unfortunately we were too late for the last ferry (they stop at 5:30) and had to spend the night in San Jorge instead. San Jorge was not my favorite place in Nicaragua and I'd recommend timing it so you can sail right through to Ometepe.
Pura vida!