On To Granada

It continues to rain and rain. I left San Juan Del Sur this morning and
headed for San Jorge, the takeoff point for the ferry to Ometepe. When i
arrived it was raining and you couldn’t see much of the volcanos so I
decided to skip it and move on to Granada a little earlier than I’d
planned.

I arrived in Granada around noon and have really taken to the place.

Yes it’s pouring rain as I type, but I’m in a beautiful old place. The internet
cafe, besides being build in 1870, is well equipped, open to a large
friendly plaza, serves an excellent latte and has original art and geckos on the walls.

Everyting has been great since arriving. I looked into finding a hotel and
ran into some very helpful people. I was close to getting a pretty room
when I brought up the subject of Bentley. I did this partly because the
atmosphere is quite different here. It’s reminisant of a european city,
where a dog would be unusual; and sure enough the presence of Bentley nixed that deal. However they knew of a lady that had a small house for rent. So I ended up renting this perfect little house in central Granada.

The house has a living room, bathroom, bedroom and an outdoor kitchen. The whole thing is build into the side of a wall protecting the city from a
river so i can open my window and look down into a small stream where cows
are munching grass. The stream is quite small, only a few yards across to
the buildings on the other side. As I said it feels a lot like a european
city, twisty little streets and lots of character. The house has cable tv
with a reasonable selection of channels so i’ll be able to hear news in
english. It even has an internet connection!

Of course i need a safe place to park the car and i think i found one.
Time will tell on that one. I found a lady just down the street from my
house whose husband is a mechanic and they have an enclosed yard that in
which they have a few parking spaces for rent. So the landcruiser should
be able to rest comfortably for the week.

Bentley is another issue. I left him in the house. He is most comfortable
n the car but that’s not practical so we’re heading into new territory for
the dog.

Tomorrow I’m to meet this fellow at Kathy’s pancake shop to arrange for some Spanish lessons. Maybe I’ll finally find out what everyone’s talking about.