Granada, Nicaragua (2)

Hey everybody, hope your well? Im expecting few more comments as its been a while :)

The Spanish School " One to One" brought us on a tour to one of the white towns of Caterina, it had some amazing views and it wasnt too far from Granada town.

So my Granada Family invited me out for a walk the other night, next minute the procession arrives and im strolling beside a load of guys carrying this huge table covered in flowers with a massive of Jesus on top, the band is giving it socks and the peolpe are singing away goodo. We ended up in the church and i would have loved to have been able to film it, they are singing there hyms and clapping every few minutes for the statue of Jesus, it was out of this world compared to our boring mases. What a trip..ha ha..going to church.

I got friendly with two of my spanish teachers and under cover we cycled the real Granada.."Ringo" was quoted by the local people a few times but it was fine. I had to be little carefull as there tends to be the odd shooting but no problems. It was pretty cool, i swam in the Lake of Nicaragua and then chilled in their gafs. Ended up bumping into another of my teachers but she didnt care that i was hanging out with them. Alot of the men worlk in Costa Rica and come home on the weekends as economy is better there. Enjoyed the lessons but thankfully they are over now as felt like i was a teenager again, i can say few words but pretty limited, might do some more at later stage..we´l see. Tomorrow i am going to make my way to Ometepe which is an island formed by two volcanoes rising from Lake Nicaragua.

Link in the kitchen Granada

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8254846@N08/3393470414/

Granada, Nicaragua

So ive dived in the deep end once again, im staying with a family in Granada, Nicaragua. The food is great and last night Jesus came to visit the house several times so i got a photo of him making his way up the road. On a sunday night the square is full of life with plenty of dancing. I had my first spanish lesson today and itt was a disaster to say the least. I will give it a lash for week but i dont expect much progress. Got some salsa in last night and went to Mirador de Catarina. There is band setting up in te quare for tonight so should be fun.

Perquín, El Salvador

Two days ago we went to the hills where the guerillas hid and fought in Perquín, El Salvador. We met some nervous army guys and then went to the museum and up the hillside to see their bunkers and memorabilia. We met a war veteran who walked with a limp due to a grenade explosion. When he was 15 he joined because 2 years before the army killed his brother and father who were both neutral at the time. He showed us a bomb that USA pilots dropped which spread 150 meters. They had a radio bunker to update the people and the army confiscated it at one stage. As the commanders went back to base in their helicopters with the radio equipment the FMLN pressed the button and killed several commanders. He explained how they started to win after 1985 and at one stage a hundred of the army surrender. The guerillas chief told his people not to kill a soldier if he surrendered as they too were also sons of poor farmers. This won lots of international support, even so that Mexico and France both supplied two bullet proof cars for the guerillas head officers. On top of the hills we met a lady which had returned on holidays to show her children her country. She explained it was terrible in the war period and every 15 days she would need to go out in her town and everybody had to wear white and hopefully you would not be shot... For the afternoon we went down to the hot springs for a dip and a little workout before dinner and pints :) Yesterday we went for a day tour of the real Perquin with Oscar (another local ex-gurilla with a limp). His brother was forced to join the army at 18, he obvioulsy got paid but he had no choice. Oscar brought us to El Mozote and explained what he saw the day ater the massacre. The army wiped out the whole 1,000 people village, one family and one woman escaped. They seperated the village into children of different ages and women and men. The men were shot and women killed. A local guide and he explained that they saw the heads of the children being eating by the animals. The soldiers had raped the young girls before slicing their throats and they hung other children and threw some babies to the ground. They wiped the 140 children with the view of exterminating potential guerilla´s. As a result the FMLN grew stronger as all the other villages became united. The Arena still maintain it never happend and celebrate the general as a heroe, he was later killed in one of th 16 helicopters that were destoyed in the area. He explained the USA gave $2.5m a day at one stage but the guerillas generated $1m a day, even Belgium contributed to the guerillas. They often held wealthy people hostage to raise funds. When he was shot and wounded he became a medic. at one stage the guerillas captured a minister and negotiated a treaty to send him and others to Germany to get hospital treatment. After they sent 80 guerillas to Cuba to learn to read and write. Later after the war he went to Nicaragua to support their revolucion. He is very proud to see FMLN in power but will wait to see what is instore in the future. I strongly reccomend a tour with Oscar if you sepak spanish. Later he brought us to their local nature reserve, Rio Sapa in Perequin. It was amazing, nice and warm and great for diving.

After i said good luck to the guys and stayed overnight in Choluteca in Honduras and arrived in Estelí Nicaragua today. Im keen on learning spanish but i think this town is itle too quite and off the beated track so i will probably head further south tomorrow.

El Salvador

They say you learn something every day so the other day I learned how cotton grows in el Salvador. We made our way past la Libertad to check out the surf beaches but decided not to have a swim as 3 people died the day before due to rough waves. We saw few local people bathing/washing in river which was very different altogether.

For St Paddys Day we went to Alegria, which is El Salvadors highest town. Grabbed a few tinnies from the parrot and we went to the crater lake La Laguna de Alegria We cracked a few beers open to celebrate my first padys day out of Ireland, was little weird but sure got locked all the same :)

It was weird seeing a footbal match being played right beside the crater. Played a game of footy in the square and then grabbed some pupulsas. This morning we went to a geothermal plant, it was not great as we expected hot springs but just a sauna and pool for $5, although we got a workers bus back to the town and one of the guys was gay and the other workers started having banter over and back with him, it was hillaroius, he was wearing sun glasees like myself , so thank god i got out of that situation without being abused lol .

Grabbed a tuck tuck back to our remote village, the lads driving it had been depoerted from USA and make $45 a day. The tuck tuck cost them $4500 so will turn out good for them ...so back to the traveling... We trecked to Perquín today which is really off the beaten track in El Salvador. Its a historic place with regard FMLN, village killings and where la Revolucion kicked off. We had to get many busses and jump in back of this renovated pick up truck/buss to get here. The people are delighted with the change that is about to happen, they talk of the education and when we mention that we were in San Salvador and show them our videos they smile with pride as "the world is now recognisning them."

We have not met any travelers on our journey in El Salvador and the people are so friendly, the children need to grow up fast as its different way of life. People are fascinated when they see you as you are so so different, they generally cannot help but stare. Tommorow will probably be my last day with guys as im going to back track a little and make my way to Nicaragua.