A quick one, before I´m gone

Actually there will be internet on this island, so what am I complaining about? The electricity, however, might be dodgy. There are no cars. There is a coral reef; my first coral reef! And palm trees, though really I have seen so many of those since last July. But maybe some of these will have coconuts on them, which can be taken down and turned into piña coladas. Yum.

I last wrote in Granada, where I spent a couple of days both hating the city and thinking it was stunningly beautiful. Another reason to distrust Lonely Planet (my dissection of that guidebook will form an entire post when I finish my trip) which seems to think Granada is the best thing since... Prague, or something. Clean streets, tourist restaurants galore, white people, lots of people asking for money. Not good. But beautiful, with the blue volcano in the background, seen down cobbled streets in late afternoon light, lined with orange, blue, bright pink houses. The churches of the city, some freshly painted, some in crumbling states of disrepair, domes seen above the skyline. The old market, a gorgeous grey stone with turrents and two twisted dead trees in front, overun with stalls and people and noise. On Friday evening, a men carrying a life-size statue of Jesus from a cathedral down the street, a brass band playing and everyone crowding around with bowed heads. Like a funeral. I think I´m being to get Catholicism.

But I had to get out, I didn´t quite get Granada. Still don´t understand that particular backpacker scene you find in the bigger spots. So headed first to small village, Catarina. Was sort of ill. Looked at lookout, at crater lake and volcano. It was very windy and a little bleak, and dusty and brown. Went onto Masaya, a downhome practical kind of place with a tourist market where I bought a hammock. Now I can sleep anywhere! Next day, up to Laguna de Apoyo, the aforementioned crater lake, a lot nicer on a better day from close up. The drive down in the bus is fantastic; a "two way" street worthy of Devon Street in Wellington (ie. a goat track), with views of the lake through the trees and the surrounding hills. Hill? Odd, being in a crater. Every way is up. On the way down, the bus toots its horn, so that cars coming up have a chance to get out of the way. It doesn´t really go any slower though.

Being in the lake was lovely, a layer of beautifully warm water floating on cold. Very mysterious, how that lake came about. Where does the water come from? Where does it go? I heard tell that the lake has healing waters. Maybe it was that, or positive thinking, but my red bumps have nearly disappeared. Still unsure what actually caused them. Slept in an expensive dorm, noisy, and nearly panicked when I heard the bus horn early the next morning. Grabbed my stuff in a very undignifed way, found the gate locked; thankfully, it was the bus on the way down, not on the way up the hill. Looong day of travel yesterday. Oddness at the Managua bus station, four guys all telling me different things in Spanish about which bus to get on; normally it´s realtively straightforward. Made it to El Rama, a sketchy but seemingly friendly port town and the end of the road. Slept in a fairly dodgy cheap hotel, had deadlock. Heard people doing things all through the night; what was anyone doing up at three in the morning? Why was the town not deserted when I had to catch the boat at five thirty? I guess they can´t sleep for the dodginess.

Am now in Bluefields, even sketchier town. Have however found Polish guy to beat anyone off. Have already noticed difference walking down street. For all its badness, I like it. The path from the dock winds through overhanging houses, wet stones, rubbish and weird smells. The hotel has narrown wooden corridors painted a bright shade of sky blue. It´s lovely to hear Creole again, and be near the sea. I think I was missing it, inland. On the bus I kept imagining it would pop up behind the next hill, like it did in the car when I was a child. And tomorrow, I go in a boat. A boat! To an island!