Hipica de Granada

Tuesday - August 22

Well, we are back from a very nice trip to Nicaragua and our visas are all recharged for another 90 days. In addition, we have lots of interesting stories and things to report; nothing like a little travel to add spice to life!

We left off last week preparing for our trip, and planned to head out Thursday after Niall got out of school. First, though, I had to get a part of our front suspension on the car repaired, and then I spent the rest of the morning meeting with the Board of Directors of the Monteverde Institute, of which I am now a member. Quite a meeting really. I’ve been involved with the Institute for about 5 years now, and I’ve always been impressed by their courses and faculty, and the connections they strive for in working with the local community. Unfortunately, their financial acumen has not been up to par with their programatic expertise. Much of my first meeting with the board was about finding ways to resurrect a healthy financial status, after about 5 years of poor management. Fortunately, they have an excellent new executive director, and she seems to be making all the appropriate moves to cut costs and refocus their operations to serve only the core mission of the organization. If they can manage to keep afloat through next year, they should be able to return to the black on their operating costs, and then get back onto a sound financial footing for the future.

After finishing our board meeting, I walked the 3 miles back to the garage, where miraculously, our car was just coming off the lift. Arnoldo, our mechanic smiled and wished me a “buen viaje,” and it looked like we’de be off on time! We picked up Niall at 3:00, and headed for our favorite spot at the beach for the night, Playa Hermosa, about 2 ½ hours to the northeast. As a change of pace, we decided to try a potential “shortcut” down off the mountain, along a road I’d just heard of through Las Juntas, about 15-20 miles north of our usual route. The road did indeed turn out to be a bit shorter, but also MUCH rougher, and around here, that’s saying something!! ;-) I suppose this requires a brief primer on Costa Rican roads, which have an unfortunate reputation, even in Central America, for being pretty poor. Some are OK, like much of the Pan-American highway, which runs the length of the country from Nicaragua to Panama and is actually something resembling a North American interstate near San Jose, the capitol. Even the Pan-American is a bit rough on some sections though, no different from a typical county highway in the US in size or maintenance. Other “state” or “provincial” level highways range in quality from paved, narrow, and fairly smooth; to paved, narrow, and full of crater sized potholes that everyone drives around like they are on an obstacle course; to ones like here in Monteverde, that are regularly graded dirt and gravel, with periodic build-ups of emerging rocks and pot-holes that remind one of driving in a mine field. As a point of reference, 2 wheel-drive rental cars are NOT allowed to drive to Monteverde (it voids your rental contract if you try, and happen to get stuck). This isn’t so much because the roads are too muddy and impassable without 4wd, as because the rocks, potholes, ruts, and occasional landslides require much more serious suspension systems, as well as higher ground clearance to get over stuff without leaving your transmission or muffler behind.

Soooo, to bring us back to the story, this was a REALLY rough road. With our brand new suspension bushings giving me extra confidence, however, this didn’t seem like much of a problem. Even after the downpour in the thunderstorm started, I wasn’t worried. At least not until we heard the unbelievable clanging and banging from under the car as we passed over a particularly rough stretch, and then I saw the front skid plate fly out behind us in the rear-view mirror. Apparently the mechanic had finished with the suspension repair, gotten everything back together, put the skid plates back on, hand tightened the bolts to the chassis, and then forgotten to torque them down hard with a wrench. 20 minutes of jiggling later, off they came… The second plate was a bit more stubborn, and we had to drive along for another couple hundred meters, clanging and banging as we we went before the last bit gave way. As a piece of metal was bent over the securing bolt, there was no way to help it off, so we just drove along and prayed nothing vital got banged up too badly. After recovering the second plate and securing them in back with the luggage, and then visually checking for damage underneath the car (there was nothing I could SEE that looked wrong…) the sky seemed to clear, and we limped the next 10 kilometers downhill to the paved road. Once there, everything seemed to run OK, so we decided to just keep on and hope for the best. Besides, we had just increased our car insurance to include road-side assistance, so what difference did it make where we got stranded? As it turned out—the crazy car ran fine the remainder of the trip, and my embarrassed mechanic fixed everything for free when we got home! ;-)

We got into Playa Hermosa right on time to get fish tacos for dinner at one of our favorite local restaurants (Langostinos—it means “lobsters” in Spanish, so, seeing as they don’t serve lobster, I don’t know why they call it that, but it’s still a great place). It is run by a couple of ex-pat Americans from Texas and they raise catfish in ponds out back to freshly supply their restaurant with all kinds of great dishes that are sort of Costa Rican, sort of Texas-Creole. As someone who lives for fish tacos from Baja California, these are a pretty good second. We spent the night in a small hotel right on the beach in Playa Hermosa called appropriately enough, the Hotel Playa Hermosa. It too is owned by an American, like many of the businesses near the beach. It is amazing how much money is moving from California and similar locations to costal Costa Rica. The amount of construction along the Pacific coast and near the airport in Liberia right now is pretty amazing, considering there are just a few more than 4 million Costa Ricans, and most of them live in the central valley near San Jose about 300 kilometers from here. Some of it even LOOKS spookily like California too—there is a new shopping center in Liberia with a big grocery store that is all detailed in tan mission-style stucco that requires a double-take or two to decide it isn’t actually a Von’s or a Ralph’s.

After a pleasant night in Playa Hermosa, we had breakfast overlooking the beach while Niall went swimming. When Norma joined him in the water, the poor kid managed to get a nasty sting from a jellyfish all up and down one arm. It looked terrible, all covered in welts and bright red, but with a little ammonia, it disappeared by lunchtime. After his initial panic, he calmed down and took this one pretty stoiclyOne more thing to worry about when swimming! AT about 9:00am we heaeded out and made it to the Nica border by about 11:00. All seemed to be going smoothly until after we had cleared the Costa Rican passport control we were rechecked for our vehicles’s paperwork. As it happens, I misread some of the fine print, and our car’s “visa” had expired. I thought our Permiso a Salida de Pais was good for 90 days, and it turns out it is only good for 30. So we had to drive an hour back to Liberia, stand in line for 20 minutes, pick up a new piece of paper, and then drive another hour back to the border. With lunch thrown in, we managed to clear the Nicaraguan side by about 4:00pm! At least this time, we managed to get through all the various lines and signatures on our own, without paying $50 (or more) to the “coyotes” who try to “help” you through the process!

After a final uneventful stretch of driving, we arrived in Granada just before dark. And none too soon—as it turns out, we inadvertently picked a fiesta weekend in Granada, perhaps the biggest of the year it seems: the “Hipica de Granada.” It is sort of a cross between a county fair, a big rodeo and the Rose Parade, with just as many people. Fortunately, we had reservations at the same wonderful little hotel I had stayed at the previous time I visited Grenada (Hotel Patio del Malinche, which we HIGHLY recommend!). After fighting our way through traffic snarls for half an hour, we managed to get into our hotel in time for Niall hit the pool for a swim, and for Norma and I to hit the deck chairs with a much needed cerveza poolside.

Our first full day in Granada was Saturday, and we spent much of it wandering the streets and the central market shopping. Like many central American cities, Grenada has a wonderful marketplace that is sort of a throwback to medieval times, with hundreds of small merchants and vendors set up in little booths and stalls in a makeshift set of buildings and covered walkways covering several city blocks. The sights and sounds and smells can be a bit of sensory overload for most north Americans, but it is a real treat if you can put your claustrophobia aside, stop worrying (but not being careful) about pick-pockets, and just take the place in! We bought all kinds of things here (real raw cocao beans, a beautiful cutting board, & a slingshot for Niall among many other items). Norma could have easily spent about a week in the market, and I doubt we even actually covered more than half. We pretty much skipped the whole meat and fish section altogether after Niall just about freaked at the fresh pig skin Norma pointed out! Sometimes you just can’t resist yanking your kid’s chain instead of the other way ‘round! ;-)

Another interesting experience we decided we couldn’t pass up was getting a Nicaraguan haircut. Both Niall and I needed one, and for some reason, finding a barber or hair salon in Costa Rica is like trying to find a bellbird hidden in the tree canopy—you know they must be there, but trust me- it isn’t easy. At any rate, I’m convinced that being a barber or hair stylist is the national vocation in Nicaragua. There are almost entire streets devoted to barber shops and hair salons in Granada, and I’m told even more are in Managua. And they are busy too! I suspect that Nicas are the best (or at least most frequently) cut and coiffed people on earth. For Niall and I, the process was pretty straight forward. My Spanish is just good enough not to get a Mohawk, so everything turned out fine—better than fine really—Niall’s never gotten a better haircut; and the best part was the price: US$2.50 each! Even Prague couldn’t boast a haircut under $3.00 when we lived there in 1999.

Sunday was the big Fiesta day for the Hipica de Granada weekend. After spending much of the morning wandering and shopping some more, we walked all the way along the parade route to the “malecon,” sort of a classical Spanish version of a waterfront boardwalk area. We got there about 2:00pm, and then walked back to a hotel about a kilometer up the road where we miraculously got a table on their front porch to watch the parade. It was a great spot, with shade, seats, and $.75 cervezas! Tough to beat. We then sat back and watched the parade go by for about two hours, along with about a quarter of the population of Nicaragua. There must have been at least 250,000 people lining the parade route, and slowly moving along with the parade down to the waterfront, where a huge party seemed to be going on. We were content with our seats and our beer, and Niall was happy just seeing that much chaos that close by!

And chaos, with just a slight bit of well exercised but removed control, pretty well describes the Hipica parade. It is pretty different from most American parades. No high school bands. No boy scouts or rotary clubs or fire departments marching. No politicians in convertibles. Just lots and lots of people on their best horses with all the buckles shining, and wearing all their best equestrian outfits (western, NOT English), as well as huge numbers of pedestrians sort of moving along with the flow of the parade. The parade route was lined with hundreds of vendors selling food and local Tona beer, as well as every imaginable trinket for the kiddies. DJ’s and huge stereo systems, as well as live bands also lined the route, all competing for your attention. Hundreds of folks also parked along the route ‘tail-gate” style, with barbeques fired up and grilling of corn, chicken, or pork going on all over the place. Also prominent, but generally just observing, were a ton of security people. Local police, private security, national police, even some armed forces looking types in full riot gear (these were some tough guys in 90+F heat and 100% humidity!). While the security presence was substantial, I didn’t see a single instance of any security needing to exercise their authority. Everyone was clearly partying hard, but they all seemed to know just where the threshold was between having a really, really good time, and getting thrown in jail or worse! Perhaps most fascinating thing about the Hipica parade was how well horses and people mixed in close quarters. While I certainly can’t claim to know that much about horses, Norma grew up around donkeys and horses, and she was amazed at how well controlled all the horses were. Even with all the blaring music, pedestrians pressing in on all sides, fireworks going off all over the place, and often riders sporting a beer in each hand, these horses were amazing. Many even managed to “dance” along to whatever music was playing along the route, in styles ranging from mariachi to raggaeton. It certainly isn’t anything I’ll soon forget!

On Monday, with some degree of sadness, we left Granada to head back to Costa Rica with our renewed visas. After buying a bunch of bottles of the local Flor de Cana rum for gifts, we loaded up the Galloper and headed out, but not before checking out a little piece of real estate on the way out of town. Land is selling like hot-cakes in Nicaragua as well as Costa Rica, and typically at about a 50%+ discount over Cost Rica. We looked at a lot up on the shoulder of Volcan Mombacho, an extinct volcano covered in coffee plantations that overlooks the city. A nice place, but we’re not buying anything right away. Still, it never hurts to know what’s out there! We arrived at the border this time by about noon, and with little fuss, we were through all the lines and on our way into Costa Rica by 1:30pm. Not bad! Fortunately, the car held up beautifully all the way home, and averaged over 30 miles to the gallon (diesel) for the trip. We’re almost ready to take on Panama when Niall has his vacation in a couple of weeks, so stay tuned!