Pleasant Granada

Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013--Granada

I needed to change hotels today, but that's a bit tricky.  Checkout time is 11:00 at the latest, and most hotels try to push you out earlier.  Check-in time isn't until 14:00 unless a hotel just happens to have a room ready earlier.  Therefore, I stayed in my room at Casa Barcelona until 10:00 doing things on my computer and phone and taking advantage of the good light in the bathroom to do some grooming.  Then I spent another half hour visiting with the owner of the place before departing.

My new hotel for the next two nights is the Hotel Patio del Malinche, the #1 rated hotel in the city on TripAdvisor.  It is a big improvement over Casa Barcelona in several ways:  1)  Better location, 2) Air Conditioning, 3) Pool, 4) Includes breakfast, 5) Overall quality of furnishings and decor.   Of course, it costs about double, too!  Anyway, they were expecting me and immediately asked, "Randell?," when I entered the lobby.  They had a room for me that was in the final stages of being cleaned, so they took my registration information and gave me a free juice in the bar area while I waited about 10 minutes.

I was hungry, to I headed out to a special place my guidebook had recommended--the Comedor Tulita.  It's an unsigned restaurant on a dead end alley.  Actually, it is in a personal home.  As I walked up to the door, a man sitting in a rocker watching TV motioned for me to come on through.  On their back patio, they had 4 dining tables and a serving table.  On the serving table, they had the food already prepared.  I had to chose one of 4 meats which came with rice, beans, pickled cabbage salad, and a choice of one of 2 vegetables.  I chose grilled pork for my meet and fried plantain slices as my vegetable.  It also came with a choice of drink, and I took the homemade lemonade.  I sat there eating and noticing my surroundings.  There was laundry hanging on lines in the yard, and there were two loose turkeys wandering around. It was too large a plate of food, and I left part of the rice.  The price was about $2.60.

I wandered the streets some as I had done yesterday.  I explored the market area which takes up about 4 square blocks and includes a wonderful building from the 1800s that would be a fantastic tourist draw if it were remodeled with restaurants and food stalls.  However, it was really too hot at that time of the day to continue wandering.  I found a seat on a bench in the Parque Central and read my novel and watched the activity in the area.

I knew I couldn't take rice and beans again, so I searched for a sandwich place in the early evening.  I found a place I had passed yesterday that has a long porch with tables on it.  They were advertising a bacon burger, so I ordered it.  It was great--a thick beef patty and stuffed with plenty of tomatoes, grilled onions, lettuce, etc.

There were several American men sitting on the porch drinking and visiting.  They appeared to be locals.  One of them greeted me when I arrived and started talking to me when I was departing.  He lives here, but he also works here.  Apparently he is retired from major league baseball, but he still serves as a scout here in Nicaragua.  We talked about how they are having their playoffs right now and that there will be a game here tomorrow night.

Before returning to my hotel, I wanted to explore the main historic street that is lined with bars and restaurants.  It was full of people sitting at sidewalk tables or strolling.  There were musicians playing and other activities.  The activity and the atmosphere reminded me a bit of the Riverwalk at home.