Antigua Connection

People say that Granada, Nicaragua resembles Antigua, Guatemala. More than ten years have passed since I spent several lazy weeks in Antigua learning Spanish, but based on that experience I would say that the people are right. Like Antigua, Granada has various crumbling colonial buildings that give the place a romantic tone; like Antigua, Granada gets some local color from native American arts and styles; and like Antigua, Granada is crawling with gringos like your author.

Antigua-style gringoism has its benefits and costs. I can get good coffee in the morning and watch English soccer in the bars. However, I can do both of those things at home and not be required to endure the endless blasting of 80's pop songs on the intercom (outside the tourist economy, this would be salsa or vallenato or some latin pop, which I like far better than, for instance, Air Supply. That awful 80's duo has a particularly awful lyric that may end up being the motto of my blog: "I'm never gonna tell you all things I gotta tell you but I know I'm gonna give it a try" [retch]). The darker side of growing Gringoism is that the locals get cynical and refuse to smile or say Buenas Tardes, and I'm sad to say that is about half the time around here.

I can only plead guilty, though. My visit here is fairly pointless: per my grand plan, I'm supposed to be 'acclimatizing' and getting used to way things work in the country before setting off to remoter parts. 28 hours into Granada, I think I've already achieved the objective. I've changed money, bought a nice cheap hammock, and have made the people at the hotel bar promise to tune into Arsenal vs. Charlton Athletic tomorrow at noon. The match should be decided before I get on the fourteen hour ferry to San Carlos and enter territory that is probably going to lack cable television and internet. Arsenal damn well better win.

In fairness to Granada, I point out that a person with more time and more motivation to get around and do things would probably be having a terrific time. You could go climb the Masaya Volcano that makes the view here so beautifully Antiguan. You could take a tour to the "Isletas" or to Zapatera island, both of which are things I'd be doing if I were willing to unbag my kayak for just one day of paddling. After a couple of weeks of San Carlos I'll probably be jonesing for some coffee and televised football (especially the start of the Argentine Torneo de Verano) but at the moment all I can do is bloggingly grumble . . .