February 7, 2016 | Leave a comment Everyone goes. I was told even though I wouldn’t like it, I had to go. Despite the notable amount of harassment to buy crap and even straight up just hand over a dollar, being a tourist in Granada was a good time. Photo credit- @wcoburn_ It was 95 degrees. Alex had a fever and I wasn’t feeling so great either. As he put it best, “Vivian’s colon is a Slip N Slide.” A much needed break took place in the Parque Central, my favorite place in every Latino town. Vigarron is a Nica dish consisting of mashed yucca, slaw, fried pork rinds, and spicy tomato salsa served in banana leaves, 2.5USD a bowl. Enchiladas, snow cones, whole fresh oranges and sliced green mango are sold from carts for just cents. PC- Will Bordering the park, the iconic La Catedral with the adjacent holy cross are sights worth admiring. Hotel Francia was once the home to William Walker, a guy from Tennessee who took over Nicaragua and wanted to enslave the whole place before being executed. I guess he wasn’t just any guy if he was both a physician and lawyer on top of his role in the military. Now the yellow building is a cute stay and eatery far out of my budget and best enjoyed from a distance with a cup of chocolate ice cream in hand. We then set off in search of Iglesia San Francisco which has been painted white since the publication of the 2013 Lonely Planet, much to my relief since I wasn’t seeing any “birthday cake blue” anywhere. Also contrary to the guide book, the church is only open at certain hours on specific days of the week, like Sunday morning so it was closed now. We wandered through the attached museum and enjoyed our first bathroom experience all weekend that was up to Western standards. We basically paid 20 Cordobas (.7 USD, the museum’s entry fee) for a nice toilet (the crappy one in the central park costs is 6 Cordobas…ladies, you don’t want to sit on those seats, so get good at hovering). Due to ongoing restoration, only one Zapatera statue was on display, a relic of the pre-Columbian people of Isla Zapatera. Iglesia San Francisco We moved on to the bell tower of Iglesia La Merced after a brief pit stop for gelato. For 1USD we spiraled up and were rewarded with sweeping views and a lovely breeze. If you only do one thing in Granada, do this. Half a day is enough Granada for me, it really depends on personal preferences for architecture and art history. We returned to the park and purchased a few souvenirs, relaxing, using the free wifi. Will and I found it necessary to get more ice cream, this time a fudgsicle. Once we agreed we’d maximized daylight for the day, we got on a bus back to the capital city at a local station two blocks away, 2 hours, less than 1USD, leaving when full until 6pm. Connections for León are conveniently at the same station as the one we got dropped at, named UCA. Another hour of darkness spent in a speedy shuttle for 1.5USD took us to the bus station in León. PC- Will PC- Will PC- Will PC- Will PC- Will PC- Will