Day 3 - Granada

I had to sleep a little tonight when I put Sam to bed and have just woken up...it's Saturday night about 10:30pm and I can still hear a few voices in the hostal of other guests chatting. It's really been a very quiet, relaxing place, when we go to bed typically there is not much noise....tonight is not much different.

So don't tell anyone, but I nearly paid the boy at the paneceria (bread store on the corner) $20 for some bread/pastries that cost about $2-3....It was first thing this morning that I told Sam we need to go down and get some bread for breakfast, ok, they had these great looking pastries we ended up getting too and then he wanted a piece of chocolate cake, and there was more bread for dinner....I thought it was a lot, then he showed me the calculator total, I think it's just easier that way sometimes except I didn't see the .0 at the end and I thought it was 580 Cordobas instead of 58 and me not being very experienced in currency conversion, not quite awake, etc....well we both had a little laugh and I was humbled a little....well, that's ok from time to time eh! I checked out a currency converter app for my phone when we got back to the hostal....ok, lesson learned...I will nail this now.

I finally made my own cup of coffee today or well, I tried....Manuel ended up taking over with counts of how many spoonfuls of the instant to put in....it's not brewed but I'm no snob It tastes damn good to me every morning.  We have a shared kitchen here at the hostal which happens to be next to our room, so nice.

Yes, he can be mesmerized by Spanish Speaking Cartoons just as easily

Selfie in the Central Park (Parque Central)

After a quick dip for Sam in the pool this morning Carlos picked us up to go see the studio in town. It's the last he has to rent out in a nice house which is about two floors of studios with a courtyard/garden in the middle that is shared.  The studios are rented by a mixture of expats and Nicaraguans from what I got from Carlos.  They just renovated the place this summer and have been putting it together so it's kind of a new space they are renting. There are a few kids that live on the same floor as the space we looked at and Sam already meet them and enjoyed playing while we looked at the room.  Great location, not too far from his school, so hopefully I could get him there on time....laundry on site..I think this is the place.  It's funny because I'd seen ads for this place on Craigslist many times and thought about contacting them but never did....and some how I meet Carlos, the manager by chance in the park...wow! I decided Sam and I would walk after we left so we could see what the neighborhood was like. We checked out a little cafe/bakery (awesome looking cakes) at the corner, then walked toward the Parque Central and found some lunch at a restaurant. 

Afterwards we planned to walk by where all the vendors were selling things and Sam's eye was caught by the bags/purses with different designs and colors, made by artists locally but somewhat touristy designs....the name Granada printed on the side of a few purses....some were leather, some were cloth....he said "mom, do you still have my money? (referring to the money he got at Christmas and I put in the bank for him but had told him he could use sometime when he wanted). I said yes, then immediately thought, Oh shoot, he wants to buy one of those bags now.  Now I was thinking oh shoot for a few reasons....first, we were in the central park, the most touristy area in the town and certainly the most expensive place to buy a souvenir, I noticed he was eying bags that he thought were just over the shoulder bags for carrying things but I realized were purses designed for ladies, mostly.  Well, my first reaction was to suggest to him  that we keep looking because there are sure to be many bags around to choose from and that these were probably the most expensive and he could see what all the options were before just buying one now.  Well, the more I put on the breaks the more he had to spend his money now and the more sure he was.... he said he just wanted to look some more, we ended up back at the stall seeing some other kinds, at least they were less than the ones he first saw.  He set his mind on a blue one and that was it....gave him his $10 to pay for it and off we went.  Now I didn't mention that I thought the purses were designed for ladies, because I thought, shoot, if he wants a bag like that, let him get a bag like that, who cares, right?  But then I thought about cultural differences....would he get teased for carrying it around where it was not normal for a boy to do that? I don't know...I figured I'd let him figure it out and see how it went. It's not like I was sending him off on his own to fend completely for himself, we could certainly have more conversations if things came up.

After we left he put his bag on over his shoulder proudly and we walked our way toward the main market street where I'd seen the grocery store and we'd agreed to go pick up a few things for dinner that night and then catch a taxi back to the hostal.  I think I mentioned before how crazy the market street is, vendors on either side, cars, bikes, people, etc in the street, Sam was loving it....was fun to see...."Mom, this place is great, we should come here again!".  We had also bought some socks for him from a vendor since I only brought one pair and now all his shoes had been hurting his feet. The grocery store was a new experience, trying to find a few things we knew well and I managed to pick up some spaghetti, sauce (it took a while to find it because it comes in a bag here), some mac and cheese, juice, etc... a few things for the next few days.  It was so busy and I realized it was Saturday, maybe we should come next on a week day.

On the way back we found a taxi after walking a few blocks to get out of the hustle and bustle. It took a while  but we finally flagged one down that wasn't already full....well, it turned out to be mostly full but they had room for one (and a half more)...Sam hopped on my lap in the back seat and we sat next to two other ladies, the grocery bag and juice were in Sam's lap. Luckily we were the closest stop so they dropped us off first which made for a quick ride. Here you don't get a taxi just for yourself, but the driver fills up the taxi along the way and collectively everyone pays for the ride.

Connect Four Competition with Manuel

After our shopping experience we relaxed back at the hostel, I tried to hold Sam off from the pool a little while longer (started to get red the previous day despite lotion galore) by suggesting we get out some of our games and see who wants to play. Well Sam ended up introducing Manuel to Connect Four and then we played the card game War, and Manuel introduced me to a new game, something like Rummy, but not quite the same.

Diving Lessons with Thomas

Parque Xalteva

Finally the sun had moved far enough that there was some shade on the pool and I could hold him back no longer. Some of the other guests had decided to swim as well and the place actually seemed a little "busy" for once.  Before long Sam had meet Thomas from Argentina and they were having lively conversation....Thomas engaged Sam with lots of questions and Sam showed Thomas all that he could do. It was lovely to watch them engage. He had been jumping into the pool head first this week, not quite a dive, more like a belly smacker as he's not been able to master the dive yet. Well Thomas made some suggestions to Sam and before long he was trying and trying and working on his technique with him which he still hasn't quite mastered yet, but he gets the idea....I think it's just that inch of fear that keeps him from tucking his head. Anyway....it was a good lesson in making friends and was lovely to see him allow this teacher into his space....and at the same time give me a little break.

After such a nice afternoon we were on a bit of a high, both of us and it was becoming evening and we decided to head to the park again as each previous night it had been such a magical place to encounter kids and have some play.  Tonight the magic was less a live and Sam found out a little of what it's like to be an outsider.....each new group of kids he came across seemed to play with him a few minutes or so and then lost interest.  Before long he was looking a little down....actually...It was more than a little down (I could tell), I could seem him feeling rejected and wanted to jump in and help some how of course, but having just had a conversation with a friend the week before I left she had reminded me of the value of feeling what it's like to be an outsider, especially for someone like Sam, who is growing up in such a privileged way....perhaps it will help to develop his empathy toward others who also feel like outsiders. So I wanted to help but then thought that the best way to help him was to be there for him when he was ready to go, and very soon he was ready. So we walked and talked our way back to the hostel together. We'll try the park again another day.