catarina mirador

Last weekend Matt and I convinced our German long time [4 months] roomie Sally that she should come with us to check out the infamous mirador Catarina. So we hopped on the chicken bus and off we went. 1 hour later, after passing through the quaint town of Diriomo, we were dropped off on the highway and began our walk up to the lookout point. Along the way we spotted lots of beautifully made crafts and trinkets, and a plethora of gardens galore. If you want to go plant shopping for everything under the sun, this is the place.

This fruit stand was by far the prettiest we've seen, however the prices were raised to match. Check out the maranon [cashew fruit] below!!

Maranon, looks amazing but isn't very tastey
[although it's supposed to be good dried] .
For now, we'll just stick to the nuts.

Nicaragua's always proud of revolutionary and political leaders

Ah the famous trishaw, aka mototaxi of Catarina. These things were everywhere and we had been desperately wanting to take a spin in one for months so today proved just the day for that. See bottom pictures.

The town church.

''He works so hard he has to sleep standing up.'' Says photographer Mateo of this brilliant shot.

I know. It looks fake. It could be a painting on a mural. A flawless backdrop. Hence the hype of going there, and the overpriced entrance fee and food options upon arrival. Good thing we're smart enough to stick to pupusas and not fall for the cliffside view tourist trap restaurants.

Did we mention it was windier than hell here? I literally had to buy a pair of traditional pants to wear underneath my dress so it wouldn't blow up in front of everyone. Good thing I had been longing for a pair of those pants for the past 4 months.
Ok so watching the trishaws zooming by as we head out and back. We stood at the bus stop with no idea when the bus for Granada would arrive, and after about ten minutes Matt just couldn't take it anymore and discreetly hailed one of the red buggies over to see just how much it'd be to take us back in style. Not to mention we were haunted by the idea of overcrowding and sardine-like bus accommodations... so he says 10 bucks for the 3 of you. Deal!

So you get the picture. In front is JUST the driver.

The back bench fits 3 normal sized people comfortably, or 5 or 6 Nicaraguans!
20 minutes later we were back.

The day's adventure = SUCCESS!