meeting locals....

so im in Granada, Nicaragua. I love it.

I also love eating local food and am enjoying trying all sorts of things that are special to the area that i am visiting.

from the Ceviche in Costa Rica (CR) which is basically lemon juice salsa thing with raw fish in it... its DELICIOUS.

anyhooo... just had a local homeless kid come and eat the dregs of my pollo (chicken) meal, plus i paid him for his reed woven cricket thing he made me. i paid the equivalent of about a $1 to this kid.. to eat the rest of my fried banana (the best fried banana chips ive had!) and gave him half of my water.

the meal was delicious too... fritas de pollo mixto.... it was on a bed of fried banana chips, banana chunks fried as well as fried chicken (they like things fried here, and frankly, so do i)... then on top a kind of salad.. more like coleslaw... and a poco (little) bag of a spicey vinegar thing with more cabbagey thing in it too-- i think its like dressing or something. I liked it. It was spicey.

Ok.... my spanish is getting better because i could manage to just order food and i went and caught the local chicken bus-- not kidding, its basically an old canadian school bus, the yellow ones... from the Masaya market today.... the locals are funny, they do make a bit of a fuss about selling to you, but generally theyre not as aggressive as the chinese, so i could handle it... i guess money talks, but i did bargan down with "precio finale" final price-- pretty much between dollar here and a dollar there, but i got excited with this crocodile leather hairclips, and i almost bought a bag... which was about $40 which wasnt that much, but being cheap, didnt buy it.

it was fun though. i love local mercados!!

i am really enjoying learning spanish... loaded with my little lonely planet phrase book (thanks mum!) its helped alot. believe it or not, i know how to say "where is" = ¿dande esta? to start pretty much every sentence.

i just have to make sure i dont say that when im asking for someones name... but i did ask the little boys name who i gave my food to at the street stall... como te llamos? "Rodrigue" he would have only been about 7 or 8. cheeky bugger.

am back at the hostel now after an eventful day and meeting other locals in nice shops.
ive found a mosaic class that will only cost me about $5. or 100 Cordobas. AM VERY excited about cheap craft class!!!!!!

i think i might jig that $25 kayak over the Islets.

Pah! Craft comes first! Priorities!!

xoxo