Do you remember our latest jog together?! Whaow! That was something!
We left for a 60 minute run. You know we count in minutes because there is no map we can rely on to check the mileage..
I know you did not want to do hills, but here in Granada there is no other option... And one step after the other, we went through the landscape just fine.
So we left in direction of "La Polvora" (a fortress built 250 years ago to store gun powder), a 11 minute jog on a light upward slope. We crossed from east to west "Calle Atravesada", the city's main street, where you can find the popular market, and, by the way, "our" hotel. Do you know the owner is a New Yorker? He's from Milan (I remember it because of his cap, but I believe in reality he's from Red Hook). Made a fortune in Finance (merger and acquisitions).
Anyhow, we went trough this not-so-bad neighborhood, in a soft pace so that to spare your knees (or maybe because starts are always hard for me).
Next checkpoint: The cemetery. Few minutes away from la Polvora, in a less lucky district, very close to the school we volunteered at. Here wewere :) A nice all white cemetery - actually in central america cemeteries are usually a lot nicer, with tombs painted in various vivid colors.
Now we started the easy section: downhill all the way on "Calle Nueva". There are little houses on each side, workshops (car repairs, soldering, key copying...) here and there, a place where you can play pool, and so on. We reached "Calle Atravesada" again, and crossed it the other way.
And then came the hard piece.. A 2 minute hill, with the sun right into your eyes and the exhausting heat to beat as well.. Oh, but the restaurant "Las Colinas" (it did not chose its name by accident...) finally appeared, and our pain was over! We could now see the lake in the horizon, by which we would be running soon. So ahead of us lied a long downward slope. We crossed the worst neighborhood of our route, houses built with wooden planks, without access to water or electricity, but whose inhabitants took good care of the surrounding garden.
Ok, now we were getting to the "touristic center", signalized by the huge portal. Hm, you may have found it a bit disappointing - I totally agree... The lake is darken by the grey waters that are flushed into it, the beach is dirt with cans, plastic bags, old shoes (and we cannot blame the city this time: There ARE a lot of waste bins here), ... But still, you see it has been developed to attract tourists: numerous bars, discos, places for local vendor stalls, walk (or jog, in our case!) paths, playgrounds, etc.
So we made a right (to the south, you could have guessed), and continued our way under the trees. Flat. Good news. So to your left, there was the lake. And a tour center where you can book kayak trips to "las isletas", hundreds of islets (some would tell you 365) very close to the shore and to each other. They were created after the volcano erupted in ... well, 20,000 years ago! I prefer the story that says that they are the children of 2 gods, their mother's breasts being the 2 volcanoes on the Ometepe Island, inside the lake, twenty miles away.
Sometimes here the lake looks white and you cannot distinguish it from the smoggy sky. There are a few canoes and a horse on the shore, and you can also see the first islets to the far right. Oh gosh how I love this picture. Strangely the only 2 times the lake took that look was during our 90 minute jog (maybe then we're so exhausted our mind gets confused...).
Finally, we reached "la Cabaña Amarilla", our landmark: That's the dead end where we turn back. We made an effort to run past the statue (I believe it's a fish inside a life buoy) and go around it because we like not only to achieve goals but also go beyond them. (I can hear you, yes, like the last hill on Langley lane that we used to do twice.)
Now, if we were in good shape, 26 minutes would lead us back home. It would be flat for the first half, then slightly going up for the last 12 minutes. We quickly attained the crossroad where we had make a right earlier (at the doors of the touristic center), but we went on by the lake. Here during "Semana Santa", before 6am the beach is filled with local families, water toys sellers, food and drink boots, ... and here, after Semana Santa, you could get a lot of money by selling all the empty bottles left on the sand (beers, Flor de Caña - the national rum or Coca Cola and the likes), among the other stinky garbage...
But that day, except for 1 another runner and soccer players, "el Malecon" was empty.
Past the little soccer field, by the way, is where we cross the other doors that close the touristic center. Just after the corner, where we took a left, we would just need 12 minutes to finish our run. But it started ascend again... But I like this street. That is where stand several mango trees. Sometimes with Alain we stop our run to pick up handfuls of them (if we had forgotten to bring a bag from home). The friend that offered us twice pre-filled bags of them shows up there every morning. That day he did not fail, and we greeted him. I should go there once to share a pie with him.
And there was the most charming church of Granada: Guadalupe. Sometimes we run on its left, all the way up "La Calzada", the street full of bars, restaurants (though not the best ones) and tourists shops. But today we decided for the "regular" route, on the right of the church. After that corner, ..., 8 minutes left!
But it was still hilly. Sometimes on this street we meet Doña Maria Luisa, the housekeeper, on her way to the hotel. After several blocks, we made a left on "Calle Santa Lucia". I've showed you a little blue house with a golden door frame to our right: That was were I've worked a couple of weeks on web design. And the 2 story house started being close - do you guess? 4 minutes left!
But noooo! Now we were so close we wanted to go faster. A right before "Hotel Con Corazon". Flat portion. But there was the bridge: 30 yards of steep slope, with all our strength. Now that light slope up one of the last blocks seemed too easy. Left on the road to Managua, past the police station, right to our street! Here we were! Home in 58 minutes...
What a nice run! We would discuss it over a Mango smoothie for breakfast!
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