[Above: Classic colonial architecture near the central square of Granada, Nicaragua.]

Journal by Adam Burgess

Since we’ve been traveling so fast, I’ve had little time to sit and think about what to write. The car could be good but I usually sit in the front seat with the camera ready to shoot whatever happens, or I am driving and telling Colin to shoot because he is either sleeping, playing DJ, talking incessantly or sleeping. Neil prefers the back and seems to sleep or play himself to sleep with the guitar, snap a few shots out the window and then sleep again.

Our car hasn't taken on as much character as the others. We have a Virgin Mary cardboard air-freshener spinning aimlessly from the rearview mirror. We are hoping that perhaps throngs of shotgun wielding banditos will offer us three more respect should they decide to attack the convoy since we appear to be on the same side as the Virgin Mary. A little carlita is attached to our dashboard. Neil picked it up at a gas station in Vegas, and border kids seem to love it. Its one of those little Chevron cars that has eyes for lights and a mouth for a grill. They cling to the car for hours peering at it through the window and sometimes try to snap it up. They try whining, begging, big eyes, pouts, and some put their head so close to it you'd think they were going to bond molecularly with it.

At the I'm sitting in the lobby/cafe of our motel in Granada, Nicaragua. I woke up this morning to fans whose blades swilled the humid air over four sweaty bodies. No windows in the room, and a single small bulb burned above in the middle of our room.

Overall I've been doing fairly well. Only one bout of traveler’s diarrhea since we left a month ago, and I've been eating at all the street vendors along the way. Cheap but occasionally risky -- it makes for an exciting meal. The meal discussions usually revolve around how intense the consequences will be the following day, and culminate in a philanthropic donation to a local perro with the hopes that he or she will sleep with of a full belly at least once this month. Yesterday I wondered whether the flea-infested gaunt canine could be resuscitated to the point of becoming a confident alpha male in the village. They seem to slide into a state of despair where the lack of food and nutrition deteriorates their coat, fleas infest them and they chew themselves till it bleeds. Flies then move in and infect the sores. Half their energy is then spent fending themselves from flocks of buzzing pests while the other four-leggers have time to beg for food and make puppies. Their confidence and pride is lost in their eyes and despite their appearance, they revert back to the puppy expressions throughout every bite of your meal.

Today will be spent in the ghostlike town of Granada. It seems to sleep during the midday and grow more and more vibrant as the sun goes down. Colonial but decrepit, there's character here. I walked with Colin down to the lake the other day. Its massive -- bigger than Lake Tahoe if you've ever seen that. Hot onshore winds blew across the murky brown water leaving countless whitecaps and wavelets. Immediately it reminded me of the San Francisco Bay if it was located somewhere warm and was never protected by environmental agencies. We brooded down the strip. Empty and quiet other than the odd stray and four boys practicing their kickboxing moves near the weed-covered beach. Bamboo, Cesar’s, and salsa bars all lined the coast empty and in what seemed like a theme of disarray and decadence. You get this a lot in tropical climates. The trees and weeds and plants grow so fast that man seems to struggle keeping it back. It makes me wonder if places like Machu Picchu and other ruins were deserted by man for some mysterious reason or just attacked by such aggressively growing plantlike that it swallowed them whole.

Tonight is the "Procession of the Virgin" here in Granada. It’s an eight-day ceremony where a mini parade flaunts a young girl and a statue of Mary through the center of town. Last night was rather interesting. First the bombas were exploded by professional pyrotechnics called "ninos", as they run ahead of the crowd tossing what look like sticks of dynamite and small mortars into the air. Next came some form of transportation that carries the Virgin. Yesterday a Willy’s Jeep was pulling the young lady who was standing expressionless on a trailer next to a Cardboard castle tower. Behind her was the classic “oom-pah”, Latin 5 piece band with white horns and a slacked style. It all happened so fast, and then the street seemed to clear until soon it was almost empty. It rained hard and then we made our way back home by 10pm.

Adam Burgess
adam@drivearoundtheworld.com

Logbook for December 2nd
Start: Granada, Nicaragua
Finish: Granada, Nicaragua
Mileage: Rest day

Help support our cause: Drive Around the World aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by taking four certified pre-owned Land Rover Discoverys around the globe following lines of longitude. Readers are encouraged to pledge small amounts of money per expedition-mile via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. Everyone making a pledge of $10 or more to raise money for the Parkinson’s Institute will be put in a raffle to win an expedition-style Land Rover.