Nicaragua!Gloria, my Brit friend from California, and I went off to Granada, Nicaragua for a 3-day visit. (Since Gloria is in Costa Rica on a tourist visa, she has to leave the country every three months for a 72-hr. period. I don't have to do that since I have my residency permit which just has to be renewed inside CR once a year). What a glorious time we had! The people, the colors, the sights were all marvelous! The first picture is Gloria and I taking the required tourist tour of the city by horse-drawn buggy. The next picture is from inside the Mercado Central, a huge warren made of cement (see counters and walls) with all manner of things available. Fruits and vegetables are laid out in baskets or directly on the counters (or floors!), meats, chicken and fish
are laid on banana leaves, also directly on the counters. The next picture is of a booth selling primarily grains - rice, beans, etc. There are about 5-6 different grades of rice with different prices, depending on how many fragments (unwhole grains) are in the mix. Note the little girl in the purple dress. 
You won't see any little girls in levis, or any kind of pants actually, in Nicaragua, or in Costa Rica either. They are always dressed in their "Sunday best" when out in public.One of the things that intrigued me was that all of the women in the mercado, or anyplace they were selling goods, wore aprons covered with ruffles and trim. On closer inspection, the aprons had at least two zippered pockets for money collecting. I took a lot of pictures of aprons - these are just a couple.
This lady was the most cheerful person I saw in the mercado. She was waving a towel to keep the flies off the chicken she was selling. And here's a charming little girl who was sitting on bags of flour in her mother's booth.
Last but not least of my mercado pictures, was a very pregnant lady carrying a flower arrangement.
Another thing that is totally striking is the use of bright colors everywhere. Here are just a few of the buildings I photographed.
Next on our list of things to do was a boat ride to the Isletas, a group of more than 300 little islets in the water just a little distance from Granada. (Granada sits on the shores of Lake Nicaragua, a HUGE lake). The islands were formed, it is believed, by the eruption of the Mambocho Volcano (http://www.vianica.com/go/specials/9-nicaragua-volcanoes.html) many thousands of years ago. The islands are mostly individually owned, most of them with vacation homes on them, some of them very elegant. Our boat guide says they are mostly owned by very rich people (of course) and seldom visited. There were, though, a few small and simple homes occupied by locals who fish for a living.
Mambocho, seen from the Isletas.
We ate many of our meals on the "Calle la Calzada" a street several blocks long that is all hotels and restaurants and a lovely place to just hang out in the sunshine. One of our favorite places was O'Sheas Irish Pub, which served a mean fish'n chips as well as local fare. We even spent some time chatting with O'Shea himself, a lovely Irish chap.
And I will close with one of my favorite pictures,
which somehow captures the look and feel of Granada for me.
