Friday was an afternoon of exploring Granada and enjoying the beautiful city. After a busy day, I went to dinner at a delicious vegetarian-esque restaurant called The Garden Cafe with some new friends from the hostel. One was from D.C. and we had met in San Juan del Sur, and the other two people were from Holland. Over dinner we had some rather interesting conversations about all kinds of random subjects, but what I thought was most fascinating was how these Dutch people wanted to know what I like about the United States.

Being that I have chosen to be outside of the USA for so long, and that I truly wish to live outside of my country permanently, it was interesting to reflect upon what is positive about it. Of course there are some positive aspects, such as freedom and the ability to really get anything that my heart desires at an abundance of stores or various Internet vendors. However, because I am not at all into shopping and there are many other places where I feel quite free, this conversation just reconfirmed how I feel my desire to be an expat! In all reality, it has been awesome to hang out in Nicaragua where everything is super cheap and I can spend a LOT less than if I were in the States!

Saturday was relaxing and rather uneventful, yet I very much enjoyed just hanging out in Granada! After having lunch and strolling around, I went to the Ticabus station to purchase a ticket back to San Jose. Yet when I arrived it was super weird, as the station was closed but all of these kids were playing kickball in there! When I asked if they were open, I was informed that they would open the next day from six until one in the afternoon, so I had to just wait until the next day to buy my ticket!

One of the things that I find so crazy about traveling here in Central America is just the total difficulty of making any plans. Now of course I really don’t make as many plans as I used to in the past. Really, I love just going with the flow and letting life lead me to my next stop. Nevertheless, due to the fact that I am traveling alone here, I feel that it is essential that I do make plans because this is not Europe and I have to be safe and a bit more on my game than usual. Yet it is not often possible to purchase tickets online and many of the transactions are done in cash only, which is quite a change from what I am used to doing in my travels!