Sunday was a great day. At this point we had been in Nicaragua for three days and everyone was ready to get working. We had already began experiencing the local culture and were staying in our third hotel of the trip in Granada. We had also seen some of the sites but had yet to really explore things on our own. That was ok because Sunday was our first free day with no plans or schedules to stick to other than being on time for our departure to San Juan Del Sur at 2.
We decided to use this opportunity to book a boat tour of Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in the country and fourth largest in the world, as a group. This was a great chance to get to see one of Nicaragua's most prominent features as well as get to know each other even better. We took a van out to the marina, and split up into two groups to fit on the boats. Our guides took us on a winding tour through the many islands on the lake, pointing out natural landmarks and the active volcano off in the distance. He also showed us the islands owned by the owners of Fleur de Cana, Tona, and a major coffee company where the workers lived in an adjacent island in wood and sheet metal shacks.
One of the islands was small and inhabited by monkeys. When the boats got closer to the island, two monkeys jumped on and started eating goldfish out of my hand. They walked around the boat and everyone got some great pictures. After that they took us to a small island with a diving board and a restaurant for lunch. We got food, swam and explored for the next hour until it was time to go back.
Once we returned, we had some time to walk around, go shopping and pack up our stuff before it was time to go. The bus ride to San Juan del Sur from Granada was about two hours and most people slept or listened to music. We knew we were headed to the hotel that Jane owned, so were we all excited to see what it looked like. We got our rooms and unpacked, ready for the longest part of our journey.
Dinner was a homecooked meal prepared by Jane's chefs. It was a delicious chicken with rice, potatoes, salad and bread with multiple pies for desert. We had our dinner with the entrepreneurs and this was our first chance to meet and talk with them. Everyone talked for a few hours and we got to know the people we would be helping and working with. After they left everyone got ready for bed, excited for our first full day of work the next day.
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