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| Typical Granada street scene |
I don't think I have ever been anywhere where they still use horses like they do here. Evidently Granada's famous horse-drawn carriages were, until recently, simply used as taxis - but with the rise in tourism the price has gone so high ($20) that most locals can no longer afford it. So now they take automobile taxis ($.75) instead. Still - the number of cars on the road here is refreshingly low. And come to think of it, close to half of the cars are taxis.
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| Lolo, our carriage driver |
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| View from Lolo's carriage |
I'm traveling with a six-year-old, so I treated us to a carriage ride today. I took some photos with my iPhone - my new Hipstamatic app ROCKS. (But I have to figure out how to turn off the weird retro-dating label function.)
Our carriage driver, Lolo, was nice, but he was not a very happy guy. He told us about how (former president) Violeta Chamorro sold off the country's rail system back in the 90's "to stimulate the economy". People here seem... let down, and frustrated. Fatima's husband told me today that he used to support the Sandinistas, but that he would now much rather have (former dictator) Somoza back in power. The revolution seems to have not delivered on its promises and people resent it - at least here in (conservative) Granada. Personally I think Nicaragua's slide into abject poverty probably has as much to do with globalization as local corruption - but I guess it's easier to be mad at the folks who promised to help you.
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| Typical Granada street scene |
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