Getting to Granada from Managua, Nicaragua

Good day,

Looks like I made my standby flight on the Corn Islands; I got lucky and there was one seat left. After a pleasant trip we made it to Managua and I was greeted by a friend. From there, I should have just taken a taxi as it would have been the smart thing to do but apparently acting smart wasn’t my style yesterday so I took a taxi to Hooka Station where you can catch all sorts of buses to Granada.

Last I remembered, it was close, cheap and easy so why not?

Side note and fun fact about Nicaragua, Granada is the oldest city in the country.

The taxi to Hooka from the airport cost me $10US and I’m sure you could get a bit cheaper if you really tried; I got him down from $15 which was good enough for me. Once arriving there I realized it was a bit different than mid-day a few years ago; it was packed and there were no micro-buses; anywhere. A micro-bus is usually more expensive by a fraction but way more direct, smaller, less stops and has air-conditioning aka the way to go if you ask me.

There were these massive lines and I had ingested way too many liquids on the plane so I stood there thinking of my future and it looked grim. It’s a bit shady so I’m not a big fan of taking random taxi’s from downtown Managua outside the city or anywhere in the city for that matter. I was still with my friend who met me at the airport and the line for the buses kept growing. Also there were no express micro-buses only the big; sweaty slow ones.

I opted for a cab aka a taxi from Managua to Granada and paid $28 when I should have gone direct from the airport and saved an hour or so and a few bucks. The odd part was that a lady we were chatting with came along. I told her I wasn’t into going solo and I’d pay the entire fare; naturally she was a bit reluctant at first but she warmed up and the three of us talked about how dangerous Managua was while driving through the countryside. For some reason she pointed the hospital to me on the way and I thought that was the last place I’d be going but…

We arrived and she left; couldn’t find where I was staying and the cab driver tried to change the deal. He was like, okay we brought two people so I want twice the money and I explained the deal was that she came along as I didn’t trust him going solo; I told it to his face and felt a bit better about it when he tried to double charge me and got kinda fresh. I kept it civil and pleasant but let him know that a lady sitting next to me made no difference and if she had not come; there would not have been a deal to begin with.

Granada is how I remember it and just right for a few days but no more.

Tips hat,