Our hotel in Granada was on the town square where something is moving at all hours. The colonial buildings that line the square reflect the Spanish architectural style of the 1500's and lend the city an ancient charm. Poets called Granada "Sirena" (siren) to characterize its allure and the contrast between its compact urban areas and its revelation to Lago Cocibolca,

Outside of the square, a fortress of walls lines the narrow sidewalks and great doors open to the living rooms of homes. When you can catch a look inside, you see that the front door of a place is actually the back; beautiful richly planted courtyards wait just beyond some of those rooms.

In the morning, we were met by a Nica amiga chica for a day on Lago Cocibolca (Lake Nicaragua). A massive fresh-water lake, Cocibolca is home to fresh-water sharks and other marine creatures. Rising out of its center are Volcans Madera and Concepcion, on Ometepe Island. We hired a boat to tour the Mombacho-lava-flow-created isletas that dot the lake. Homes have been built upon most of them and a few were absolutely spectacular.

As we toured around the isletas, our boat captain identified the homes inhabited by "Americanos". We came upon a beautiful multi-story house that rose straight up into impossibly tall trees that grow out of the lava-rock base. On a beautiful stone stairway sat an inflated Santa Claus, Frosty the snowman, nutcracker and a snow-globe. I turned on my camcorder and filmed the scene as we rounded the bend. Two seconds after I turned off my camera, a big man in a tiny thong "bathing suit" appeared on an upper veranda. He shouted a greeting, turned, bent over and slapped his bare behind while doing a sort of happy dance. As we gasped then fell over with laughter, our boat captain explained..."Americano".

Jack loved the boat ride and spent much of it standing or sitting right at the edge watching everything that passed. We came upon a small islet that was inhabited by monkeys. They scurried to the closest tree branches and it seemed they wanted to jump into the boat. Jack was very interested and watched them intently.

We docked at an islet restaurant and bar. Nica music played as a woman cleaned fish that had just been caught. Those fish ended up on our lunch plates and were incredibly delicious. The island was home to at least one cat and one dog, hens, roosters and ducks. They all passed close to our table to have a look at the tiny perro.

A young boy approached us offering bracelets and necklaces for sale. I tried one of the bracelet's on Jack's neck and snapped a picture of him with the boy. Through our friend Gloria, we asked where were his parents. He explained that he was dropped off by a tour boat in the morning to sell the jewelry that he and his mother made. He hitched a ride on our boat to return to the mainland; in his pocket was a biscuit for the inhabitants of Monkey Island.

By afternoon, our driver had arrived to take us back into Managua. We left our chica with a promise to join her soon for a trip to coffee country – to Estelí, Matagalpa and Leon.

Back in Managua, our last night in the country, we were met by another amigo of Josh, an animated Nicaraguan attorney who tells us of his life, his past and of his country. As we listen to his stories, our tiny traveler sleeps beside us, no doubt dreaming of those monkeys in Lago Cocibolca.

Move on to day eight