Granada has a tendency to grow on you, it seems. I had not plan to stay here for three days, but such is as it is and I resolved to explore the city a bit more away from the others. Wandering away from the central area I walked towards the lake for a few hours. Children play in the bare feet on the dirt roads, sewage runs down the sides of streets, gnats and sand flies swarm unending, and I’m sure the stench I was giving off could evacuate a building. However, this is the best way to see how life is really lived by the common people away from the main tourist traffic.
In the quotidian humdrum, I passed graffiti on a wall that completely stopped my tracks. “Viva la poesia” was spray painted on a white background, translating to “long live poetry”. It gave poetic measure to the moment, and certainly circumscribed the bounds of what life must be like here, while shining a bit of hope on the situation.
I returned after reaching the lake, taking an alternate route behind the market. Poverty evinced there was even more poignant. In the afternoon, I went to buy bags of candy with “Tex”… we’re planning on surprising one of the girls traveling with us with a pinata for her birthday. Perhaps as a small gesture to dull the monotony for the children here, we rounded the local kids on the street at 7 in the evening and hung up the pinata.
Some of the kids were given turns at whacking the pinata in the middle of the street while the birthday girl cheered in delight along with the entire neighborhood. It was quite the happy occasion to be able to bring a bit of amusement for all the children as they scrambled for candy.