never ending days

So since we wake up at 6am, the days just seem so freaking long. Since this is unusual for me to be up so early, I'm not sure if this is common for early risers, but good lord, when 6pm hits, I feel like it's time for bed.

And a few days ago, we truly had one of the longest days since we've been here - in a not-so-good way, but we made the best of it.

We decided to do a trip up to Masaya, known to be touristy, but the place you go to buy souvenirs since it is known for its huge market with crafts, hammocks, etc. I was thinking how great it would be to get some gifts, get something for myself, see other tourists around since there aren't many here. Sounds pleasant.

So we hopped on a bus to get there, which drove us to what seemed like a huge dirt field filled with masses of dust, trash, locals and other buses. We got off and it was so hot - just so hot. The heat cannot be conveyed in words. And no tourists. Which we thought was odd. But we headed into the market that was right there and were immediately overwhelmed. It had so much junk like shoes, clothes, bath products, food with flies buzzing around it, all totally local stuff. And we were the ONLY gringos there. We were so confused, so hot, so lost, since it was a maze of alleyways and everything looked the same. I swear they all sell the same stuff and could make life easier if they condensed a bit. But anyways, we were made fun of by a girl who was working there, and thank god for Anita who could understand and give a piece of her mind right back at her. We spent the next 20 minutes trying to figure out where we were and how it all went so wrong, all while inhaling smells that I swear shouldn't be allowed and getting more and more frustrated. We couldn't pull out our guide book because we would have looked even more out of place, and everyone was just moving so fast. So fast! We bought a Coke, looked at each other, and realized we were both thinking the same, that we should get back on the bus and go home. We failed. And we had no energy to figure it out. We got on the bus, pulled out our peanut butter sandwiches and had a good laugh about it all, at just how pathetic we were in the whole situation. We were so overwhelmed with the culture shock that we had to balance it out by going back and watching the European soccer tournament at a bar and drinking. I had two drinks and felt MUCH better. I think at this point it was only noon too, and the sun was just starting to beat down. God, just terrible. But drinks do help. Yes indeed.

All in all, another day with lessons learned. We realized later on that we were at the wrong market - there are two and we went to the local one. Duh. Good to know. Perhaps we will give it another go, perhaps not. So no one should expect any gifts from Masaya.

And PS: This photo is definitely NOT Masaya. It's Granada.