A Slice of Life in Granada

-Life as a pedestrian:
The roads here are crazy! Most of them are only about a lane and a half wide, this space is used for all of the following:
The parking of cars an any and all sides of the road, cars traveling both directions at any given time, motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians. (there are some sidewalks, but they aren’t in good condition at all, and there’s always random giant piles of garbage on them you have to go around.) Oddly enough, the most dangerous wheeled scenario to us so far has been the bicycle. Somehow, they think they are even more above the law than anybody else, and we nearly get run down every day. (an added bonus is the fact that young guys will purposely ride close to us to either: a. fake us out and turn at the last minute… they think this is hysterical, or b. get close enough to spout of some random love poem.)
There are no crosswalks here, there are no stop signs or stop lights, (well, there’s a couple stop signs but nobody uses them… or blinkers…) and the streets are ALWAYS crowded. So, basically, you make a break for it whenever you *think it’s clear, (it’s never clear) and force people to stop. I’m pretty sure that the thought “I have the right of way” is what’s rolling around in every one’s head… so you just go when you see fit. Shawna and I are going to be nightmare pedestrians when we get back.

-Things that repulse us/ creep/gross us out:
Friday night we were sitting at the internet café we always go to, when a cricket the size of a mouse came walking in. (that is not an exaggeration of the size.) The waiter had to come take care of it for us because it was loitering around shawna’s bag and freaking us right out. He thought we were pretty ridiculous, and proceeded to PICK IT UP WITH HIS BARE HAND! and put it back outside.
The spider pictured in a previous post, we find out, doesn’t just visit our shower… he lives in it. There’s a whole in the wall behind the pipe, and that’s his dark little corner… he comes out every night to hunt on the shower floor. We are not ok with this… but there doesn’t seem to be anything we can do. He’s too big to flush down the drain, and squishing is not an option. So, we share the shower with a spider the size of your mother.
The ants bite. There are these little tiny ants all over, and as soon as you sit down somewhere, or stand still somewhere outside, the crawl all over your feet and bite, and it leaves some sort of nasty rash scenario.
Bug repellent doesn’t do much here… the mosquitos seem to love DEET.

The park:
There’s a central park in Granada, we live about a 5-10 minute walk from it, and it’s the center of all social activity in the city. There’s always vendors there selling random stuff and people just sit around on benches there all day. At night they have huge community events and everyone shows up and hangs out. Last night they were broadcasting some boxing match in the park… there was karaoke one night. It’s pretty cool. Shawna and I go sit in the park in the afternoons a lot, and usually get a chance to practice some Spanish, because inevitably, some guy will come up and try to charm us into going out with him and his friends somewhere.
Yesterday was our most intrusive yet… the fellow kissed our cheeks and hands (which we find out is a normal greeting for a stranger…) and plopped down in the middle of the bench between us and was just in our personal bubble until we decided we had had enough and left. Definitely the funniest encounter yet.

The streets:
There is no such thing as a noise ordinance here. People blare their radios and tv’s and anything else that makes noise all day and all night. (they also are randomly into u.s. hip-hop and rap. We’ve definitely heard some snoop blaring from the neighbors house.) At night everyone hangs out in the porch with the music blasting from inside the houses, while the kids play in the streets until late. (side note: if you are walking down the street, and there is a futbol or baseball game going on, don’t expect it to stop because you’re walking. It won’t. Just walk fast and keep an eye on the ball.)
It’s pretty fun that everyone is just up late hanging out.

I like it here a lot.