Tea and Kate

On our last full day in Granada we visited the cultural museum (Centro Cultural Antiguo y Convento San Fransisco) and made full use of the place in our typical style. We split into teams and explored the building top to bottom compiling lists of interesting facts and objects – a treasure hunt for the other team. We then swapped lists, and challenged the other team to a treasure hunt duel.

El mueso features exhibits on pre-Colombian societies including a number of impressive stone carvings, a large model of the city of Granada (the kids favorite), the history of Granada, Christian relics, modern customs, and painting from the Sandanista revolution and period. The museum rambles from room to room with outdoor courtyards filled with giant palm trees, to open air rooms and full interior spaces. Here are our results!

Reid and Daddy’s treasure hunt list:

1 – Name a major native group in the area. (Chorotega, Xalteva, etc).

2 – Who is shaking hands with a lobo (wolf)? Santa Francis

3 – How many full height palm trees in the central courtyard? (26)

4 – Where can you find the Fox Ears of Deadliness? (on the Jesus sculpture)

5 – What do the people of Granada call Saint Mary? (La Conchita)

6 – What is the special aspect of the “Stations of the Cross” tradition in Granada? (They do “Aquatic Stations of the Cross” with a boat promenade between islands in Lago Nicaragua!)

7 – What color is the biggest cross in the jesus room? (Trick question, it’s on the ceiling! So, Purple!)

8 – What does “butaquiarse” mean? (to rock in a rocking chair, especially on the sidewalk in the evenings, as they do in Granada.)

9 – How many pre-colombian sculptures are there in the outdoor exhibit? (29)

10 – What is the name of the archeological region that includes Granada, southwestern Nicaragua and the Nicoya pennisula in Costa Rica. (La Gran Nicoya)

** – How many birds are in the exterior ring of the bird cluster hanging in the room that displays the paintings from the Sandanista period? (120 exactly)

Liam and Mommy’s treasure hunt list:

1 – How many turrets mark the wall of Fuerte La Polvora, after which our magnificent hotel is named? (five).

2 – Find a Coatimundi in a dark painting. Who painted it? (Pablo Mayorga, June 28, 1988).

3 – Find a real slingshot. Take a picture. What color is the shirt of the kid holding it? (Green).

4 – Find three salchichas (sausages) in a painting. What fruits are to the left of the salchichas?. (Piñas, Pineapples).

5 -How many baseball diamonds are there in Granada? (four)

6 -Take a picture of a painting with Ometepe in the background.

7- Find a chili pepper slice and take a picture.

8- Take a picture of a picture with ladrillos (tiles) that look like they could have been made in the fabrica de ladrillos (tile factory) in the back of our hotel. How many colors are in each tile? (four: white, yellow, red, blue)

9 – Find a grandfather clock. What time is it? Is the clock correct? (it’s in the sala de muebles tradicionales, and it says 11:30. It’s wrong, it’s actually 11:19 now.)

10 – BONUS: Why are religious sculptures seemingly so obsessed with armless people? (Probably because the sculptures broke)