Wait… Disneyland?

My maternal grandparents live in San Diego. Growing up, this led to many trips to entertain us grandkids at Disneyland. I remember the Pirates of the Caribbean ride from when I was really little and Thunder Mountain Railroad where the roller coaster/train runs through what looks like the dry reddish mountains of the southwest. I’m also a veteran of SeaWorld, Universal Studios and the San Diego Zoo to name a few.

Due to this, my view of the world occasionally suddenly shifts. For example, on Thursday, we went to Managua to pick up three people visiting the orphanage from Minnesota. They’re all strong supporters in various ways and we wanted to show them a little bit of the area, before they spent the rest of their time at the orphanage.

So we headed on down to Granada, which is on the shores of Lake Nicaragua. It’s an old colonial town and once we got there we took a little boat ride amongst the islands just off the coast. The islands are all tiny, filled with towering trees and the occasional mansion. The moss limply hangs off of branches reaching out over the water and egret looking birds (I’m not sure what they are, but they’re stark white with long necks) wade along the muddy banks. We come to a particularly shallow area and the forest closes in a little on both sides.

This house was built by a German and has since been repossessed by the Nicaraguan government.

Suddenly, I’m on the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland.

Is that normal?

This house complex is owned by one of the richest families in Nicaragua, but if I were them, all the people coming by to look at the house would get a little annoying!