We knew baseball is the main sport in Nicaragua, however, our Lonely Planet book had indicated that the season would be complete when we were visiting. Lucky for us, it was wrong. We were in Granada bumming around on a Saturday afternoon when we found out there would be a baseball game that afternoon between Granada and Leon (archrivals in baseball as well as politics, attitude, etc, think Red Sox vs. Yankees, that type of rivalry). We couldn't pass up this opportunity.
We took our $1.00 cab ride to the ball park
Immediately people were wanting to sell us tickets. Kids were also in the stadium yelling down at us to come into the game. The excitement of the game on their face was contagious. We later found out that kids are let in free to games (they are supposed to be with an adult, but that rule is not enforced). We ignored those trying to sell us tickets and Ann worked her magic at the ticket booth, asking the lady what kind of seats were available. We had our choice betwee 30 Cordoba seats (roughly $1.50) and general admission, or the more expensive 50 Cordoba seats (approx. $2.50). Given those choices we went for the expensive seats. When we got into the stadium we were ushered into basically the best seats in the stadium. They were fenced off with an usher so that "common folk" could not take these seats. This area was probably 25% full and I imagine the locals sitting here were at least middle to upper class.
One of my favorite sights was the couple that rolled into seats near us with a cooler of ice, coke and a bottle of rum and just started mixing their drinks.
We enjoyed a couple of beers (they were expensive at the stadium, $1 as opposed to the normal $0.70). The concession stand was similar to what you might find at a high school football game. A few tables set up as counters with big tubs filled with ice and beer in them. Perfect.
Concessions
This was the kickin' sound system.
The game was enjoyable and the talent appeared to be pretty good. The star pitcher for Granada had reached AAA amateur ball in the majors.
Even Brett Favre was there.
In the 7th inning the bank of lights behind home plate went out. This caused quite a delay. But as things tended to work in Nicaragua misfortune quickly turned into good luck. Listening to a couple of local guys in front of us I knew that they spoke very good English so I thought I would strike up a conversation. The guys (like every Nica we met) were just great guys, very friendly. Both had basically been refugees in the U.S. during the war in the 80's when they were kids. They were educated attending college in the U.S. and then returned home in the 90's.
One of these men was a banker and the other Juan Carlos had a few business interests. He along with his brothers owns a night club in San Juan del Sur as well as a Subway restaurant there. They also own a coffee plantation, this revelation led to us talking for nearly 30 minutes.
These guys were so nice they bought us a beer and we got their email addresses.
Shortly thereafter the bank of lights was fixed and Granada won the game.
I can't remember if I mentioned earlier but Nicaragua has mandatory rolling blackouts, they typically last 4 hours or so. Due to the baseball game the blackout was delayed until the game was complete. But as soon as the game was over lights went off all throughout town.
Here's some pics from Europe Cafe's summer 2006
