Locals, expatriates and tourists flooded to Granada this past week for the Fifth International Poetry Festival. According to the BBC the festival brought together 130 poets from 54 countries.

The event was opened by n poet and award-wining author of literary works, Giacondo Belli. Also taking to the stage was iconic poet and priest, Ernesto Cardenal.

Poetry runs deep in Nicaraguan culture and the festival offers a unique opportunity for poets to have their work heard by an international audience.

More on Granada’s poetry festival from the BBC.

She describes restoration projects on two of the most prestigious residential properties in the colonial city.

Granada is one of the first cities Spain founded in the New World in 1524. We invite you to tour its very walk-able historic center and experience its traditional colonial architecture first hand.

It’s one of the gems of Central America.

“Granada – the city in the south of Nicaragua, not its namesake on the other side of the Atlantic – is, in spite of its relative obscurity, one of the gems of Central America, with its fine churches and elegantly proportioned porticoes, a volcano rising raggedly above it and Lake Nicaragua shimmering at its feet.” Read the whole article.

The bond beams on the greenhouse have been poured and are ready to receive trusses. Leaving the site in the very capable hands of Phil Basehart and Seth Larsen (Earthship Biotecture), project manager Dave Kniffin headed off on a supply run.

Check out the Granada Tiles! (Granada is a beautiful historic colonial city located on the shores of Lake Nicaragua around 90 minutes drive away.) The tiles are hand made in Nicaragua and normally exported to the US and Spain. But they were virtually given to us by a neighboring land owner who likes our project and happens to own the company that makes them.

“Long branded the black sheep of Central America, Nicaragua is working hard to erase its 1980s reputation as a war-torn outpost where gringos were more likely to encounter Kalashnikov-toting campesinos than a comfortable hotel. And campaign central is this scruffy fishing village turned surfing haven and intrepid travelers’ Next Great Place.”

A midwinter sun slinks toward the Pacific horizon, casting a flattering glow over the crescent bay where thousands of fortune seekers set sail for California during the Gold Rush. Today, it’s lined with palm-thatched restaurants where Jimmy Buffetts-in-training kick back with $1 beers and concoctions fueled by smooth, Nicaraguan-made Flor de Cana rum.

Two blocks away at La Posada Azul, a just-opened bed-and-breakfast inn owned by expatriates from Santa Fe, guests loll by the pool and contemplate dinner at a new fusion restaurant in the surrounding hills that an earlier American visitor, Mark Twain, praised as “welcome, enchanting, (and) altogether lovely.”

Read the full article.

Over 40 poets from Latin America, US and Europe have arrived in Granada to perform poetry readings, lectures and musical performances from the steps of the San Francisco church (left). The festival will not pass without numerous fond references to Ruben Dario (1867-1916), one of the most famous poets with writings in Spanish, widely considered the nation’s greatest son.

Tourism meets real estate in Granada

Real estate and tourism are inexorably linked and the growing tourism numbers to the colonial town bodes well for Granada’s property market. You know how it goes: You go on holiday, you find a charming town and spend two glorious weeks relaxing and doing fun stuff. On the last day you look at realtors window and then buy a property – or at least start looking. Read the full article.