Trailing to Patagonia: Nicaragua Part 1: Masaya and Granada

Crossing the border into country #8, Nicaragua, took a while, with the border officials being at lunch, and then the border officials making a mistake on the paper work and having to do the line twice to get it corrected.

border crossings are fun...yeah

But we finally got through. Welcome to Nicaragua!

the highway in Nicaragua

At Lago Managua

We drove to Masaya, an active volcano that last erupted a few years ago. We left Cubby at the bottom and drove up to the top, where you can look right into the smoking crater.

"la boca del infierno"

At the mouth of Santiago crater, Volcan Masaya

The volcano is constantly emitting toxic fumes, so they recommend that you spend no longer than 20 minutes at the crater. But, hey, that's time for a beer.

Ricardo and Giovanni sneaking a Brahva at Volcan Masaya

After a while we understood why they recommend that you don't spend very long at the crater - everyone was coughing and wheezing. We returned to Cubby for the night and returned the next day to walk around the crater of the adjacent (inactive) volcano, Nindiri. From there, you could see for miles below.

Thoroughly impressed by the enormity of Masaya, we left and continued on to the city of Granada. We were surprised with how touristy Granada is - lots of travellers, outdoor restaurants, bars, etc. We spent a few days getting to know this pretty city.

To Ricardo's delight, they even had an Irish Pub (although no Guinness).

We rented bikes and rode to the lakefront area.

We also took a boat ride around the isletas - small islands in the lake, most of which have extravagant homes built on them. Imagine having your own island...

Our guide and boat captain

We left Granada and went to San Jorge, where we would take the ferry the next day for Isla Ometepe, an island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. We spent the evening relaxing on the beach in San Jorge, with the view of the two volcanoes of Ometepe before us.