My run at 630am the next day (Mon 12FEB) was better than expected. The conditions were good since the sun showed its face towards the end of my run. The only downside was being chased by 10 dogs about halfway through. I thought I was done with dogs but it seems the strays are worse outside the city centre. Quick shower then toured the city alone from 0830-1030. The town is definitely more run down than the other colonials. There were Spanish influence buildings dating back to the early 1600’s. At noon we all climbed into a private minivan and headed off towards Granada via the capital Managua. The drive to Managua is very bushy but mostly dry and flat and vast. Our lunch stop was 30min before the capital and Antonia enjoyed her first traditional Nicaraguan dish called TOSTONES MIXAS, which is Fried Plantain with Cheese and Beef on top cut into little bite size square pieces. Managua (Pop 1,095,000) is extremely busy and we by-passed via a ring road otherwise we would have got stuck there. We arrived into Granada around 1530 an headed to the supermarket to stock up. At 1900 we all caught taxis to the city centre to have dinner at The Garden Café, not exactly traditional but we were desperate for a nice steak which Nicaragua does well – only thing is that it is thin, light a minute steak, so I ordered in very rare. It was not like an Ozzie steak but it did hit the spot. I cabbed it back but Antonia kicked on at a karaoke bar with some of the group.
The following day (Tue 13FEB) was very long but very packed. We were picked up by our private driver Gerald to take us to many places – the same as the rest of the group. Why separate. Because I had booked this many months ago in Oz and could not cancel it in favour of the group equivalent since the latter was announced too late. We drove to the centre of Granada city (Pop 126,183) and walked to several sites including the top of a church bell tower for views of the city and the central square with the San Francisco Cathedral. The highlight was the bell tower given the magnificent 306-degree views of the city. We also visited a famous Cigar Factory and Chocolate Factory founded by non-other than an ozzie from Sydney !!! The cigar factory was founded in 1987 and exports cigars all over the world. Antonia smoked her first cigar ever in honour of her 21st birthday. The chocolate was incredibly intense and full of flavour.
At around 1230 we drove to the marina and boarded a 20-person boat all to ourselves for a one hour cruise around the marshes of Lake Nicaragua, the largest freshwater lake in Central America. Lake Nicaragua covers an area of 8,264 sq km with elevation 31m and very shallow at 13m average depth. It is huge. Nicaragua once had gold (which the Spanish took) but many locals say that in the future with global warming reducing rainfall that this lake will be the countries biggest asset !!! The lake is teeming with birdlife. Egrets dominate but there are many others. We even saw Capuchin monkeys and the small blue coloured leaf-nosed bats that live under the lids of boats because they eat mozzies and other lakeside insects. This lake area also incorporates many small islands, big enough for a large mansion with servant cabins in the back, a big pool and marina for the yacht. Yes – all the rich of Nicaragua and many foreigners have “holiday mansions” here that range in price from $650,000USD to $3,000,000USD. The average “house” in Nicaragua costs $20,000USD. The mansions were spectacular and the grandest is owned by a Nicaraguan family that grows, processes and exports coffee exclusively to all Starbucks stores all over the USA. Imagine that. Once family.
The next stop was very welcome. By this stage Antonia and I were delirious with heat stroke and desperate to call off. The answer came after 30min of driving. The caldera lake of Volcano Poyo It is amazing. 5km across and 200m deep in the middle because it is literally a volcanic plug fall of freshwater. This caldera once spewed out rivers of lava some 22,000 years ago. The water is still affected by thermo activity and is 28C. Unreal. Our group was there too !!! Antonia was in heaven !!! I put on my goggles and went for a long swim. Tried to do 2km but the water was very choppy due to high winds across the caldera. I managed to do 1.6km and was very happy. Due to the high content of volcanic minerals in this water my skin was silky soft when I came out. I had drunken half the lake due to the waves but felt good. We relaxed to beers and fries until 1530.
Now was the main game. Our 45min drive to active Masaya Volcano to sit on the plug edge and peer into it to see live lava !!! Masaya is 635m high and the last major eruption and lava flow was in 1772 reaching 25km away. Most of the retaining walls of the mansions on the rich-and-famous Lake Nicaragua islands were built from rocks spewed all the way down there by this eruption. Amazing how powerful the Earth is. We had to spend time at the Visitors Centre until 1745 when the guards who knew our driver allowed us to drive first up to the caldera/plug only 5km away. Gerald told us where to stand for the best view of the lava and we were wrapped. Watched the sun set and took daylight sunset photos of the plug which our group would not see. They were coming up at 1830 after to dark to see the glow of the lava but we do that too. We stayed until 1815 and good great views of the lava and glowing red plug. The lava pool is not that big but the glow it creates up the plug is better. We left at 1815 and then came back at 1830 to get a more intense view of the glow. The lava pool was the same size but the glow was slightly better. We were elated. The highlight of this long day. On our 45min drive back Gerald stopped at a street side BBQ stall where we scooped up a Portuguese style BBQ chicken with plantain chips and an chill-onion topping. Delicious. We gobbled it down while watching GRISELDA in our room and had no trouble sleeping.
Enjoy the images of Granada, Lake Nicaragua and the Masaya Volcano…
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