Day 38 17.08.15
We woke up for a very packed day. First we had some breakfast (pancakes filled with nutella and bananas for me :) ) and then we jumped into our van which first took us down to the lake. There were several boats already parked and ready to go. We got into the one assigned to us, and rode along the man made canals. Apparently these were created using dynamite, causing some of the larger boulders to fly around and one actually getting stuck high up in a tree branch.
These canals were covered in water plants (not water lilies) and we got to see several people going about their daily routine, fishing in the canal with throw out nets. The people living along these canals lived very very simple, but did seem to make ends meet.
We left the canal and hit “the open sea / lake” where we could understand the size of the lake.
We only rode along the open waters for a short time before taking a right and passing through several little islands.
The houses on these islands however had nothing to do with the ones alongside the canal. They were the summer homes to richest of Nicaraguans rich. Some of the houses could rather be considered to be palaces than summer homes. It was great as our guide showed us which house belonged to which person and what they did for a living.
We moved on heading for the monkey island. We were slightly disappointed when we reached the island, as we had expected a larger island and many more monkeys. We found a rather small island with possibly only about 5 or 6 monkeys. A veterinarian brought these monkeys to the island (which he bought for the monkeys), and to this day looks after them and feeds them. But as I already said, the island wasn’t as impressive as it seemed in the Lonely Planet for example.
We headed back with the boat to the van and drove on to discover the “outskirts” of Granada. I put that in quotation marks, as we were very close to the centre of town and if the outskirts begin after 10 blocks, I’m not sure our guide knows the word outskirts :)…
There were several cathedrals and churches on our way, and I apologise now for not remembering their names.
However we did pass the Church of Francisco, which is one of the oldest churches in Central America, it was however once burnt down by the pirate William Walker, therefore I am not sure whether it counts as the oldest as it had to be rebuilt. And again, it was originally built on old indigenous ruins… Go Spanish invaders!
We drove on to pass the old train station. This station is quite impressive as it shows the last remains, or better said the last trains and carriages that remain from the impressive railway system that Nicaragua used to have.
However the trains, carriages and even the rails were sold off to other Latin American countries to make enough money for the Civil War. The last ones remain here in Granada as it was the most conservative of cities and therefore willing to hold on to the railways as long as possible.
We also passed an old hospital, which had been in use up to only more recent years. The building really looks much older, or the people held out with the poor condition of the building. Anyway, the Japanese built a new hospital outside of town with the newest equipment and facilities. Apparently it is also haunted, as there is a cemetery right behind the building and people have said to have seen ghosts roaming at night.
From a haunted cemetery to an actual cemetery, we visited the cemetery where presidents were buried and other rich families, supplying us with impressive tombstones, tomb “halls” and memorials. There were literally houses to house the dead! Houses!
We then headed on to see the volcano, which we were going to hike. We stopped at a lava field from 1772, which had flown all the way to the foot of the mountain. (sorry, this link was just so inviting). We stood on the lava taking pictures in front of the volcano. We then drove on a little further to see the volcanic museum or exhibition hall they had.
In it you could observe anything to do with volcanoes, from explanations and information on the flora and fauna that you could find here, to information on tectonic plate movement, to art about the volcano, everything was represented.
For example they had a mural of the volcano back in the days of the indigenous, who decided to convert to Christianity in order to avoid the lava flow to completely destroy their village. Who knows if “God” had a play in it, or they were just plain lucky. Anyways, after that their belief in Christianity manifested further and grew stronger.
The Spanish even baptised the volcano as they though it was the gate to hell. After using the crater as a way of sacrificing people for the indigenous and simply killing non-believers, prisoners of war or other delinquents, the volcano received a new purpose.
The volcano is about 200 metres deep until it hits the live lava. From the crater toxic gases rise and make it difficult for people to be around it for long (I for example started getting quite nauseous standing around it). Some of the birds however think entirely differently. They live in the crater and have immunised against the poisonous gases to be safe from predators such as humans and other animals. They nest in the lining of the volcano and breed there too.
We were driven up to the volcano (thank god not another hike!!!) and got to observe the crater and the toxic gases rising from it.
We then climbed / hiked up a little further to see the volcano from a look out point from which you could see the entire size of the crater. Quite impressive! We then moved even higher to see the other dormant crater which is covered in trees at its centre.
We then headed back down and went on to visit the Masaya market.
This is a handicraft market that offers all sorts of different souvenirs ranging from shot glasses and t-shirts to art and interesting chessboards for example.
I thought the idea of this chess board was very clever – the Spanish against the Mayans… Apart from these little treasures though, all vendors pretty much sell the same goods.
On a side note – have a look at the cool colouring of this house, clearing distinguishing between both owners.
We drove on to a look out point over the crater lake to take some photos. From here we could see the lake we were going to swim in.
So we set out to the Laguna Beach Club and enjoyed a lovely lovely afternoon.
It is a great resort by the lake and in our tour stand up paddling, tubing and kayaking as well as floats were available for free and we enjoyed a nice lunch there (and a lot of the “local cocktail” that supposedly knocks you off your socks, we somehow didn’t drink enough of that to feel the effects…).
We drove back singing loads of Irish drinking songs and when back to the hotel went out to dinner at the exact same place – the Israeli place.
After dinner we walked around Granada to see the city at night and enjoy a bit of the nightlife too.
We entered some bars, danced a lot ( at least I did) and just enjoyed a great finish to a great day.
