Laguna de Apoyo, Masaya, Nicaragua

While in Granada I signed up for a couple of tours. For $11 I went on a day trip to Laguna de Apoyo, a volcanic crater lake a half hour out of town. One can go with either Oasis hostel or Bearded Monkey. I went with Oasis to their "Crater's Edge" hostel. For $11 you get round trip mini-van transport, and use of the hostels facilities for the day. The hostel has a plethora of comfy hammocks in the shade, a float one can sunbathe on and dive off, several inner tubes for the same purpose, kayaks, and a bar with some snacks. If you go, go on a full stomach, their $8 lunch is awful and overpriced.

Laguna Apoyo is a serene, beautiful, warm lake. I floated in an inner tube for hours getting an excellent sunburn. It was especially fun watching the British guys in our group trying to swim to the float while holding a six pack of beer, a can of Pringles, and a pack of cigarettes above their heads.

The next day I did a tour with Tierra Tours to Masaya Volcano, Masaya town market, and the "white villages". Cost $25 for the six hour guided tour. Our guide David was excellent, very knowledgeable, funny, and an excellent command of English. David was eager to learn the definition and correct pronunciation of every English word we used that was new to him. When we laughed at his pronunciation of the the word "cheated" (which he pronounced "shitted"), he asked us to repeat the correct pronunciation, and then he kept repeating it randomly throughout the day.

First we saw the active Masaya Volcano. Steam poured from the crater as David told us how the dictator Somoza once dropped political enemies from a helicopter into the crater in the 70's when it had molten lava. Nice. It's a cool volcano if you have never seen one, but for a guy from Hawaii, eh, not so much.

Next we went to the artisans market in Masaya. This is a great market, lots of nice stuff at cheap, cheap prices. Strangely Granada does not have any kind of market for tourists even though it is the most touristed city in Nicaragua. You have to drive to Masaya. I got a hammock chair for $10 which I managed to leave sitting on a hotel lobby floor in Dallas later in the week. I eyed some beautiful handmade leather boots for $60, but they didn't have a size 10.5, my gringo feet are just too big.

Last stop, the Pueblos Blancos. Here we saw some cute little white washed artsy towns, and visited a pottery factory. Actually factory is a misnomer, it was one families house, and we got to see every step of the pottery making process, which was cooler than you'd think. After seeing all the work and time involved in making pottery, I was able to buy a pretty piece for just $5.