Lucie & Rhys´s Honeymoon Adventure: Week 38 - Granada, Masaya, Leon (Nicaragua)

As the buses on Isla de Ometepe are few and far between we decided to jump on the back of a pick-up to get back to the port in Moyagalpa so we could make it to Granada before dinner time. We timed it perfectly and arrived in time to board the 11am ferry for the crossing back to San Jorge and the mainland. From there, we took a collectivo to the bus terminal/market in Rivas and onto a chicken bus for the final leg of the journey into Granada. On arrival we checked into a new hostel, whose owners we’d met on Ometepe. After saying hello to the resident monkey, we were straight in the pool to cool off. Since it was already early evening we only popped out to get our bearings and to buy hot dogs from the street stalls for dinner. Back at the hostel, Adrienne who we had met on the bus and a few people staying at out hostel sat in the bar until the early hours chatting and enjoying the rum and cokes.

The next day we were feeling a little worse for wears, we ventured out to an Irish bar, one of the most popular spots in Granada for lunch before heading back to the hostel to chill. Later that afternoon I left Rhys on the computer and headed into town to explore. Like every colonial town, the focus is the cathedral and Parque Central with colourful buildings lining the streets radiating from it. Every where you turn there are horse drawn carts decorated with an abundance of ribbons. My first stop was the Fuerte La Polvora, an 18th century fort that is a bit run down on the outside but has a peaceful little courtyard interior that you could peer into through the locked gates. My second stop was in an amazing little coffee shop opposite the Xalteva church where I whiled away a happy hour with a cappuccino and a copy of the latest issue of Monocle. Back towards the centre of town and I stopped to climb the bell tower of La Merced church only to get to the top to be deafened by the 4 o’clock bell ringing. A quick walk along the Calle La Calzada, the main street for bar and restaurants where tables and chairs spill out onto the pedestrianised road and a brief stop at the church San Francisco and I headed back to the hostel. After a quick dinner at a little local restaurant we turned in for an early night.

We had intended to spend the next day at Laguna Apoyo but unfortunately they need 4 people to run the shuttles and the other two who had signed up didn’t turn up. The cost of a taxi for two of us seemed steep so we decided on a chill day just relaxing at the hostel.

We left Granada on Saturday to head to Masaya, a little town 40 minutes away famed for its artisanal market. We checked in to a dirt cheap hostel for £4 a night for 2 people in a private room and went for a wonder around town and to check out the markets. If we were just on holiday and could bear the thought of carrying huge wooden bowls or paintings with us we could have spent a fortune but as it was we came away empty handed. Other than the artisanal market Masaya has little to offer tourists, the main market out by the bus stop is pretty dirty and confusing and after rain the pathways turned into mud tracks - you can however buy pretty much anything there should you want to.

Our second day in Masaya we were up early to catch a taxi to Volcan Masaya National Parque. From the entrance it was an easy 1.5km walk to the visitor centre where after a look at the exhibitions we arranged for a ranger to drive us the last 5km to the crater. Masaya continually emits large amounts of sulfur dioxide gas (from the active Santiago crater) and it’s quite impressive to see the smoke billowing out of the crater and up into the sky. A number of the viewpoints are currently closed after an eruption last year so we weren’t there for too long before the ranger drove us back to the entrance from where we flagged down a bus back into Masaya. Back at the bus terminal/waste land/market we jumped on another bus heading to Catarina, one of the ‘Pueblos Blancos’ - white villages so called for the white wash buildings and the white magic that used to be performed there. Catarina has a spectacular mirador overlooking the Laguna de Apoyo crater lake and to Lago Nicaragua with a number of volcanoes and mountains spreading out in the distance as far as the eye can see. Although you can walk down to the lake from here Rhys was a little under the weather and we settled for lunch at one of the restaurants overlooking the mirador. After lunch we wondered through the town which is full of craft stalls and plant nurseries, back to the main road for a bus back to Masaya. While Rhys stayed in the hostel for the rest of the afternoon I went back to the market to browse and sat in the main square people watching for a couple of hours.

We left Masaya the following day and caught a bus to Managua. From the bus terminal we jumped in a taxi across town to the shuttle bus stop for the drive to Leon. Sitting with our bags practically on our laps it was extremely uncomfortable but at least it was only an hour and a half. In Leon we got in a cycle taxi to Backpacker Street and checked in to a little family run hostel. We headed out for a quick wonder to the cathedral, the biggest in Central America and undergoing a face-lift after the most recent explosion of Cerro Negro coated it in black volcanic ash. On our way back to the hostel we bumped in to Adrienne from Granada and arranged to meet her at her hostel that evening for drinks.

The following day we booked to go volcano boarding with Bigfoot, the most well known hostel in Nicaragua and reputedly the owners of the fastest boards. The trip started with a 45 minute drive on the back of a truck though twisting dirt tracks out to Volcan Cerro Negro. Once there we began an hour long hike to the top at an elevation of 728m, stopping to peer into the crater and feel the heat of the ground. The volcano is the youngest in Nicaragua at only 160 years old and has erupted a staggering 23 times in it’s lifetime. It is a gravelly basaltic cinder cone black in colour and contrasts greatly with the surrounding verdant hillsides. The views from the top were breathtaking and you can see the Central American Volcanic Arc spreading out north to Honduras. At the top we had a quick guide on how to board before donning our orange jump suits and lining up to take it in turns to sit on our wooden plank, hold onto the rope and speed down the volcano. The experience is included on the CNN “Thrill seeker's bucket list: 50 experiences to try before you die” at number 2, second only to flying a jet plane. Now i’m not sure if it was that good but it was great fun, we didn’t come close to the 91kph record, Rhys reached the dizzy heights of 38kph and I clocked in at 41kph and it was all over before you’d really had a chance to master the technique but all the same I would highly recommend it. Back in town we enjoyed an included mojito before retiring to the shower to wash the volcanic rock out of our hair. That night we arranged to meet up with some of the people from our trip at a bar nearby and sat drinking half bottles of £2.25 rum until closing time.