Life in the tropics one week from Xmas

Waking up in the middle of December and being greeted by the warm sunshine every day is something we have learn to appreciate and be grateful for. We usually buy some fresh tropical fruits and tempting local pastries that we enjoy in the warmth of a garden, a shaded plaza or like this morning, a shaded garden with hammocks. In a week, we will miss dearly our American family for the festivities and wished they could be here with us, enjoying the easy life in a warm country. At the same time, we are so grateful that part of our French family will join us for the end of year celebrations. Caroline's parents are flying to Costa Rica next week and we will be spending two weeks together, having a family Xmas and New Year celebration far away from home, in the warmth of Central America.

Local arts and craft in Masaya and the Pueblos Blancos

Chad's rear tire seems to be holding up and we made it safely to our next stop: Masaya. It is a beautiful mid-sized colonial town, nested between the Managua and Nicaragua lakes. The town is famous for its big handicraft market, el Mercado Viejo, that we were determined to explore for some Xmas shopping. All around the market, there was a beautiful old stone wall with sculpted gates that created the perfect setting for the market. The inside was lined up with little shops where we were impressed by the quality and the variety of the available handicraft. Quite a different shopping experience from going to a big department stores and definitively more pleasant and relaxed. We stayed there for a few hours, and satisfied with our findings, went back to the bikes to drive to Catarina, one of the Pueblos Blancos.

Catarina is a very small and quaint mountain town that has a look out to the nearby lake. We sat there for a while, taking in the view and admiring the still active volcanoes around us. As we walked back later to our hotel, we passed many nurseries that made us feel like we were in a big garden town. The main square was also getting ready for the celebration time: big metallic Xmas tree made of lights (real pine trees must be hard to find here), Merry-Go-Rounds and other fun rides for kids were being set up, fresh paint was being applied on the guardrails and lights mounted on the roof of the houses. It was dazzling with activities, getting ready for the bid day.

A fuming active volcano with three craters
Nicaragua, like its neighbor countries, is scattered with volcanoes, some still being active. The Parque Nacional Volcan Masaya features three craters, one of which is still active. As we drove up the windy road, we saw the old lava trail run on the side of the road with big piles of dark lava rocks. The landscape around us was ever changing, depending on whether lava had gone through it or not and how recently. Everywhere, vegetation seems to get its right back over the past volcanic activity. We parked our bikes at the top of the mountain, front facing the road as indicated on the parking, in case the volcano would decide to erupt today. That way, we would be ready to leave quickly.

Our first stop was a viewpoint above the two first craters; the big one had warm fumes coming out of it, which intensity and direction was changing constantly, depending on what was going on in the volcano and the wind strength and direction. We smelled the sulfuric gas coming up from what seemed to be the center of the earth. It was quite windy up there and vultures were circling the craters. It was a moon like rocky area, with different shades of rocks. As we walked back to the parking lot, we had again to go through the sulfuric gas, accelerating our pace given the unpleasant smell. Seeing the black bottomless hole from which the gas was coming out was pretty wild. You definitively did not want to fall in there.

Our second destination was the other crater around which there was a hiking path. We climbed up from the parking lot, enjoying more views of the first two craters without the sulfuric gas this time, until we reached the rim of the second crater. What we saw was completely different from the first two. We knew this one had not been active since the sixteenth century but we were not anticipating so much trees and vegetation inside the crater, especially on the south side. Again, nature had taken over. The strong winds up there were having a great cooling effect on us as we were looking down. We took the path around the rim, which took us about an hour. This was a great viewpoint of the surrounding lakes and took us through some rugged landscape, the volcanic rocks mixing well with the dry grass and trees. It reminded Chad of his Peace Corps time in Africa.

After the walk in the heat, since we had started the walk right before lunch time, we went back to Masaya and had lunch in the central park. Relaxing under the shaded trees was exactly what we needed while enjoying a fresh juice of Melocoton (Starfruit) and orange. The icy cold juice was a heavenly nectar after the heat of the volcano. We also had a specialty of the town of Leon, called Quesillo. It is a tortilla wrap with fresh cheese and cooked onions in it. Delicious and the little girl fixing it in the stand was so cute we could not resist taking a picture. Well rested and our stomachs content, we started our drive towards out to Granada, said to be one of the loveliest cities in Central America.