This was our first time in Nicaragua. I booked a private
tour with Macua Tours - Granada by carriage, Lake Nicaragua, Las Isletas Cruise
& Masaya Volcano. We were joined by Rick & Janie, Perla & Joe and
Cyril & Vanessa.
photos from the balcony
our group gathered in the casino bar waiting for the 1st tender boat
inside the tender (Janie in Blue)
We drove past the beach area and through Rivas, which is where our guide is from. It was about 20 minutes which gave us views of the countryside. We were seeing lots of ox-drawn carts and didn’t manage to get a photo of any of them. (hard to do from the van windows) Then we stopped at the volcanoes of Ometepe Island where the world’s biggest volcanic island in a lake is located.
views from the van
at the lake in the crater (Scaups in the lake)
wind farm
our guide David
back in the van to go see the crater lake from above
lake in the crater
reminds me of Panama! (gardening with a machete)
We next went to Masaya´s active volcano which is one of the 7 most active volcanoes in the world and one of the few volcanoes where we can be next to the edge of the crater and see inside of it. It’s one of the only volcanoes in the world where you can see a magma lagoon in the middle of the crater. What an awesome sight and we were very lucky that the wind was at our backs so it wasn’t blowing in our faces.
entrance to the National Park
viewing area
looking down into the volcano
see the magma river
back in the van on the way to Granada City
Our next adventure was to visit Granada City. Granada city
is the oldest town from the western hemisphere on mainland. What a charming
town. We took about an hour long carriage ride around Granada´s most important
historical buildings, Calle la Calzada, passing by the oldest Church in
America; San Francisco, episcopal palace and the Granada´s Cathedral and many
other places of interest.
views from the carriage
We stopped to visit a Cigar Factory where they showed us
how they make cigars. There were also a couple of Macaws that were molting that
they keep as pets.
We returned to the carriage and next stopped at a Chocolate
Museum/Café. We tasted a chocolate drink and 3 types of chocolate made there.
They invited us to look at the beautiful hotel and restaurant on site as well.
Then, we were back in the carriages that took us to lunch
in a lovely setting. That morning David had called ahead and pre-ordered our
lunch choices (chicken, beef or fish) to save us time.
It was very good and was typical Nicaraguan food.
Cyril, Vanessa, Janie & Rick Greg & Annette, Perla & Joe (starting left around the table)
soup
fish plate
chicken plate
dog asleep in a chair in the restaurant
Our last stop was to take a one hour boat ride on Lake
Nicaragua which is the 10th largest lake in the world. We were met
by our boat captain and we were off to explore a few of the 365 small islands
“Isletas” that were formed during the eruption of the Mombacho volcano to see
their people, fauna and flora including Spider Monkeys on one of the islets.
This tour makes a perfect combination between architecture,
culture and eco-tourism. The highlight of my day was the friendly Spider Monkey
named Linda. She climbed right up on me and while she sat on my neck she was
picking through my hair and climbing all over me. Sonya, I thought of you and
as you can see, she didn’t “rip my face off”. Ha ha. Then she went to Greg and
just climbed up and laid on him. What a beautiful day out on the Lake with the
lavish houses and the modest houses on these small islands. What a different
life!
Linda came on the boat to see us
boat captain
After we left there we drove back to the port driving
through Rivas and this time seeing the crowded and charming local market area.
Our guide was David and our driver was Alan. We highly
recommend Macua Tours. The guide was very informative and presented everything
in an interesting way. (some guides can just drone on without inflection) He
joked about taking us to the “mouth of hell” and joked he was taking us “to
hell and back” as he regaled us with stories of human sacrifice into the
volcano. He also told stories about one village that believed in witchcraft and
the types of stories parents would tell their children before bedtime.
We dropped everyone else back at the ship, but I still
wanted my token souvenirs so they drove Greg & I back out of the port and I
shopped at the local market by the beach and then we walked the short way back
to the ship.
It was the first time we had
toured with Perla & Joe and Cyril & Vanessa. What a great day we had
with the 8 of us.
Tonight, we head North through
the Pacific Ocean and tomorrow we arrive in El Salvador!
I don't have time to add photos and will try to update during our extra time in Los Angeles. In the meantime you can check out the photos on my site: https://get.google.com/albumarchive/116659709528973371528
As you can see I got some photos added to this post.
I don't have time to add photos and will try to update during our extra time in Los Angeles. In the meantime you can check out the photos on my site: https://get.google.com/albumarchive/116659709528973371528
As you can see I got some photos added to this post.
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