Day Trip to Masaya

We planned on going away for a weekend trip to Masaya, the biggest town near Granada and a famous artesian town, and Laguna de Apoyo, Nicaragua’s cleanest swimming hole formed in a volcanic crater. But our weekend trip ended up just being a day trip. We left for Masaya first. It was about a 25 minute drive and surprising pretty one as well. Unbeknownst to us Masaya sits on a slight incline from Granada viewing the surrounding tropical plains. But besides the beautiful surrounds the town of Masaya was not as impressive. Most of the buildings are more run down and plain but its said that the beauty of the city is in its traditional arts and crafts. So we went straight to the main attraction of Masaya, the Old Craft Market (El Mercado Viejo de Artesanias).

Old Artesian Market in Masaya

The market takes up an entire square block enclosed in an old castle-like façade. Kinda funny. Inside there are several stalls each with tons of nic-nacs: textiles, leather, pottery, paintings, carved wood masks and of course the most famous artesian craft woven hammocks. We walked around looking at all the stuff but didn’t find anything we like. It was nice but all the same stuff one stall after another (like many markets). After our walk through in the market we to lunch at a GOOD, traditional Mexican food restaurant. Hot Salsa and Pico de Gallo. Oh how we miss our California boarder Mexican food with so much flavor.

Our next stop after Masaya was Volcano Masaya another 10 minute drive from the city. This volcano is famous for being one of the few volcanoes in the world where you can drive up to the crater edge at the top of the volcano. It is a super active volcano with constant sulfur gas and smoke spewing out the approx. 300 yard carter mouth. We tried to take pictures of the impressive hole but the smoke made it really hard. So instead I have downloaded some pictures from the internet. Supposedly the last time the Volcano Masaya exploded in 2000 a boulder landed on a tourist’s car (but no one got hurt). Now though they tell everyone to back-in to the parking spots “just in case”. Like it makes you that much safer. LOL. Anyways they also built some steps up the side of the volcano for a better look into the carter. We went up and actually found another massive crater right next to the first one, so there are actually two in Volcano Masaya. Pretty cool site.

Debb at Masaya Volcano

Masaya Volcano Crater

Steps to the top of Masaya Volcano

So our original weekend plan was to see these two places then head to Laguna de Apoyo, spend the night and enjoy the next day relaxing at the warm natural swimming hole. But…….not so much. What we thought was the right road from Volcano Masaya to Apoyo ended up being the back road back to Granada. We were looking for a sign for Laguna de Apoyo but ended seeing a sign Bienvenidos Granada (Welcome to Granada). Oooppps. Hence our day trip. So instead we decided to stay in Granada and go out to the bars with the other volunteers for Saturday night.
We will go to Apoyo another weekend, its just right outside of Granada, supposedly if we can find it. Haha.

written by

ryan & debbrial on December 12, 2009 from Masaya, Nicaragua

from the travel blog: Us Discovering the Latin Americas

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Bretagne,Ferienhaus in der Bretagne,Ferienhäuser Bretagne,Morbihan,Finistere,Cotesd'Armor,

written by harishrawat on December 16, 2009

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