Madera's Inn Masaya

Monday was our day for daytrips. There were two things we had in mind -- a set of footprints in Managua, and a market in Masaya.<br><br>The footprints were our first stop. These are located on the edge of Managua, near the lake. They were accidentally uncovered during an excavation, burried about 4 meters under the earth. The footprints are set in volcanic lava, and show approximately 10 people walking towards ...

... a price and a car pulled up almost immediately. I have to say I didnt like the look of the guy, but a lot of the time I dont like the look of people. We got in the back of the car and the guy got in beside me leaving the front passenger seat open. The car then turned around and drove in the direction of Managua. We asked the driver why he was going in that direction and he said that he was picking up two other people on that side of the road also ...

... little creatures. I learned from our tour guide, Joel, some of the stories behind the volcano. It was baptised as " the mouth of hell' by some Friar Fransisco de Babillas or some **** like that. Also, the indigenous people of the region believed there was a hag deity which lived at the bottom of the crater and sacraficed virgins and children in exchange for her guidance ...

... the main square to where, unknown to us, the carnage had been relocated. On getting safely inside the hostel we discovered that the event was being covered live on television for the news, and sure enough, there was the parque central being terrorised by bulls. Apparently someone decided it would be a good idea to relocate the cattle truck there and loose a couple of bulls without really informing the gathered masses of spectators - I'd say there was a few shocked faces ...

... mayan ruin, it is very original. On the inside, looks more like a Spaniard hacienda. There are hundreds of souvenir stores. They sell the best hammocks I've ever seen at the best prices. Very cheap compared to Costa Rica actually. Nicaraguans specialize in hammocks and furniture, so their wooden products are amazing too. <br><br>Our driver told us that we had the chance to go to a town nearby to look at a religious activity that happened only that day in the year ...

I´m able to write through an internet cafe in Masaya, Nicaragua,<br>which is the city that I will be working. I officially start work this<br>monday, but before that I have to go through a great deal of seminars<br>and all that before I´m able to actually work. The country is certainly<br>developing, but I have a definite feeling that I will know this city<br>very well. Today we took a tour of the capital ...

... tired not hungry. I spent the some time figuring out how much farther I have to go last night. I have 2050mi to get out of Mexico after the ferry crossing. Then It is about 600mi from there to Nicaragua (I haven't figured this out exactly yet). So I have about 2700mi left of my journey, this is farther than I thought since I have already road1500mi since I left the kids. So it takes about 3700mi to get there and I ...

... the top of volcano maderas, finding a large taranchula in my sleeping bag, catching a nice bass in lake nicaragua on my hand line with a cali female fishing buddy, biking around the incredibly basic trail of a road circumnavigating the entire two volcano island just under 80 miles, finding the true meaning of hitchhiking, reading a few good and a few bad books. Then a ferry back to the main land and off to granada, wait this bus doesn ...

... nog rijk is (het andere bevindt zich ook in Nicaragua, op de vulkaan Maderas op Isla Ometepe).<br><br>We parkeren de wagen op de parking aan de voet van de vulkaan op 450m hoogte. Vanaf hier rijdt een truck verschillende keren per dag de geasfalteerde baan, 5 1/2 km, op en af en brengt de verwende toerist, mits betaling, naar het bezoekerscentrum vlakbij de krater op 1100m hoogte. Wij nemen de truck niet, maar verkiezen de 'voetenwagen', +/- 1u30 stappen tot aan het<br ...