Zapatera Statues And Chasing More Volcanoes

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Trip Start Sep 29, 2007 Previous
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  Masaya, Nicaragua
Saturday, November 10, 2007

Wandered around the town checking out some of the jewelery stalls. Some of the artists make beautiful pieces made using Nicaraguan stones including turquoise, tiger eye, corals and obsidian volcanic rock. We are trying to find a unique piece for B. I have already sussed out a wild boar tooth for Margs.

Alot of the buildings in Nica have been ruined by earthquakes and rebuilt and repaired.
We visited the Convent y Iglesio de San Francisco which houses pre-Columbian artifacts carved by the Chorotega inhabitants of Isla Zapatera between AD 800 and 1200. The statues are a little bit like the Easter Island ones and depict various animal totems and figures with and without heads. Some of the figures were a serpent, alligator, monkey and eagle. I thought they were very impressive and although it´s a little sad to see the statues removed from there founding place, it was good to see these basalt stones well kept and protected

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We took a tour to Volcan Masaya National Park. Arriving at sunset we peered over the edge of crater Santiago, a very active steaming crater while oranges and pinks swirled around with the smoke to form an impressive sky. There was a good view all round. This was the largest crater we have seen and the best part of the tour. Skeletons of human sacrifices have been found at the bottom of the crater. Pre-Hispanic inhabitants of the area were said to have thrown young women into the bottom of the crater to appease Chaciutique, the Goddess of fire. The Spanish placed a large cross on the volcanic rim to exorcise the demons who dwelled within and a replica stands there still. A ranger guided us around in the dark and was not altogether informative as she explained that a ¨tree was connected to a root¨. Next stop was hardhats and a cave from which many bats were flying out and around us. I took some good pictures but am not sure if the bats thought that was kosher. We then ventured into a lava tube cave which opened out to a large cavern called the Indian Temple. This area had been used by pagan women for offerings. The tube had vines and roots of trees hanging from the roof and forming small curtains. The cave was a little unstable with cracks spreading out all over and it wasn´t the safest feeling because we were in the middle of earthquake territory. The last part of the tour was a gaze into another active crater where we donned gas masks and saw red hot glowing lava

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. You could imagine nasty villains being cast into the lava pit of hell. The sulfur gas was overpowering and we couldn´t stay long here. We have decided Nadine is ultra sensitive to the gasses as she was wheezing and took a long time to recover but did so when  we descended from the crater rim. The driver dropped us at our hostel and we chatted with some Americans and an Englishmen while we enjoyed some more flor-de-cana rum and Todo beers.

We have managed to find someone who is taking supplies out to the school in the woods on the volcanic crater lake so we have a contact arranging accommodation, meals and lessons for us out there. The phone lines are out. We will most likely be out of contact for 6 days in this area starting tomorrow. The school is called Proyecto Ecologico Spanish School and is housed at a research station on the wooded banks of the lake. Local teachers will share their perspectives on community and campesino life. The area is pristine and there is not much out there apart from monkeys, perfect for studying Spanish for us. We will be in intensive school with homework and no English speaking people. Wish us luck.

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