Face first into pole.

  Laguna de Apoyo, Nicaragua
Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Campsite at Visitor Info.

We had barely any decent sleep with the heavy rains pounding on 'Nilla's roof all night.  It was early in the morning and we were both awake, so we decided to take advantage of the extra time to clean up some dishes before the Park Rangers arrived for work.  It was the morning of June 13, 2007.

Cross atop Volcan Masaya.

The dark grey sky was slowly starting to burn off with the morning sun and by 7:30am we were ready to hit the road.  We emerged from the van with perfect timing as the Rangers were unlocking the Visitor Information Centre.  We gathered up our electrical cord and quickly used the bathrooms to wash up before heading out.  Since it was considerably early in the day, we chose to drive back up to view the volcanic craters one more time.  The entire area was socked in with smoke from crater Santiago and the views had been better the day before.  Still awestruck by natural creations, we stared into the crater hoping to catch a glimpse of the infamous 'Chocoyos' parrot, but it was not to be.
 
 

Lava Fields.

Pulling out of Parque Nacional Volcan Masaya, we headed toward the town of Masaya, which was only a handful of kilometres down the road.  Minutes after leaving the park we were searching for parking in Masaya.  We followed the map very well today and actually reached our destination without much hassle.

Horse and cart.

  Parking was ample and we pulled 'Nilla up right next to Parque de Octubre.  Locking her down for safety, we began to stroll around town focused on finding the two famous markets.  Only a couple of blocks from Parque de Octubre was Mercado Viejo (Old Market) and as we approached the colonial structure both of us wanted pictures of the gorgeous building.  Geraldine must have been staring across the street at the market, because she was obviously not paying attention to the path in front of her when she smashed into a metal pole with her forehead.  Everyone within ear shot heard the clang.  Michael, choking back his amusement, determined Geraldine was alright.  It was then that he and the handful of locals standing nearby busted out with laughter.  It was all in good fun and even Geraldine had a good chuckle at herself.
 
 

Geraldine alongside Mercado Viejo.

Mercado Viejo appeared to be set up just for tourists.  The shops are well laid out with the standard fare of shirts, hats, woodworking crafts, pottery, paintings and of course hammocks.  Masaya is especially famous for their handmade hammocks and there is an entire area of town that houses workshops and storage warehouses.  We hade been looking at hammocks the entire trip and so far the quality had been poor and the prices high.

Mercado Viejo in Masaya.

At Mercado Viejo, we found top quality at a reasonable price.  We both wanted a large hammock big enough to fit us both and here we found it.  We examined every hammock in the market, however we kept returning to the same one over and over again.  It was massive...the largest hammock on display.  Negotiating with the shop was not too difficult and we reached an agreeable compromise on price.  We just had to have it.  It was well within our budget and finally our search was over.

Papermache man at Mercado Viejo.

We mulled around the market some more searching for bumper stickers.  On our trip we have been trying to fill up 'Nilla's rear windows with stickers from the countries we visit.  It has proved to be a bit of a challenge.  So far we have Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize.  Unfortunately, the Belize sticker was of such poor quality that it recently fell off.  Finding a Mexico sticker was near impossible as we were only able to find them for the resort cities such as Puerto Vallarta, Acapulco, and Cancun.  We plan to search again on the way home.  Anyway, we asked all around the market in Masaya and none of the shops seemed to carry bumper stickers, however lady luck was on our side today.  Michael was negotiating with the shop owner for a shirt or hat, when Geraldine decided to dig through some of the baskets out front of the shop.  Here she found not only a Nicaragua sticker, but one from the United States as well.  We had searched all over in the USA and found nothing, but we laughed aloud that it was rather easy to find in Nicaragua.  Loaded up with our hammock and stickers we headed out of Mercado Viejo.
 

Local roaming vendor.

Down the street about four blocks is the second market known as Mercado Municipal.  According to what we read, Mercado Municipal offers a wider variety of goods at a cheaper price and includes a section of fruits, vegetables and meats.  We found the pricing in line with Mercado Viejo if not a tad more expensive for some items.  Odd.  We wandered around the second market for hours as it is ten times the size of Mercado Viejo, however there was nothing of interest there for us.
 
 

Volcan Mombacho.

Finished with market shopping we headed over to the Malecon in Barrio San Juan in search of the handmade ītapicesī that are famous in this area.  The recommended shop of Los Tapices de Luis was relatively easy to find and inside Luis' house we were shown a wide array of tapices, which are woven straw canvasses that portray nature scenes as well as common village life.  The woven materials were elaborately coloured and we sifted through endless piles enjoying the artwork.  We did not pick up anything as the tapices are quite large and there is just not enough storage room in 'Nilla.
 
 
Moving on we decided to head back to the highway.  Getting into Masaya was an easy task, however the plethora of one-way streets posed a challenge in getting back out.  We made it with only having to turn around a few times.  Our new trick is to follow a taxi cab or transport bus as they always seem to end up on a main street.  Back on the highway, we headed the short distance to Laguna de Apoyo, which is a breathtaking community surrounding a volcanic crater lake.  The drive into the laguna follows as well paved road from the highway to a long steep decline leading to the lake.  There was no signage anywhere, however the locals were kind enough to point and wave us in the right direction at all of the intersections along the way.

Beers for free bathrooms.

  The main road down to the lake then connects with a ring road around the east shore.  We had read about a hostel retreat called the Monkey Hut and set out to find it.  A gate with the Monkey Hut logo painted on it was not far down the ring road, however it was a steep drive into the property toward the water.  Geraldine went first on foot to check out the place and returned noting that it appeared a bit swanky for our needs and furthermore, there was not a soul around to confirm a price to park for the night.  On down the road we travelled until the road began to fall into a state of disrepair with massive ruts and stones jutted out from every direction.  Here we found a sign for a hotel, which again was at the bottom of a long steep winding driveway.  Off on foot again, Geraldine went to scope out this option for parking.  She emerged a short time later, walking up the driveway with a young man.  Mike from Florida was the owner of the hotel and had purchased the property only a week or so ago.  The hotel was willing to let us camp for the exorbitant price of $20 USD.  Although we were too high to fit under the hotel gate arch, we were still not prepared to pay such a steep price.  We thanked Mike for his time and decided to check out other options.  Not prepared to go off-roading with 'Nilla, we completed a 30 point turn and got her facing back in the direction we came from.  Rolling back down the road, we spotted a side street that led down to the water.  We had nothing to lose and decided to try this route.  At the bottom of the short side street we reached the public parking and swimming area.  The shore of the lake was dotted with small cantinas and watering holes.  One local asked if we needed directions and he generously guided us to the 'free' public parking area.  Now that was a price our budget could handle.  Parked, we walked into the adjacent cantina and asked them about use of their bathrooms.  We were told no problem as long as we bought some drinks or food.  Immediately, we set up at a table under the main palapa and shared some food and beverages.  Shortly after dinner, it was near 8:00pm and the bugs were starting to have a feast on Geraldine, so we packed up and headed to the van.
 
 
Minutes after shutting our doors, the lake dogs all decided to congregate somewhere nearby and have a full fledged barking contest that lasted until midnight.  The dogs shifted from growling to barking and back again.  Even though we had use of bathrooms, both of us were terrified to get out of the van after dark for fear of being attacked by the mass of mangy mutts.  We resolved to the fact that we could hold it until morning.  Just as we were winding down from the dogs barking, the pounding rain started.  All in all it was a loud night at Laguna de Apoyo.