Nicaragua Day 9

Our last full day in the country was just as exciting as the first. We headed to Granada where we scattered throughout a souvenir market, moving from shop to shop looking for unique items to buy. Occasionally bumping into others from our group and seeing what they had purchased. I was directed many times towards the turtle merchandise, but was only finding the same t-shirts and the same overpriced wood carvings. Many shops sold interesting crafts, but I would prefer any Mozambican souvenir market over this one. I was baffled that many shops were selling carvings and paintings of African animals, including rhinos, zebras, lions, and elephants. We were in Central America, not Africa! However, I did end up with some cool souvenirs to bring home. After spending all of my money trying to fill my suitcase, we headed to the Masaya Volcano. Small groups are permitted to drive up to the top and look inside the active volcano. Time up there is limited to 15 minutes, because of the dangerous gasses that are often emitted by volcanoes. It was incredible to see lava bubbling down below us. We returned later that night to see its glowing red light being cast onto the walls inside the volcano. That was a pretty neat experience. In between our volcano visits, we went to a local park that had large dinosaur models and Jurassic Park music playing in the background. There was a basketball/soccer court on one end of the park with kids playing soccer. Our trip host offered the kids 10 Córdobas each to play us in a match. We had our work cut out for us, because the kids were good. They were on average about 10 years old. It was a very close game, but we won and they got their money for playing. This was the end of our Nicaraguan experience. We left early the next morning to drive back to Managua and fly home. It was a wonderful graduation gift to myself. One that I will always remember.

Masaya Volcano