One of the benefits of Nicaragua is that distances are relatively small. As such, within a short hop from Granada one can find numerous other attractions and enjoy an endless array of day trips. One such day trip can be made to Masaya, a town renowned for its artisans and its markets.
We set out once again via chicken bus and arrived on a massive dirt field filled with what would seem like at least a hundred multi-colored school buses all departing for different destinations. At the edges of this transit hub was the Mercado Municipal or as I would refer to it as a cross between the Market in Otavalo, Kisumu and Manhatan or Tuzyn in Szczecin. The amount of vegetables that we saw here was absolutely breathtaking. If only our farmer’s markets had a fraction of what we saw. Piles and piles of watermelons, gigantic stacks of cabbage and lettuce, an entire hut of garlic, buckets and buckets of tomatoes, not to mention the pinapples, melons, pumpkins, carrots, peppers, calliflower, onions, apples, mangoes, banans, oranges and lemons and the gazillion other things we can no longer remember. Other sections of this insanely chaotic and maze-like market included brand name clothing such has Hollister t-shirts, baby shoes, Levi jeans, leather sandals, backpacks, purses, fans, fridges and pretty much anything else that the heart might desire.
As interesting as this stroll was, our main purpose for visiting Masaya was to head to the local artisan market with the hopes of acquiring some souvenirs. And I must admit we were not disappointed. We each left with a bagful of local crafts – one that will form an extra piece of luggage as we move from city to city on our continuing journey. (There is no way either one of us can fit our purchases into our regular backpacks. I will not reveal more with respect to our acquisitions.)
After our shopping spree and a visit to the various hammock workshops, we caught the bus to Catarina, a little village belonging to a set of Pueblos Blancos (white villages). Oddly enough, not much in this little town was white. Most of the buildings were a faded pastel color that had seen a few too many years of bright sunshine, but was still a long way from being white. The highlight here, however, was the fantastic lookout out past Laguna de Apoyo, onto Granada and onto Lake Nicaragua.
It is to Laguna de Apoyo that we headed today. Tired of the unremitting heat, we decided it was time for a swim and did not regret this decision. A shuttle took us to the Monkey Hut, a little hostel/hotel right on the waters of this gorgeous crater lagoon (it’s actually quite large, so please don’t be picturing a small lagoon). We spent hours swimming in the warm clear waters of this lake, sunbathing, hanging in hammocks and just enjoying the cool breeze coming off the water.
It was our first day where we were successful in avoiding this insane heat. It started with a 5am wakeup to see the sun rise over Granada and the city slowly wake up, from there it was off to the lake and back again in time to stroll the streets just before sunset in what once again were manageable temperatures.
Tomorrow morning it’s off to Leon where we decide to forget all the good lessons we learned here and attempt to summit one of Nicaragua’s most challenging volcanoes during the day. We will see how it goes.
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