Our morning started off with Fruit Loops, which was a surprise to all of us! It was a fitting beginning for our first Fun Day. Breakfast came with a banana as well but some Glimpsers commented that they missed the fried banana slices and chips that we usually get with lunch and dinner; we’re getting attached to Nicaraguan food already!

Our yellow chicken bus was waiting for us outside the buffet to take us to the Masaya Volcano. This volcano is currently active and there was movement as recently as 2012. On a nearby hilltop you could see a roughly constructed cross. In the past, locals believed that the Masaya Volcano was the “mouth of hell”, and it was pretty easy to see why, with the large amount of warm smoke it was spewing out.

We took a small hike to get a better view of the Masaya Volcano, as well as its less active neighbor. This crater was full of life with trees growing from the bottom and green covering all sides.

IMG_1433

Ishwa and Sidra celebrating their successful hike

IMG_1431

Natalie posing for the camera 🙂

IMG_1437

Sam and Eric, our only two boys!

From the Masaya volcano, it was only a 20 minute ride to the Laguna de Apoyo (Apoyo Lagoon). A long time ago, the lagoon used to be an active volcano as well, but after many, many years, the crater it left behind was filled naturally with rainwater and water flowing from tiny streams. We had lunch at the Monkey Hut, and then everyone had a few hours to just enjoy the clear blue water. There were kayaks to share and a few floating docks as well. We also had the chance to meet up with the other Estelí group and meet friends, new and old. This included other visitors to the lagoon, such as the Costa Rican pair that greeted Eric.

No photos from the lagoon for this blog post; they’re stuck on cameras and we can’t quite manage to transfer them over. Here’s a couple from Google though! The place looked even more amazing in person and I promise we do have real photos of our own!

the-monkey-hut

We had a pretty long ride back from the Laguna de Apoyo, but we were greeted with nacatamal and glass bottled soda (or pop…) for dinner. Nacatamal is a traditional Nicaraguan dish, normally available on Sundays, consisting of corn meal wrapped in banana leaves. Everyone was pretty hungry after all the fun we had today!

Thanks again to everyone reading this blog and for your fun comments!