a beautiful day

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a view from the top of the active volcano

Today was a super busy, fun tourist day! First we drove to a volcano and got to look into both an active and an inactive volcano. It was very windy and there was a ton of sulfur coming out of the active one. It is actually the largest producer of sulfer in the world and is therefore the largest contributor to acid rain. Afterwards, we went to the volcano museum. It was a little refresher on my geology but I wish I remembered more from the three classes I have taken. Next we went to see Pedro, the potter. He threw a vase right in front of the group and he showed how skilled he was by putting a turtle in the body of the vase and then closing off the top with a very skinny neck all while the whole piece was off center. I've only tried the wheel once but I know from that experience that Pedro is very skilled and made it look way easier than it really is. A bunch of people bought his finished pieces but I decided not to. Then we drove to this tourist area overlooking a volcanic lake and we had lunch there. After we drove down to the lake and swam in the lake. It was at a place called the "Monkey Hut", which was kind of like a hostel resort. It had a dock and intertubes and kyacks for anyone to use and the water was the perfect temperature. After we went to the market and I bought some very inexpensive but cool stuff. I got a pin for my collection, a head band, earrings, and a solo chinese checkers game made of wood for my parents. I also bought a Nicaraguan flag to put up in my room. After a very eventful day, we came back to the compound for dinner and hit the disco!!!! It was so fun! There was a band and a dance floor and tables all around to hang out at and order drinks. It was all outdoors with a roof but I got really hot dancing. We mainly drank Coke and flor de cana-- Nicaragua's most popular rum. When we got back to JHC for the night I hung out a little bit on the roof and we listened to Jeff play the guitar but eventually I got really sleepy and went to bed and slept like a rock.

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Photos

unfortunately we couldn't walk up to this cross
the volcano was thought to be from the devil so maybe this cross would protect the city?

Pedro the Potter
he put a turtle in the vase he made

Pedro the Potter
he threw this vase right in front of us in about 10 minutes

Pedro the Potter
this is where the pieces are fired after a long process of painting and polishing them

Pedro the Potter
some of his finished pieces