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Published: August 22nd 2006
it has been an amazing two days. yesterday was the final day of fiestas augustinas in granada. granada feels like an authentic central american town....untainted by tourists. and it was quite the treat to be here for this unique celebration. ilsa, johan and i joined the celebrations for most of the day...from 10am until around 9pm. the city was full of energy and people and beer and rum and horses. there was a parade of horses that went on for hours....it seemed to be some sort of skill competition. the horses would do a prancy dance and scoot sideways. (sorry for my lack of technical terms here but i really don´t know a thing about horses or riding). while the parade was going on, the central parque was full of people celebrating and vendors selling food, beers, rum and other goodies. it must be a big deal here in nicaragua because it was being televised live.
today, johan and i did an independent tour of a few of the villages surrounding granada and we also climbed a nearby volcanoe and found an awesome view of laguna de apayo and lake nicaragua.
the first village we stopped at was San
Juan de Oriente...it is about a 40 minute bus ride outside of granada. it was a clean, tranquil, friendly place. there is a large concentration of ceramic artists in this village and their work was everywhere. we were invited into the home of two women making vases and they allowed us to snoop around for a while as they worked.
another village just up the road, called catarina is where we were able to find an amazing view of the lakes. it took our breath away when we first reached the top of the road and saw the lakes. there was a strong breeze at the top of this vista, which was very refreshing after climbing around in the hot sun and humidity. lake nicaragua is the furthest lake in the picture....you can only see a portion of it, it is HUGE...largest lake in central america.
after catarina we caught a bus and went another 30 minutes north, where we were dropped off in front of the masaya national park. we climbed 5km to the top of the active volcanoe, masaya. the volcanoe is constantly smoking and spitting out rocks and other debris. there is a warning that
says to take cover under your car if an eruption occurs. we didn´t have a car so we agreed that we would take turns covering each other in case of an eruption 😉 fortunately we didn´t need to test our loyalty to our word. it was another WOW moment.
i am really enjoying the tranquility of nicaragua and the friendliness of the people. there are not as many tourists as i expected...which means we get all of this to ourselves 😊
i hope you enjoy the pictures. tomorrow we (johan and i) are headed to isle de ometepe....an island in lake nicaragua, formed by two volcanoes...one of them active. there are a few hotels on the island so this will be another stop on my way south.
sweet dreams and lots of love!
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Stac
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Suz, you look beautiful in those pictures. I love the pictures you send- they really make all those amazing adventures seem more realistic. Are you still wearing the necklace???? Love you mamma.