Next stop: Granada!

On the journey from Ometepe to Granada, we met Kalle and Sina in a chicken bus (they're really called that), a couple from near Osnabrück who have been traveling in Central America for 11 months. For once, we were well prepared and had already booked accommodation in Granada, and since we got along really well with the two of them, they decided to join us and took a room in the same hostel. We even treated ourselves to a private room, a real luxury!

After strolling through the city on our arrival day and spending the evening relaxed with Kalle and Sina over beers and snacks, the next day we planned a trip to the town of Masaya. The plan was to visit the arts and crafts market first and then hike to the Masaya Volcano, one of the active volcanoes in Nicaragua, where you can see the lava from the edge of the crater. After first ending up in the wrong market hall and finally finding the right market, we were initially quite impressed with the many pretty things there were to buy, but then quickly realized that every stall offered more or less the same and that it had absolutely nothing to do with arts and crafts. However, Paddy was still very satisfied with our visit because he bought a knife ;)

After a short but intense rain shower (hello rainy season), we continued by bus towards the volcano. When we arrived at the park entrance, we were unfortunately told that you can only go to the crater with a shuttle and the hiking trails are closed because it had rained the night before. Of course, we didn't want to miss the view of the lava! When we reached the top, we were quite surprised by how huge the crater of this volcano is. We actually saw the lava bubbling. The last eruption was already a while ago, but our driver told us that the lava must have risen significantly in one day in July. As we had read before, it becomes difficult to breathe after a short time due to the fumes, so the security guide equipped with a gas mask sends you away after about 15 minutes. Unfortunately, due to the rain, the short walk along the crater rim was also closed, but we were still very happy to catch a glimpse of the lava :) On the way back, we met a very kind woman who accompanied us to the next big supermarket. We were a bit surprised when she told us that she finds Nicaragua extremely expensive - apparently, people here actually earn so little that the cost of living is extremely high in proportion.

The next day, we drove to Laguna de Apoyo, a body of water that formed in a crater (in Nicaragua, everything seems to revolve around volcanoes). When we arrived at the lagoon, we were quite annoyed that we didn't bring our snorkels, which we had been carrying in our backpacks for the entire 3.5 months - the water in the lagoon was so clear that we could hardly believe it! Even when we couldn't stand anymore, we could still see everything on the bottom. Also, the water was so warm that we spent the entire time in the lagoon and only left the water for lunch (once again, we had rice and beans, plantain, and salad - strangely, we still can't get enough of it). In the morning, there were only a few people in the lagoon, and at noon there were a bit more, but still very calm and relaxed. After a little chat with a Nicaraguan who invited us to go fishing together the next day, we took the bus back to the hostel.

On our third day, in the morning, we walked with Kalle and Sina to a second-hand store (or rather, a second-hand battlefield?). The masses of clothes really overwhelmed us, in one room there were just meters high (not exaggerated) piles of clothes. Except for one room, which was described as a VIP area (a bit less cheap and a bit sorted), it was not air-conditioned at all and just unbelievably hot and stuffy. Paddy wanted to go back to the hostel for a basketball game anyway, but we wouldn't have lasted very long there either way. Despite that, we were very happy with our purchases :) After Paddy watched his game with beers in hand from the pool (=satisfaction level 2000), we walked to a small chocolate museum around the corner at noon. There was no entrance fee here, it was more geared toward visitors buying the homemade products or eating and drinking in the associated café. We really liked the museum, although there were only a few information boards, they were really clear and interestingly designed. We talked to a relatively young employee for quite a while, so we had the pleasure of trying a brownie made with chocolate he made himself for his girlfriend - honestly, the best brownie we've ever had!

To come back to the chicken buses: these are old American school buses that are used as the most common public transportation here. Comfortable is something else (we're just too tall for the seats) and you can only move very slowly, but somehow you have the feeling of really experiencing the lives of the locals, which makes it all very exciting :) there seems to be only partly a timetable, you feel like the buses only leave when they're full. Taking the bus is very affordable here, but you pay for the entire journey, no matter how far you go. Also, it's absolutely normal for people to constantly run through the aisles screaming and selling snacks or other things (from disposable razors to children's toys, there's everything). Once, there were proud 7 vendors in one bus, so there's quite a lot going on. In addition to the driver, there is always at least one person (usually men, sometimes boys) standing at the open door shouting the final destination of the bus into the area. These were things that really shocked us at first but have now somehow become normal.