Volcano Masaya

Today I woke up early to go to Volcano Masaya. I got up around 7ish and packed up my stuff. I went and ate breakfast, finished getting ready, and checked out of the room. At breakfast I chatted with one of the guys, Nuno, that worked at the front desk about stuff to do here. I then waited go to the volcano. A little after 9 a taxi was called to take me to volcano. I thought it would be an actual tour with other people as I could have just hired a taxi myself and paid less but you know what I already paid. The Taxi guy drove me to the volcano and explained stuff to me in Spanish...so I can't tell you what he said...:-). No, just joking. I got most of it but at this point in my trip everything blurs together. I was driven to the museum and signed in, in case i got lost, I think. Walked around the  museum then got driven to another part of the volcano where you can hike and do trails.

I climbed to the top of one part of the volcano and got to take some pictures.
I walked along a trail that wasn't too good and tried to make sure I didn't fall off. At the top I got to see the views of  the lake and the town.

 Afterwards I was driven back to the hostel. I hung out for a bit and charged my phone then I walked around town and saw some sites.

I saw a restaurant that is pretty well known for their smoothies that have big chairs. I was told by Nuno they had big chairs so people can't come and bother you and ask you for money while you eat.

I also went to the artisan market. I couldn't remember which stores I had been to because it is kind of large so I am sure I went to a couple of the stores more than once. It's like a big outdoor market where people have stands. I saw a wallet that I wanted but didn't want to pay the price. I haven't really bought anything on this trip. I have so many thing I really don't need anything. Pictures will be my reminders. I ate and went back to the hostel. I met Nuno again and we ended up chatting again and then he showed me the park. He actually doesn't work at the hostel and is a friend of the owners and was hanging out on vacation. He also wants to start a travel company in Masaya and a smoothie stand in San Juan del Sur when he finishes school which I think is cool. He has a lot of other business ideas as well. I mention this because there are a lot of tour companies in a lot of Central American countries but most of them are foreign owned. So when you pay $20, $30 or whatever, which is a lot in these countries, the guides don't actually make that much. So to me, when I see local businesses, I think it's awesome. So if you are ever in Masaya or San Juan del Sur you should check him out. I then talked with this German guy who I had seen walking up volcano Masaya. I asked him how it was because today had been a very hot day and the hike is at least 7 km from one point. I don't know how much it all is in total but in this heat it would suck. He told me, as I suspected, it was hot and hard. He also got sunburned. While we were chatting we got to be involved in a little marriage dispute. So this younger Nicaraguan woman had married an older American guy. The problem is that she only spoke a little bit of English and he only spoke a little bit of Spanish. So...we got involved because the lady wanted to tell us her story. She told us they had know each other 7 years and he would come back and forth from the US. They had recently married. The issue was that he wanted her to go to the US and she didn't want to. But I don't think that was the whole story since I had overheard some earlier from the guy. Basically, long story short, she didn't want to go to the US because she had no security there and didn't have family there. Also I think (what I gathered from his side) was she was not in the will. She also hadn't changed her last name and wasn't sure if she would have problems when she tried to go to the US. She also said she would change her last name if something was done...I'm not sure if that involved being out in the will or not. All in all a great story! Then I decided I should leave as it was getting late. Maybe 5 ish. So I said goodbye to my new found friends and took a taxi to the bus stop. Now the buses come every 15 or 20 minutes or so to go to Granada but I let a couple go since they were full. And when I say full I mean people hanging out the door on the step. I finally got on a bus and after a bit was able to sit. When I got to Granada I took a taxi to the hostel. After I got settled I checked my email. I met a girl named Adriana that invited me to go out to eat. She is from the US. I think Oregon. I then met 2 people from Austira, Mike and Verena, who were also invited. We met up with some of Adriana's other friends and went to have Pizza. We also got to enjoy some kids playing drums...banging on the drums is a better word and some some strange dancing. At one point it was a bit sexual and I thought it very inappropriate for kids. Then we saw some break dancing. It was really good. Like NYC quality good. Afterwards Adriana, Mike, and I hung out for a bit and then went back to the hostel. Mike and Verena had talked about going to volcano Mombacho and since I had planned to go to we decided to go together the next day.