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Nicaragua 2005, “Selección Florida”
Volume 4
Day 5, Tuesday, July 12, 2005
By Maggie Vickers, Magic City VBC, Birmingham, AL
After last night’s big win, the team decided we would sleep in and catch up on our rest. We woke up at about nine and started the day with running water! Finally we felt well rested and were ready for food. We loaded up the bus with bags and all, and stopped at a “supermercado” and Tim and three strong-willed girls retrieved our delicious, healthy breakfast. We ate yogurt, granola bars, various fruits, and some good ole OJ.
When everyone was full, we started off our journey to Granada but stopped for a small excursion in a town called Masaya. Little did we know what we were about to experience. After about thirty minutes we arrived at the visitor center and learned about the volcanoes we were about to see. There were interesting exhibits such as lava rocks, mounted animals from around the region, and hand painted murals. After a short historical lesson we again, loaded the bus and headed to the top of the mountain.
There were a few tense moments as our bus struggled to get to the very top. But we immediately unloaded with cameras in hand as we saw our very first exhilarating volcano - a view that is out of this world. This volcano’s claim to fame was during the Spanish conquest, it was baptized La Boca del Inferno (the mouth of Hell). The Spaniards then planted a cross called La Cruzde Bobadilla (named in honor of the Father Francisco Bobadilla). The cross was placed on the crater lip in order to exorcise the devil. This Masaya volcano last erupted in 1772 although still active. Today, as we saw it, this volcano still produces smoke and noxious fumes, as evidenced by the pervading smell of sulfur, and also the burning sensation in the back of your throat.
After one roll of film, we had the opportunity to climb higher to get an even more breathtaking view. After a slightly grueling hike, during which we stopped for many “photo opportunities” (wink wink), we saw a picture that was worth even more than a thousand words. As we enjoyed the cool breeze and the awe-inspiring view, we ran into some school kids that were more than willing to capture some pictures.
On this trip we have had strict time restraints and because we mind so well, we returned on time although the time Nazi, Tim, and his group, had not made there appearance. Shortly after sitting in a bus entertaining ourselves by killing the copious amounts of flies, we received a phone call from Tim explaining they were sidetracked, a.k.a. Jenna took a tumble down the side of the volcano. The rest of the group returned safely, along with Jenna who was covered in volcanic dust. So after a quick laugh and short bath for Jenna, we were off to Granada.
We arrived to the Hotel Alhambra. We were assigned rooms and everyone immediately went straight to the rooms, saw the AC, and ran to test the toilet, shower, and sink for running/ warm water. We had the afternoon off for time to rest and explore the beautiful city of Granada. I wasn’t with the whole group during this time, but my group consisting of Sarah Keaten and Meghan Crumpton made a short stop at the Internet Café and then had a promenade over the square in front of our hotel, which was reminiscent of New Orleans. After looking at the hand made merchandise we were soon accosted by a small child with huge, beautiful eyes. Little did we know we were conned by a three year old child (he earned his cordoba though with his charming looks). The three of us then excitedly hustled back to the hotel for our warm shower awaiting us. Finally after luxuriating in a long shower, we met up the team and ate dinner at a nice Italian restaurant, a short distance from our hotel. Dinner was one of the best we have had since arriving in Nicaragua. A few hours passed, and it was time for bed.
Day 6, Wednesday, July 13, 2005
By Sarah Keaten, University of Montevallo, Birmingham, AL
Our author vs. Masaya
This morning we woke up in our lovely, clean, air-conditioned rooms and headed out to start the day with breakfast. We split up and had the morning meal at a variety of different places, including Cathy’s Waffle House and the hotel café.
After breakfast everyone met back in the hotel lobby to board two separate buses to go on a short tour of the city, followed by a guided tour of the islands of Lake Nicaragua, the second largest lake in Central America. Elvis, the guide for my boat (we took two separate boats), was very talkative and spoke very good English. We laughed and carried on with him for the duration of the one-hour boat ride. The ride itself was very refreshing, with a cool breeze blowing in off the lake. We saw the private islands of some of the most wealthy people in Nicaragua. Elvis stopped both boats off at “Monkey Island” in order for us to feed the monkeys that lived there.
He gave everyone in my boat (whose occupants were Maggie, Megan C, Megan S, Marion, and Britta) pieces of Ritz crackers with cheese in the middle, and asked Maggie to step to the front. She complied, and soon a mama monkey complete with baby on board had leaped onto the boat beside her, nearly scaring the bejesus out of her. The mama monkey then proceeded to make her rounds on the boat, deftly plucking the crackers out of every hand. I managed somehow to snap a really cute picture of Megan with her.
Elvis said that the only way to get a monkey off the boat was to spray it with water, and it worked! She jumped back into the trees and looked very satisfied with herself. On the way back to the dock, we all chatted excitedly about the monkey incident, especially about who’d screamed, who’d gotten good pictures, etc. Elvis laughed so hard when he started talking about the freshwater crocodiles residing in the lake and Megan screamed when a butterfly ran into her face. He also laughed pretty hard when he grabbed my foot (which was hanging off the side of the boat) trying to scare me into thinking a croc had grabbed me, and Maggie screamed instead. All in all, it was a wonderful experience, and everyone had a great time.
After arriving back at the hotel we had a little free time, about four hours’ worth. The girls used this time to nap, grab some lunch, use a nearby internet café, or just wander. We met back in the lobby at 3:30 in order to board the bus and head out for our next adventure. We drove about 30 minutes to reach Masaya’s large open market, which came complete with all manner of interesting souvenirs. We spent approximately an hour and a half in the market, wandering and looking around. After everyone met back on the bus, we headed over to the gym to play our evening match.
The floor in the gym was maroon tile, and was not very much fun to land on. We played only one match against a fairly good team, and everyone got to play (except for those girls incapacitated by recent digestive ailments). We didn’t play very well, and should have blown this team apart very much sooner than we did. We ended up winning in four games, 25-23, 25-19, 15-25, and 26-24, with the fourth game being a very good come-from-behind, nail-biting victory. The other team treated us to sodas after the match, which tasted especially good in the stuffy gym. After saying our good-byes and giving our thanks, we headed off to get dinner at a restaurant Tim called “Tip Top on steroids.” It was very good, but Jennifer had a bad reaction to something and broke out in hives! She didn’t feel very well after that, and we went back to the hotel. Overall it was a great day, possibly one of my favorites thus far.
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