The Last Managua

After Kacie made her way to the airport, we made up our minds to move our bikes further south. We started out around 9 and finally visited some of the points of interest in Managua including a huge abandoned church in the downtown core that looks like it is about to fall apart, with huge cracks in the masonry.

 Lago de Managua was nice to finally see up close, though we did not take a swim as it is known to be quite polluted. We started cycling uphill away from the city centre and the lake and, after an hour of uphill a fellow with a pickup stopped and offered us a ride to Masaya. Of course you can't turn down a free ride so we piled our bikes in the back of his truck and up the hill we went. From what we gathered with our poor spanish he was headed to Granada and we had the choice of where we wanted to end up. We took a side trip to Volcano Masay, which was nice because you are not allowed to walk up to the crater because of the sulfer dioxide rising out of the crater. While at the crater you are only allowed to spend five minutes at the edge or you start coughing. They posted signs saying the volcano could start spewing rock and ash any moment and to not to panic. Very reassuring.

Back in the truck we took in the amazing views of the countryside as we got back to the road heading to Masaya. We took a quick stop at the artesian market where we ate a quick lunch before hitting the road again this time taking a detour to the Catarina mirador (viewpoint). We had not been up there yet and and was quickly impressed with the all encompassing view of Lago de Apoyo, Granada, Volcan Mombacho and Lago de Nicaragua.

Had a beer and did some shopping (new dress and shirt because it was pretty and cheap) before moving on, this time to Granada. When our driver asked if we had done the isletas tour and we said yes he became a little angry as (we think) he was very excited to be showing us around Nicaragua as he was touring it with his family. We had to explain that Kacie had come to visit and thats why we had done the area already. This is where we disembarked and biked on to our hostal. Over the course of the day my tire flattened, forcing me to pump it up again...

That night we enjoyed a very nice dinner at a restaurant down the street where we got to witness a bat scampering into his home under the eaves as well as the many geckos circled around the lights awaiting their meal.