Lava

The night was still on when we rose, all sandy-eyed (both literally and figuratively) and yawning at ridiculous o'clock. A long day of driving, boating and driving some more would eventually bring us to Granada. The boat ride across the Golfo de Fonseca, the bay shared by El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, was somewhat wetter than expected: a low boat carrying 16 passengers and their luggage in significantly rougher seas than usual, so the there was splashing from the waves.
The border crossing into Nicaragua was a unique one. Landing on the shore, we disembarked with wet feet and carried our backpacks and suitcases a short bit to an all but abandoned border control. No money exchangers, no little stores to buy bits and bobs, no fuming lines of lorries and cars. Just a rundown toilet, an abandoned barn and a place to stamp the passports.
And so we arrived in Granada, yet another colonial town with cobbled streets, the first in Central America, and the biggest in Nicaragua. And the one with the highest crime rate. But that is not to say that it's not a nice town, because it certainly is.
There are a few things to do in and around Granada, not the least of which is lazily being driven to the summit of a Masaya, a very active volcano. Deep down from the summit, a river of lava can clearly be seen. That, and a few visits to the central station, a recoleta style cemetery, the touristy marked (mind you, I never actually entered, I stayed at the corner for a bao (traditional Nicaraguan dish from yucca) and a beer), a boat trip to Monkey Island and a very nice and relaxing afternoon spent at a crater lake resort constituted a package deal with the best of Granada.
But wait, there's more! Masaya and its river of lava is awesome enough during the day, but at night time it's a different pilsner altogether. The orange glow coming up from the underworld is a spectacular sight to behold, and the splashing and spluttering of the molten rock can be clearly seen. The whole crater is lit by the fiery orange of the lava stream, and it certainly earns its epithet as one of the Gates to Hell. A 30 minute drive to get there, a 45-60 minute wait in the car queue to get up to the volcano and 30 minutes to get back, all for 15 minutes of lava goodness: totally worth it!
Granada had more to offer, though. A city walk took us to places you probably wouldn't find if you just wandered around on your own. A visit to a stylish yet affordable apartment housing in colonial style, a trip to the local market (full of smells and sound and people and an odd avocado) and a community centre. There, juveniles could learn arts and crafts and a trade, for free. The world's largest hammock was there, made from recycled plastic bags, the blenders were powered by bicycles and the bathroom walls were covered with rolls upon rolls of toilet paper.
The walk itself ended with a visit to the chocolate museum, where we got a crash course in the history and makings of chocolate and got to try their theremade flavoured rum. The chocolate and mint was probably the best.
The walking tour had a bonus feature, though: the local guide, though born and bred in Nicaragua, had spent some years in Texas during the war. Therefore we got some groceries from the local market and others from the supermarket and borrowed the hotel kitchen to cook a delicious chili con carne.
That chili lunch marked the end of the Granada stay, and after a bus ride we boarded the ferry to take us over the waves of Lake Nicaragua and its one-of-a-kind freshwater sharks, to the double volcano island of Isla Ometepe.