A Good Friday Indeed

Yesterday we were in the beautiful port of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. Bill & I, along with Frank & Connie had signed up for a hike at the Mombacho volcano, one of many volcanoes in this area. We boarded the bus shortly after 7:30 and were amazed at how many people were already enjoying the beach at that time of the morning.Not far into the drive our bus pulled over because the driver spotted a tree with 12 howler monkeys lounging among the branches. It was a thrill to see them out in the wild, even if they were only sleeping! Trust me, those dark spots in the tree really are the monkeys. (I know, Heather just as you've been telling us, we need to get a better camera!)We reached the base of the volcano and were transferred to 4-wheel-drive vehicles for the last bit of ascent, including a steep (45 degree slope) winding drive up to the Mombacho Nature Preserve, where our hike was to begin. We enjoyed the sights as we drove through rural areas on the way up to the rim.In the next photo, you can see how close the cattle were to our SUV; if my arms were a little longer, I could have reached out and touched them! (Note the car's side mirror.)

Once we reached our destination, we hiked on a beautiful well-cleared one mile trail through the thick forest around one of Mombacho's four craters.When we reached the top of the rim, we were rewarded with an expansive view into the caldera.

After the hike we stopped at a coffee plantation then reboarded our bus for a lunch stop in the colonial town of Granada, site of the oldest European settlement in the Americas. We enjoyed a nice lunch in the tropical setting of an outdoor verandah where we were entertained by local folk dancers and singers.

Our tour was running late, but on the way back to the port the driver pulled over so that we could take photos of the Concepcion volcano, which is in the middle of Lake Nicaragua and is one of the few perfect cones in the world --- the most famous of which is Mt. Fuji in Japan.

Our excursion ended with a unique aspect. As I mentioned, our tour was running late and we had been told that the last tender of the day would leave shore at 3:00. Well, that's about the time we were snapping photos of Concepcion, but we weren't worried because we were on a Princess tour and knew the ship wouldn't leave without us. Well, for the first time for us, we were on the very last tender back to the ship. After the last person in our group boarded the tender, the security crew disassembled their gear and loaded it onto the tender and then departed with us for the Star Princess. Our ship's departure from San Juan del Sur was about 30 minutes late, but I'm sure we'll have no trouble making up that time before our next port, Acapulco.