Volcano!

We have had a rather interesting past few days. Last week we started to clean up, paint, and set up a stall at a fair for Suni. This fair is held for 10 days every year, and any business can sell products there without tax (this is important as the tax in Nicaragua is 15%). It is a very large event drawing people from all of Central America, and includes all manner of prize animals, solar voltaic systems, even mattess companies. It is set to start on Friday, and there is supposed to be a rather exquisite opening ceremony which we will attend if time permits.

One odd experience we had was disposing of a bunch of scrap wood left in the stall. We first piled the larger pieces into a pickup, and then drove through a nearby poor neighborhood, and dumped it in the street when we found locals that wanted it for firewood. It would be the equivalent of dumping a trash bag in the middle of Akron.

The second load was wood scraps not worth burning, so we took it to the nearby Managua solid waste district. The dump was a rather sad place, as there were hundreds of people sorting through the trash, looking for scraps of metal to salvage and sell. It was very sad to see.

On a brighter note, we went to Masaya Volcano National Park this past Saturday. There are 4 main craters clustered together, 2 active and 2 dormant, along with other smaller volcanic features.

You can see some pictures from one of the active craters which is constantly smoking.

The second active crater is directly behind the other, but does not smoke.

We were able to completely hike around the dormant crater, which now has a forest inside of it. There were park rangers along the edge to guide people, and it provided a great view. At one point you are literally on a 4 ft wide trail between the 2 dormant craters, with an excellent view into both. The whole park was very interesting and well maintained, with an informative visitor's center at the base of the mountain.

All of the craters in this part of Nicaragua are shield type volcanoes, meaning that they are not overly tall, and tend to have large lava flows rather than violent explosions with more gas than lava (though these types exist here too off of the northwestern coast)

That's all for now and 21 days left!