San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua

The highlight of today’s visit to Nicaragua, at least for me, was the Masaya Volcano. Now that was interesting! It is an active volcano, belching out fumes and smoke. You could smell and taste the fumes and actually feel the heat coming out of the crater – quite impressive. You go right up to the ridge and look in – not so sure how smart that is, but defiantly different! You can only stay about 20 minutes because of the fumes. All cars are required to park facing the exit for a quick getaway. Not a reassuring measure. They say as long as it is producing smoke and fumes it is safe. Only on the way home, after the visit, did the tour guide tell us about his tour in 2002 when it spewed out 300 pound rocks and ash – crushing their bus! Well, we survived it and moved on with the tour. One thing I found interesting is it is just 13 miles between the Caribbean Ocean and the Pacific Ocean in Nicaragua. Now my question was – why not put the canal here instead of digging across 50 miles of Panama. Well, apparently I was not the first person to have this “brilliant” thought.  It was proposed in the early 19^th century using mainly existing rivers and lakes. In 1826 the US senate rejected Henry Clay’s bill to do so. It was thought cheaper build in Panama. They are now talking about building a canal here that could accommodate the mega liners and freighters of the future. In fact, even right now, the Panama Canal goes all one direction one day and the opposite direction the next, as ships are already too wide  to past in the locks. Nicaragua also has a “dry canal” on the drawing board which would entail basically removing the container cargo from ships in the Caribbean and taking the cargo by rail, 13 miles to the Pacific Ocean, to be reloaded and moved on by ship. That would save 500 miles (at least 2 days) at sea getting cargo from New York to San Francisco. . Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America and we drove through a lot of the country side. It showed a blend of the terribly poor in the interior that contrasted with the beautiful coastal towns. The average number of kids per family in the country, where farming is the main source of income, is 8.  They say that is necessary to help with the farming and picking. The schools let out for  2 months during the harvesting season so the kids can help pick coffee beans etc. On the tour we also hit a huge market in Masaya. Again, sort of your typical Central American market. We continued on to a monastery in Granada that is now a museum. Like our last stop, San Juan del Sur has just recently become a regular port of call for cruise ships so you aren’t dealing with any crowds - yet. Our group was the only one in the museum.  Jim had actually been here before. During the time of the Contras and Sandinistas conflict back in 1980. One of his parishioners was stranded down here and couldn’t get back to the states. After trying unsuccessfully to get her back through “proper channels” he and her husband just came and got her in a shrimp boat! They never really even came ashore, just grabbed her from the dock and kept going. Today’s visit probably wasn’t quite as exciting.  Now on to San Diego where I can use my cell phone, collect email and shop at Wal-Mart!  I already have a list started.