Laguna de Apoyo

Today we all decided to check out this place called Laguna de Apoyo. It is a crater lake that is surrounded by mountains, and is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. It reminded me a lot of Lake Como in Northern Italy (clear water, surrounded by mountains). We were slightly apprehensive about going at first because the Bearded Monkey had a sign up sheet to go to their sister hostel there (the Monkey Hut) and it cost five dollars for the bus ride and then you had to pay six dollars just to get into their facilities, and that was not including food. We really did not want to pay that much money. We talked to a guy at breakfast the day before, and he told us that you can take a chicken bus to Masaya and from there you can take another bus to the lake. So we decided on that since the chicken buses are always cheap. It cost us no more than two dollars to get there, and the last bus stop was at a local/public spot on the lake, so we did not have to pay to get in. Once we got there we swam around for a bit, enjoyed the sun, swam some more, talked, lounged in the hammocks, and chilled some more.

Cody, Anna, Erika, Jo, Staci, and Me

Cody, Erika, and Jo

We hung out for a couple more hours and then grabbed something to eat at one of the restaurants on the lake; it was a little more expensive than what we were use to paying (it cost about 6 dollars instead of 3-4 dollars) but we figured it was worth it for the hammocks and the view we had.

The newly engaged couple enjoying some hammock time!

The view from my hammock while waiting for some dinner, che bello huh!?

After we ate, we laid in the hammock for a bit longer, and then decided to go back before the market at Masaya closed. Masaya has a large market and is known for their hammocks, or so the book says. We got there and looked around for a bit, and realized that the market was huge, they had everything there from food, machetes, hammocks, to just about everything else. Staci decided to ask a woman there if she could direct her to where to "colorful bags and hammocks were", as soon as she smiled I knew that she would want something in return, so Cody, Erika, Anna, and I kind of slinked back and made our own way through the market. When we saw Jo and Staci again sure enough the old lady was following them around because she wanted them to buy something from her when they were down and she wanted to make sure that they came back to her stand when they were done. They finally convinced her that they would come back so she would leave.

We all got our hammocks and began to make our way back to back to the bus station to go back to Granada. Once back at the Bearded Monkey, we all showered and chilled out for a bit. Once Jo finished packing (she was leaving for England the next day), we all went to this pizza place that was pretty cheap and had fantastic meal to end the day.