At 8:00am on Sunday, January 22nd, the Pacific Princess dropped anchor in the bay at San Juan Del Sur. This is a very beautiful location with both fishing and hotels for tourist from all over the world. San Juan Del Sur has long been known as the gateway to Nicaragua’s natural and historic wonders.
Again today, we elected for a full day of touring in Nicaragua. We boarded our bus for a 2 hour ride across the countryside heading to the Masaya Market. The terrain varied along the route. We passed plantations with bananas, papaya, cashews, and palm oil production. Also, to our surprise we saw plenty of rice fields with flags of China, Korea, and Indonesia flying around them. We can only assume that these are the countries assisting them in rice production. En route to Masaya, we made a stop at Lake Nicaragua. Across the lake was Mombacho Volcano which is one of many active volcanoes in the country.
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| Carrying Her Groceries From The Store |
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| Local Tricycle Taxis |
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| Lake Nicaragua With Volcano In Background |
We arrived in the magical city of Masaya and spent some time shopping in the Masaya Market. Just outside the market we ran into a girl selling roasted cashews. Of course we had to buy and bag of them---really tasty! Cindy picked up some wooden items which Nicaragua is noted for producing.
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| Masaya Market |
After some shopping, we continued our journey to Masaya Volcano National Park. It is the home of two towering volcanoes. The crater in the Masaya Volcano is steaming and emitting gases. You are able to climb a high hill overlooking the crater and look down into the bottom of the volcano.
Then it was on to lunch at the El Filete Steak House. We were able to have traditional Nicaraguan food which included chicken medallions, sea bass, rice, beans papaya, plantains, and mango.
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| El Filete Steak House |
To top the day off, we then drove to the picturesque colonial city of Granada. It is located in the shadow of the towering Mombacho Volcano. We strolled through the Parque Central and watched local musicians and dancers perform. Continuing our walk through the city, we had a guided tour of the Convent of San Francisco which is now a museum housing a collection of pre-Columbian statues unearthed on local volcanic islands.
We ended the day with a 1 ½ hour drive through many small villages on our way back to the ship. Back on board by 5:30pm, the Pacific Princess sailed out of the bay heading for San Diego, California.
