We arrived at San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua as the sun was rising. This was a tender port so we anchored off-shore and took the ship’s tenders to get to the marina and our bus for the excursion I picked. The excursion was an all-day affair; the active part of it being some five hours while the remaining three were on the bus getting to and from the location where our activities were to take place. In summary, we drove to Lake Nicaragua through Granada and cruised the lake in smaller boats for about an hour before returning to Granada for a walking tour, shopping, and lunch. After lunch we returned to San Juan del Sur and the ship. We got back about 15 minutes late but as it was a Princess excursion the ship’s tender was waiting for us.
The drive took us through a large swath of the Pacific side of Nicaragua. We passed through open land, cultivated land, and small towns. There were many vehicles of various types both on and near the road and the road we were on for most of the drive was a portion of the Pan American Highway. Photo one shows one of the vehicles we saw.
We arrived in and drove through Granada in order to get to the northern tip of Lake Nicaragua and the boats we used for our tour of the 365 islets in the lake. Nicaragua is a land along the rim of fire and contains some 27 volcanos; most inactive but about seven still in various states of activity. A long time ago one of them literally blew its top and the material from the volcano landed in Lake Nicaragua and now comprises the 365 islets we saw today. While we did not see any of the fresh water sharks said to be living in the lake we did see some monkeys, a number of different birds, and much vegetation. Some of the islands are inhabited; a few as resorts but many as private homes. The driver of our little boat lives on one of the islands. Instead of animals or vegetation, for the blog I decided to include photo two below. It shows the attitude of many inhabitants of Nicaragua today. Photo two shows a row-boat with the woman rowing and the man resting in the rear. Don’t shoot the messenger; I just show the photos I took. 🙂
After our round of the islands we got on the bus and went back to Granada for a walking tour. The city has much Spanish influence with narrow streets (see photo three). Our bus had to back up to complete a 90-degree turn at some of the intersections. In addition to our guide and driver there was another person from the tour company who would get out to direct traffic and signal clearance to the driver.
The Cathedral in Granada is having its interior refurbished and updated. We could not get very far into the nave but I did manage to get a few photos of the new frescos being added to the ceiling and one of the altar from the back of the church.
After some free time we stopped at a local hotel for a lunch buffet and when that was finished we got back on the bus to head back to the ship. On the way the driver suggested a stop by the lake where we could see two of the volcanos, the larger of the two being an island in the lake. Photo four shows that stop with the people enjoying Sunday at the beach and the volcanos in the background. Note that the large one appears to be active but the clouds turn out to be a lucky break being right were they can look like smoke from the volcano.
We’re now on our way to two stops in Mexico before arriving in Los Angeles on May 14th.
As to the two stops in Huatulco and La Paz I don’t know if I will have many photos from them. Tonight I canceled the excursions I had planned for both locations. For one, the excursions were not particularly interesting and for another my left knee has been acting up since the Panama Canal for some reason. Sitting is fine but standing from the sitting position is getting painful and it takes some time walking before the pain starts to but never finishes going away. If I do get off at those ports it will be for limited times and generally I’ll be staying in the port area.
Not all bad as I can stay in the air conditioning. 🙂 Today was 90F and humid and I really don’t like that type of weather. But, that’s me. Our guide today told us he needs to keep his body warm and so wore a sweatshirt when in the air-conditioned bus. Everybody’s different.
I’ll add more if/when I have enough to post but please keep in mind that we need to pack a day or so in advance of our leaving so the computer will be packed and I won’t have e-mail access for a couple of days before I return back to UVTO.
