This was truly an amazing experience. To actually see and hear lava bubbling in a crater! One of 7 such places in the world (The seven known persistent lava lakes are Mount Nyiragongo (DR Congo), Erta Ale (Ethiopia), Mount Erebus (Antarctica), Ambrym and Mount Yasur (Vanuatu), Kilauea (Hawaii) and Masaya (Nicaragua). We are grateful that we got to visit Massaya Nicaragua from that list.
For this adventure, we made Granada our base.
Granada
A colonial town with much character and architecture located between the edge of Lake Nicaragua and the Mombacho Volcano. Nicaragua now being the new Costa Rica, Granada is buzzling with activity and tons of backpackers, plenty of food, drinks and lodging options. Markets here are colourful and interesting.
From Granada its about 1 hour chicken bus ride to the Masaya Volcano National park. You can take any bus from Granada that is going to Managua and ask to be dropped off at either at Masaya Town or at the entrance to the National Park (which is about 20 min bus from the town). Masaya town is also an interesting stop before you go see the monster crater.
At the entrance of the park, you will wait for 2-3 hours to enter. This is because at the crater of Masaya only a limited number of people are allowed at any given time, and they are limited to 10 minute stay. This is due to Sulphur and other toxic gases emitted by the beautiful monster. So you wait and wait, moving slowly to reach the crater. There are day-time and night-time tours (around 15$ PP). You can do the tour on your own, getting there by chicken bus and walking up to the crater. We chose the lazy way and took a tour, they take you right to the crater in a van.
We can now proudly say that we have seen the inside of an Active Volcano!!
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