After spending almost two months in Guatemala and Nicaragua you would think we would be all volcanoed out. This was true to a point but when we read about the active volcano Masaya, described be Spaniards as the gate to hell, we were intrigued. I was immediately sold when the travel agent said we didn’t have to hike to the top as it was possible to drive to the crater.
The tour set off from Granada at 3pm and only consisted of ourselves and one other lady. The first stop was a visit to the nearby market town Masaya. This was all well and good but we had seen enough markets selling the same tat so we were ready to skip through it and head to the main attraction.
Arriving at the entrance to the park you drive past miles of volcanic rock fields showing first-hand the dramatic effect on the surrounding lands.
Then we drove to the crater. This wasn’t hard to spot as it had sulphurous gasses pouring out. Thankfully, due to the wind direction being in our favour, we didn’t have to wear masks.
Exploring around the area felt like we had arrived in Mordor. Karl was too quick to point out that I could fit the role of the hobbit. However, without a ring to throw into the depths of the earth we headed up a nearby ridge to watch sunset.
The views were spectacular.
As the sun disappeared the guide handed us flashlights and helmets and ushered us down to some bat caves where literally hundreds of thousands of bats were heading out for their evening dinner. The guide said they estimate approximately 80,000 living in this one cave. In the dark it was hard to make out individual bats as they swarmed past our heads.
We were not the only ones on the lookout for bats as we spotted two hungry snakes lurking around.
We were then led deeper into the caves to see the effect of the lava as it erupted causing these caves to form as the surface lava solidified faster than the molten lava still flowing beneath. What was most impressive was the fact the trees above had managed to dig their roots several meters into the rocks. aptly giving them the nickname ‘Rock Crushers’.
We were told it was unlikely we would see lava at the top but our guide had raised our hopes by saying the past two nights he had seen the glow of the lava which has been particularly rare since 2012. Luck was on our side as we emerged from the cave in the pitch dark to head back to the craters edge. Without a doubt we could see the orange glow of the lava that bubbled just below the surface of our feet.
It really is difficult not to be impressed by these amazing acts of nature.
