Semana Santa Part 1 - Nicaragua

We just returned from a week long trip in Nicaragua.  We had intended on only spending about 4 days there, then returning to Honduras for the remainder of our vacation to visit different places here, but we were having such a great time, we decided to stay.  Not all of the trip was great, however.  Both Chuck and E lost their driver's licenses ("lost" meaning the Nicaraguan Police removed the licenses from their hands) and we collectively shelled out too many cordobas to the roadside cops who stopped us way too often.  More on that story later.

These pictures show only half of the trip, as our traveling buddies have the other half in their camera.   Here are some of the highlights from our camera:

       

Laguna de Apoyo, between the cities of Managua and Granada.

This was taken on night 3 at a restaurant in Poneloya.  

After this night, things went down hill, intestinally speaking, for all of us.

Abuela's, Laguna de Apoyo

Abuela made the rounds to all the guests at her restaurant 

and she particularly loved the table with the Spanish speaking gringuitos.

Smart gecko eating dinner.

Just north of Masaya is an active volcano.  We are standing at the edge of the caldera.  We had to park our car facing toward the exit and we were warned to stay near the caldera for only 20 minutes.

Standing above the caldera.  See the cars parked below and the stone wall?
We are standing near that stone wall in the picture just above.

Sleep writing.