Stephen and Tania's Trip to Nicaragua: Nandainme and Mombacho

Three days before we head back to the States. These last days have gone by too fast for us to keep track of what we did each day. Since our last blog, we decided to take a trip down to Rivas. I don't know much about Rivas because we never made it there. While traveling south we hit a snag in the town of Nandaime. And when I say snag I mean there was a giant parade marching across the highway. We didn't know what exactly they were celebrating (we never really asked), but there were men, women, ad children dress in huge puffy flamboyantly colored costumes dancing everywhere. They were followed by a marching band and a group of people carrying a couple of religious idols (it looked like St. Anne with the young virgin along with St. Joachim, so possibly the holy virgin and her mother and father). Tons of onlookers came from out of the wood work to watch and/or participate in this thing. So there was absolutely no way to go around it. So we decided to stop, get out and partake in the festivities.

These masks mock/refer to the evil Spaniards that came across the Atlantic and treated the natives like garbage. They are only found in Nicaragua and the locals wear them in celebration.

After the parade we decided to not make the trip to Rivas because it would get too late in the evening on the return trip. So we went to the Mombacho volcano which was just a kilometer or so down the highway. Upon arrival we jumped into a truck (Daniel and I rode in the back while everyone else was inside) and took a steep, and I mean steep climb to the top. The volcano is simply gorgeous. Heaven on earth. Mombacho is covered all kinds of natural fruit along with coffee tree plantations. At the top of the volcano there is a reserve where one can take a hike around the craters. The weather changed from hot to frigid. The top of the volcano literally rests among the clouds. So we trekked around in the rain forest covered in clouds. A once in a lifetime experience...