Day 9: San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

This morning we dropped anchor off the port of San Juan del Sur. It is overcast and promises not to be quite so hot a day (I’m noticing a welcome trend as we move north along the coast). Before we can disembark to awaiting tender ships (actually our lifeboats - nice to practice in case the real thing ever becomes necessary!), a team of immigration officers from Nicaragua board our vessel. Ten random people are pulled out of line from the Horizon Court buffet and are asked to submit to some questioning (Have you had a fever recently? Have you been coughing? Etc.) All are deemed to have passed the test and we are now allowed to go ashore in San Juan del Sur.

Last night we received this information with regard to the tendering procedure: “For today’s call in San Juan del Sur, our tenders berth at a very narrow floating pontoon with some steep steps. Due to the size of the pontoon, no assistance is available to our passengers and therefore all passengers going ashore today need to be able to walk unaided (there is no room for wheelchairs and not wide enough for walking frames) along a narrow, moving pontoon and negotiate approximately 8 very steep steps.” Nice of them to mention this AFTER they’ve sold us our tickets for excursions and the deadline has passed for opting out!

Despite the dire warning, this is nothing like tendering from the Amsterdam in Sitka (those who were there with me may recall how much fun that was in the whipping (COLD) wind!) and soon we are aboard our lovely, air-conditioned bus and begin our travels in Nicaragua. The port city offers little to see so we are heading out to Masaya, known as the birthplace of this country’s artisans The Market is a large place that resembles a fort from the outside but once inside has numerous booths and stalls where they offer everything from leather goods to wood carvings to ceramics to toilet paper for sale (yeah, you’ll probably want some of that later on!) - priced between US$1-3 (depending on whether or not the supervisor is there). In addition, they offer various bottles of Nicaraguan rum (well of course we’re bringing some back!).

Our guide, Enrique, tells us that this is an absolutely safe place to shop but…we will be approached by young children - some will just be asking for a handout but others will have things to sell. He tells us not to give into the temptation of giving money to these children (unless we want to buy something from them like a pack of gum or a bag of roasted cashews) because if the parents feel that they are more successful at earning money this way they will hold them out of school completely. Nicaragua has no compulsory education system - those that want to go to school go either from 7-11 am or from 1-5 pm. Everyone goes home at lunch time.

After our shopping stop we head off to see the Masaya Volcano National Park (the first national park in Nicaragua - their “rangers” wear shirts similar to ours but instead of guiding you or providing information, they sell t-shirts from a table set up near the crater’s rim) and see the Santiago Volcano - one of 27 volcanoes in Nicaragua. This one has been active for the past 46 years but they take no chances here and all vehicles are instructed to park facing the exit (in case a hasty retreat becomes necessary). There is a large cross positioned above the crater. Apparently this volcano was thought to be possessed and so it also boasts that it is the ONLY volcano to have been exorcised by the church.



Then it is off to visit “The Filette” (a traditional Nicaraguan steakhouse) for a typical Nicaraguan meal (rice & beans, a very small salad, and we sample three of their native dishes: fish, chicken and beef, and of course fresh fruit). Our beverage choice was either bottle of water or a can of pop (7-Up or Pepsi? There are signs everywhere for Coca Cola, however, I've yet to see anyone drinking that. And the Pepsi here in Central America is from a different recipe than what we have at home - it is most definitely not as sweet here). The food was simple, yet delicious (in fact much better than what we would have enjoyed at the Horizon Court buffet had we remained on the ship). It was curious though to be greeted by the wait staff all wearing face masks as if we were going to infect them.

After lunch we head to our final stop of this excursion: the colonial town of Granada, the oldest European-founded city in Central America (1542). Though only one building remains from that time (a monastery that now serves as a historical museum), many of the other structures are nearly as old and beautifully maintained.

I'm not sure that after a week on the ship a "virtual" breakfast would do it for me!

The Swine Flu outbreak has been actually good news for Nicaragua. 45% of their population is unemployed and even the more successfully employed people (like police officers, teachers, etc.) make only about $200/month here. With ships no longer able to make port in Mexico, they are now coming farther south. We were to be one of the last ships for this season, however, they will have another cruise ship tomorrow and Sunday as well. Nicaragua is too poor to even have buses for our excursions and so the ones we rode in today, we probably rode in yesterday in Costa Rica as they were driven up here during the night.

As we head for "home" we can see Lake Nicaragua. This lake has two volcanoes in the center. There are 40,000 inhabitants of the volcanic island and they are surrounded by a lake full of freshwater sharks. It's pretty safe to say that in the event one of these volcanoes goes off they will not be swimming ashore. There is a lake inside the crater of one of the volcanoes and it is thought to be particularly lucky for someone to be able to say they swam in the lake, in the crater of the volcano, in the largest lake of Nicaragua!

We have a long bus ride back to the port so that we can get there in time. The Captain promised that he would “weigh” anchor (where does that term come from?) promptly after the last tender at 3 pm has returned to the ship and been repositioned aboard. Naturally there are still shoppers ashore well past this time and we don’t get to leave Nicaragua until well after 4 pm. We will be speeding thru the night to reach Guatemala in time tomorrow morning.

Terri’s Travel Tip: If you are thinking you might like to do something in the future (like a cruise!), don’t put off those plans indefinitely. We met a "young" woman (late 30’s - early 40’s…doesn’t that perspective change as you age!) who tragically lost her husband 2 ½ years ago. It’s taken her some time to get used to that idea (certainly she thought they would have much more time together) but she is forging ahead and doing things and just plain seeing where life will take her. I guess the moral here is you never know how much time you’re going to have together but I can pretty much guarantee you that however much it is, it will never be enough!

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