Day 4 (02/22)- El Salvador--> Nicaragua

At 1.30am a taxi pulls up to take us to the bus stop. We get there but it is locked. The driver meanwhile gets out to take the luggage. I point out to him that it’s locked and tell him to take us to the other stop. He takes us, along the way tripling the fare on the pretext that he is now traveling all the way across town. In 10 minutes we arrive at the area Juan was nervous to be in in the daylight! The man with the huge rifle is there, I ask him about the bus, then walk in and ask the lone passenger sitting there. Nervous, we pay the driver and settle down to wait. Lots more passengers show up in time, including an old man who tries to chat me up (B snaps at me to shut up!), a couple of young Salvadorian women with no luggage, and some completely tanned European backpacker chicks. When it is time to board the bus, the front door is locked and the man with the rifle moves to the back entrance where we board. I am a little freaked out by this level of security. We pull out and pass by some good-looking hookers who I am convinced could have made a fortune on the streets of Hollywood. In twenty minutes we pull up at the first bus stop, which is now open and bustling. The rest of the trip is uneventful. By 11.30am we reach Managua, Nicaragua and get our tickets for the next leg. The driver from the hotel El Maltese in Granada is not there yet, so I make a local call to the hotel. He shows up a little later, his name is Sr. Don Rigoberto. En route he points out Masaya Volcano and Mombacho Volcano. We ask him what local dish we should try and he suggests Gallo Pinto, which he describes as a mixture of rice and beans. We check-in and take a walk into the small colonial town of Granada. On the way we pass a sign for night tours to Masaya Volcano, and decide on the spur of the moment to do it. Thus what was supposed to be a relaxing day turns into a rushed affair. We run to Parque Central, snap a few shots, then stop at a restaurant for some Gallo Pinto. It turns out to be a mixture of rice and beans, but so much tastier than that description implies! We change into sneakers and head out to Masaya, where we climb to the top of a hill overlooking the major active crater Nindiri, and peer down into the smoke. We walk to a dormant volcano in the complex, and then trek down into volcanic caves full of stalactites. This proves quite an adventure, as we are surrounded by shy fruit bats. We come to a temple in the middle of one of the caves, the spot at which the subjects for human sacrifice were chosen. Our guide, a sweet Nicaraguan girl with a strong accent, tells us the volcano is like a cemetery. As usual, the chief victims were beautiful virgins and children! We walk to another cave but the weather is too harsh to attempt the descent. The guide kindly offers to take four cameras in and snap bat pictures, and lo and behold, ours is the lucky camera that gets the best pictures! It is very dark at this point, so we walk back to the crater to attempt to see the glow from down below, but are unsuccessful. Meanwhile, the sulfurous gases are choking us, and the group is overcome with a long bout of coughing. We are dropped back at the hotel but the restaurant is closed. No dinner tonight, just beer.