Granada and Mombacho volcano

A quick stop in Granada, another typical Central American colonial town on the banks of Lake Nicaragua with a group of 346 volcanic islands formed in the 1500’s, when volcano Mombacho erupted spewing out enormous rocks, forming the islands. 

Just one night in Granada before heading off to the Mombacho volcano, unique for its biodiverse ecosystems, from dense jungle to petrified trees. We were lucky enough to stay in a Lodge halfway up the volcano, amongst the dense jungle and boy-oh-boy, to say that there were more dangerous critters than we’d ever seen in our lives was an understatement! The lodge had an enormously high viewing platform, to which you had to climb about 100 steps up a rickety-staircase. We also went on a night tour through the jungle where we saw venomous snakes, spiders and scorpions as well as a little sloth hiding in the trees. For dinner we were able to sample the local delicacy of spider-water!!! 

We got up early, and hiked to the top of Mombacho, which was quite a steep hike to say the least. At the top, we were amongst a huge cloud forest, with views into the surprisingly lush crater with dense jungle on one-side and on the other, trees that appear to be dead from the sulphuric gases constantly ‘poofing’ from the volcano, leaving the area massively at risk of landslides.