Ben - August 7, Late Afternoon

August 7, 4:40 PM EST
Continental Airlines airplane
Somewhere along the east coast

Hello from the cozy berth of this Continental Airlines airplane, row 15, seat E. We are on our way back home, schedule to land in Boston at 6:05. I looked at the flight path in the airline magazine and apparently we go from Houston to Boston via the Gulf of Mexico, over Jacksonville, hooking out over the Atlantic and then returning to land over Washington D.C. Maybe it’s just me, but that seems rather indirect. Undoubtedly, the airline has a fine reason for taking such a route. Meanwhile, we are enjoying our nearly four-hour flight.

We checked out of our Granada hotel late yesterday morning and were picked up by a driver that the hotel had contacted for us. We were going to a hotel in Managua right across from the airport, but took a couple detours along the way. We first stopped at two small Nicaraguan towns that had some nice shops and stores for us to poke around in. There were lots of stores selling little things such as jewelry, pottery and other such trinkets. We saw a group of schoolchildren who were out for lunch. They are in the middle of their school year, which I suppose makes sense because even though it is technically summer here, it’s not the hottest part of the year, which is around April and May. The second town, Catarina had a spectacular vantage point that overlooked a gorgeous lake that was sitting in the middle of an old volcanic crater. That is where we would’ve gone if Rachel hadn’t been so sick several days ago. In the distance, I could see the rooftops of Granada, but otherwise, there was a lot of forest and such.

Our next stop was the town/city of Masaya, with around 100,000 residents. They had a very large market selling things like hammocks, clothing, painting and many other things. We walked around there for about an hour and then went to a small restaurant outside for lunch. There we ate and talked with our guide about various things. What I really remember about that was that we were approached by a girl of about 13 or so and a very old woman who were both begging for food and who both seemed mentally ill. I didn’t notice them until the girl suddenly appeared behind Rachel and grabbed her shoulder. In Granada I had seen people sitting on benches and steps asking for money or food as we walked by, which didn’t bother me much, but never had I been approached by anyone begging for food before. That, combined with the fact that I was sitting down and couldn’t just walk away made me feel more than a little uneasy. It took several refusals before the two went away. I watched them walk around to other tables asking for food and as far as I could see, getting refused. I wonder if maybe we should've given them something, or if we did the right thing. Either way, what's done is done. It was probably those two more than anything else that made an impression on me regarding how poor these people were. I certainly won’t forget it anytime soon.

After that, we went to Volcan Masaya, a volcano outside of Masaya. After walking around the introductory area where exhibits talked about volcanoes, we drove up the road to the crater. There were large amounts of sulfur coming out of the opening of the crater, which looked like some endlessly deep death hole. Indeed, when the Spanish came to Volcan Masaya, they declared it the very gates of hell and said that the devil dwelled inside. A priest even put up a cross at the lip of the crater to exorcise the devil. You can still walk up to the spot where the cross was put up and view the crater from there. I didn’t stay up there very long though, because the sulfur was drifting towards the viewing area and it was pretty unpleasant.

After wandering around the edge of the crater for a while, we got back in the car and headed to the hotel in Managua. It certainly enhanced our cultural experience, seeing as we were staying in a Best Western hotel with two pools right across from the airport. We had a nice dinner and swim there before going to sleep and waking up at 4:30 AM so we could get to the airport by 5:00 and catch our 6:50 flight to Houston. Everything was fairly unremarkable, and I passed the time by reading and listening to the Continental Airlines radio, which I found, doesn’t even have enough material for a full flight and simply loops a two hour segment over and over again. Customs and immigration was unexceptional, and we got through easily and quickly. I spent the layover time perusing sports magazines before we got on the plane. It’s now about 5:20 and we’ll be landing in 40 minutes or so. I think this is the last entry in our blog, so thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed our musings. Adios!