The big city

Today our group traveled from San Juan Del Sur to Granada. Granada is easily the biggest city we have been to in Nicaragua and probably one of the bigger cities on this trip so far. on the way to the city, we made a stop at Mumbacho volcano to hike along one of the rims of a crater there. The rim was in a cloud forest, which is a rain forest at higher altitudes so clouds actually float through the forest regularly. It was a really interesting experience walking along a forest trail surrounded by clouds. There was also a section of this hike where we had the opportunity to walk through a fissure in the ground about the width of a man and a half. There is apparently some debate about whether or not this miniature canyon was man made or a seismic fissure.
The other interesting part of this trip was not anything we saw or did, but who we met. Our tour guide for this part of the trip is named Roberto. When he was 17 he was enlisted into the revolution for the Sandinista. He was to serve two years. The first year he actually saw battle and engaged in skirmishes. The second year he started medical training. This was because he had a shoulder injury due to the fact that he weighed around 120 pounds and carrying around 250 pounds worth of stuff for over a year. Because of his quickness in learning the medical skills, he was transferred to a hospital to treat war wounds. He served the remained of his time at the hospital, treating individuals and watching friends die. After the war, he was allowed to study at a university and decided to study in Bulgaria. He lived there for 8 years studying Electrical Engineering. Today, he owns a consulting firm for electrical projects, is a part time tour guide, and is the president of the tour guide's association. He is truly a fascinating individual with a lot to say and an interesting story to tell.

posted below are up-to-date pictures of my time in Nicaragua.

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