Around Granada: Ziplining on Volcan Mombacho, buying cigars, and beautiful Laguna de Apoyo

On our last full day in Nicaragua we went ziplining in Mombacho Volcano Nature Reserve on Volcan Mombacho and then spent an afternoon at the crater lake of Laguna de Apoyo. Both were fun – the latter more than the former – but the thing that stands out most is "Rico," the annoying guide/fixer who we hired to find us a cab to take us to Apoyo and who ended up inviting himself to go with us to the lake. (Note: I apologize for the lack of pictures. I had very bad luck with cameras in Nicaragua, despite bringing not one but TWO cameras. All my shots have been borrowed from my friend Marjorie.)

ANOTHER OLD TRAVEL JOURNAL

The Place: Granada, Mombacho Volcano Nature Reserve, Laguna de Apoyo, Nicaragua
The Dates: March 22, 2009
Journal Date: April 30, 2009

“So we got up early to do some ziplining. I thought there was just one company to do it with, but there are actually two, and unfortunately we picked the safer one. Not only did we have to wear helmets (ugly-ass ones), but we had to hold the zipline a very specific, safe way, so no Supermans for us. I would’ve liked to try the Superman.

It was a thrill when we were actually ziplining, but on the whole too short. The freefall was fun, though, and so neat to see the zarigueya slowly climbing the wire of the zip line. I touched her tail with my glove. She was unafraid of us. I wish I’d seen her babies sooner.

After that…we went to look for a taxi to take us to Laguna de Apoyo and ran into someone I’ll call Rico because I can’t actually recall his name. I’d met him the previous day at the cigar shop and he’d tried to convince me to tour Las Isletas with him, for a wildly inflated price. He convinced us to let him find us a driver to Apoyo and we agreed. When the car was there he said, “Wow, it’s such a great day, I wish I could go with you,” and Marj jokingly said, “Yeah! Let’s go!” Next thing we knew he hopped in the passenger seat and we stared at each other, stunned. He talked nonstop, always about his business ventures and the important people he was doing business with. 

By the time we got to the Granada cemetery for Marj and I to tour, my mood had considerably blackened. Marj and I discussed ways to get rid of him, including pretending she was sick. But she pointed out, practically, that to get rid of Rico meant that we’d lose even more time and money. She was right, so we decided to suffer him, and I’m so glad we did. Laguna de Apoyo was beautiful. It’s this lake in the middle of a volcanic crater, and though we got there fairly late in the day and the sun soon dipped behind the crater, it never got cold.

We used The Monkey Hut’s facilities, and I have to admit that if it weren’t for Rico we wouldn’t have gone there. Instead we had a lovely time playing on the floating dock with young Rafael and a German-Croatian guy who will make a fine father someday.

We headed back and it turned out Rico knew the owner of a cigar shop we had tried to go to earlier except that it was closed. The delightful owner (Silvio Reyes) of Doña Elba’s told us about his cigars – favored by some of the highest-ranking U.S. military officers – and sold me six cigars.

What You Should Know: In Granada, both The Bearded Monkey and Hostel Oasis run shuttles to Laguna de Apoyo; The Bearded Monkey does so on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for $1 each way (we went on a Sunday and hired a driver for $20 round-trip, as he simply waited a few hours for us). Day use of the facilities costs $6. If you can, spend a relaxing night or two in such a beautiful setting; we regretted we didn’t know about it sooner.

Our half-day canopy/ziplining tour on Volcan Mombacho with Mombotour cost $28 each (just the tour, no hiking or views). Many other Granada-based tour companies will use an operator based on the volcano itself (and you can go straight to that company and do it without a Granada tour company, if you can get yourself there).