Laguna Apoyo, Nicaragua

Today we spent the morning organizing our trip down south, we'll leave Masaya on Monday for San Juan del Sur to check out a bit more of the country.  Once we'd found a hostel with availability and sussed out how to get to San Juan we grabbed our togs and set off to explore the crater lake 'Laguna Apoyo' here in Masaya.

As there are only two buses to the laguna per day and we had missed the morning one we took a taxi which cost the four of us C300 or about $US10, not too bad but no where near as good as the C13 (about $.50 cents) that the bus costs.  

We drove for about half an hour out of town and were amazed to see that the paved roads that are all through the town centre reach right out through all of the villages and to the crater lake.  Our bus driver told us that it was a government incentive with the help of foreign aid.

When we arrived at the lagoon there was a lovely soft breeze blowing and small waves on the surface of the lagoon, we quickly jumped in and enjoyed the very warm temperature of the water, some spots being nearly like a warm bath.

The Laguna Apoyo has a surface of 2,110 hectares and is about 100 meters at its deepest point.  The lagoon was declared a natural reserve in 1991.

It was a lovely swim ... 

...   and we got to practice our handstand skills, always important!

It was lovely to see that the locals made good use of lagoon as much as, if not more than, the tourists.

Some fathers were very protective of their little ones ...

Others not so much jeje :)

This uncle was trying to teach his nephews to swim but we had to have a few giggles as the style being taught was something between freestyle and doggie paddle on the top of the water. 

 But regardless of style they were having the best time :)

Then we headed up to the cabañas and enjoyed an amazing lunch of tilapia, fresh from the lagoon along with a nice cold local Toña beer, the perfect end to a lovely afternoon.

Then, along with the tourists, the locals and the vendors who walked up and down the beach with their wares we headed up the hill to catch the bus home.

You've got to love the buses over here - the music played on them matches the wild colours that they're painted.

This bus wasn't packed at all but Chase still looks a little concerned, maybe it was because when the taxis went around the bus they were so close that it seemed like you could reach out and touch them.

Lucky Porl got the wheel hub seat!

And then it was back to the hostel.  

Tomorrow we're visiting the English congregation in Granada so will have to be up bright and early to find the right bus that'll take us there.