Granada

The hotel was amazing - probably one of the nicest of the whole trip - when we walked in everyone was convinced we had the wrong hotel - they even brought us a free welcome drink. It had dining tables outside looking out to the main square, an indoor pool and an internet and call centre.

After all the travelling we decided to have a group night out in "El Club".

Next day we booked a guide to take us on a Volcano tour (Mombacho). When we got to the bottom of the volcano it started to rain. Fortunately we didn't have to climb the Volcano as there were special 4 wheel drive vehicles to get us to the top. The rain eased a bit and we did a walk around the volcano crater. The guide was a really nice Guatemalan lady - but she just would not stop talking. At first she was really interesting but then your brain just switched off.

The Volcanoe itself was OK - there was steam coming from holes in the ground but it was nowhere near as impressive as the one had been in Antigua.

We had hoped for spectacular views out over lake Nicaragua and the Isletas but the rain clouds put a stop to that, however there was a brief break in the clouds and we all started snapping away.

Although the guide had said she liked to sing we all got a shock when she jumped up on a bench and started singing at the top of her voice to us - we just smiled at the other visitors who got quite a fright!

Well after more history we caught the 4x4s partway back down the volcano. Some people were going to do the zip-lining (Sliding along steel cables between platforms up in the tree top canopy) - although I had been told it was better in Costa Rica I decided to give it a go. It was absolutely fantastic - we even stopped under a tree where there were Howler Monkeys. I got the chance to do one of the lines superman style with my legs out behind me and my arms out in front - quality.

We left the volcano and the guide took us up to a great view point to see a crater lake (Laguna de Apoyo). We then drove up and around the lake on the edge of the crater - the views and sunset were amazing. From the top you could see another volcano at Masaya and out over lake Nicaragua as the cloud had completely cleared, we could also see back to the Mombacho volcano we had just been up. Took loads of shots but here is a couple of my favs:

The guide took us back to Granada and after even more history - she left us with another song - this time the national anthem under the flag pole in the main square.

We didn't move far from the hotel that night and had dinner on the patio at the hotel overlooking the square.

We chatted with some of the American lads when we got back and found out that when they had been having breakfast they had started to talk to a good looking Nicaraguan girl and a bloke who they had presumed was her older boyfriend. As it turns out the older guy was a music video director and the girl was there to do a shoot - however the male lead had not turned up so they had asked one of the lads (Matt) if he wanted to step in. The boys had been off to various locations around the lake and had loads of photos and video to show of the shoot.

Next day was spent looking around the city a bit more and generally exploring - we went to see the oldest house in Granada which turned out to be an antique shop and Starbucks style coffee shop. Also got myself a haircut at a proper cut throat razor barbers which was dirt cheap. It was a nice town just to stroll around - such a contrast from most of our stops in Honduras.