A Night at the Volcano

Tonight we went to an active volcano at Parque Nacional Volcan Masaya about a half hour's drive outside of Managua. Located at a park which is strictly regulated, we had to wait in a long line of cars for about an hour before the police let us approach the parking area. Apparently they only allow about 15 cars at a time up on the elevated plateau adjacent to the rim of the volcano. This may be a good strategy in case the volcano blows, which it did in 2001, hurling heated rocks 1500 feet into the air. No one was hurt in that instance, but several vehicles were damaged. The entire park is called Masaya but technically there are four volcanic craters in various states of activity. The one we drove up to is called Santiago, named by the Spanish for St. James who lost his head to King Herod in the 1st century AD.

With or without a head, the wait was worth it. Thick smoke billowed orangely in the night sky. After clamoring over some rocks, we reached a low wall ... the only thing separating us from a deep chasm into churning lava. As my Lonely Planet guide book suggests "in a more litigious nation there is no way you would ever be allowed to drive up to the lip of a volcanic cone as volatile as the Santiago crater."

Rafa, our guide, explained that the indigenous people who lived here before the Spanish considered this open crater an entry way to hell and therefore sacrificed people to it as appeasement to the gods. 

Later, when the Spanish arrived and began their campaign of conversion, they erected a large cross on the highest plateau above the crater's rim. Apparently the cross has been maintained in that same position for the last 500 years, a monument to religious tenacity if nothing else.

Since I did not take video while we were there, I did go out onto the internet to grab this video which shows the dramatic colors and sights of Santiago.