Laguna de Apoyo

The Laguna

Laguna de Apoyo is a nature reserve centered around a lake in the center of the Apoyo Volcano. It's only about 45 minutes from Managua, so I decided to go for the day and see what it's all about. It was pretty simple to get there, I took a microbus from Carretera Masaya which is close to my house and it cost about C30 ($1.40) for the ride down there. They dropped me off at the entrance to the laguna, which is where I decided to make the journey a lot more difficult than it needed to be. For some reason I decided that walking the rest of the way to the laguna would be better than paying the $5 for a taxi to take me down there. In theory it was a good plan, and was pretty enjoyable for the first 30 minutes but after that the monotonous road got pretty old and the humidity just doesn't quit here. 

45+ minutes of this...

But it was still nice to be walking outside of the city where it was nice and quiet and green. I eventually got to the public beach entrance. 

But I continued on to Monkey Hut, one of the hostels located on the lake that I'd researched beforehand. Most of them offer day use options, so I paid $6 to use their hammocks, bathrooms, kayaks  etc. for the day as well as have access to the bar/restaurant there. The place was really nice and the water was awesome! It's kind of in the middle between fresh water and salt water, and was so much warmer than the lakes I'm used to in Washington. Since I went by myself I passed most of the time floating in an inner tube, or reading in a hammock. Pretty relaxing stuff. 

The hostel property

My friend Victoria

On the way home I caught a bus back to the carretera instead of walking, plus it was absolutely adorable to see families on the bus with sleepy kids that had spent the day at the lake. I caught the next microbus heading back toward Managua and got home by late afternoon. I've never been one to travel solo, so it was cool to realize I'm capable of figuring out transportation and plans on my own, in Spanish none the less. However I definitely would have enjoyed it more with my friends. I know my friends from home would have a blast swimming and hanging out all day at the beautiful lake.

-Kayla Duskin