Volcano's and Lagoon's

Whilst staying in Grenada a number of activities were available to us. Having spent the last couple of days sat on buses (and speedboats) I was more than ready for a little exercise (and so were some of the rest of the group). As such on our first day in Grenada a select few of us headed to one of the many volcano's in the area to trek round the perimeter of the now dormant cone.

The volcano was so steep that to get up to the summit to begin the trek we had to take what can only be described as an ex-military four by four.

The volcano taxi


The journey up


We first trekked round the perimeter of one of the smaller, also dormant, craters with some amazing views.

The crater


Next we set off with our guides on the 4hr hike round the larger more prominent cone. It was a relatively hard slog with a lot of steep up hill (and consequently downhill) sections.

The views were very rewarding until the dreaded cloud enveloped us.

Steep up hills


And down hills too

The reward for our efforts

It was a strenuous yet rewarding day, however I'm pleased to say our chosen activity for the following day was far more relaxing. Our guide, Maria, told us about another extinct volcano nearby whose crater was now filled with water and had a number of low key resorts dotted around the resultant lagoon. One such resort had a nice pool, sunbeds and little 'beach' which we could use whilst also having lunch there.

We all jumped at the chance of a nice relaxing day in the sun, especially once we found out our chosen form of transport for the day would be an open backed truck.

The taxi transport

The view en route

We were indeed treated to a relaxing afternoon of sunbathing, swimming and a spot of pool volleyball. Check the photo of the big Swede about to spike us to victory.

A very relaxing affair

Pool volleyball

Victory to Sweden

It was indeed a nice relaxing way to spend the afternoon, especially knowing we had another long day of travel ahead of us. The next day we were again to be up and out early inorder to get to the island of Ometepe in the middle of Lake Nicaragua.