My flight from San Salvador to Managua, the capitol of Nicaragua, was quick and easy. And the driver of the shuttle I booked was waiting for me to whisk me away to my next official stop in Granada. The first thing I notice about Granada is how insanely hot and humid it is. This has to be in the top three hottest and most humid places I’ve ever been on earth. I don’t know if I can do this.

I checked into my hotel and mostly just relaxed the first day. The next morning I gooped on the sunblock and hit the streets. My first stop was the Hospital San Juan de Dios ruins. This place was originally built in 1544 and served the people of this area for over 500 years. As far as I can tell it was destroyed by an earthquake in the 1970’s, but it’s hard to find information on it. I snuck in and explored the inside while the security guard was sitting under a tree playing with his phone. Shhhh!

Down the street is the Polvora Fortress built by the Spanish to defend against pirates in the 1740’s. There’s a military museum inside, though it was closed when I was there.

No colonial city would be complete without it’s historic churches. First up was the Iglesia Xalteva.

All of Granadas churches are more interesting on the outside, but the roof of Iglesia Xalteva was pretty cool.

I also got to climb the bell tower and sneak a peak at the next two stops on my list. Granada sits on the shore of Lago Cocibolca, the largest lake in Central America. You can also see it in the background in the pic below.

Let’s also not forget the local volcano, Mombacho. We’ll meet Mombacho up close and personal in a bit.

Next was Porroquia de la Merced, built in 1534. Unlike most places in this region it was never damaged by any natural disasters. Nope, this one got destroyed by pirates in 1655 and was then rebuilt in the mid 18th century.

The best part of La Merced, however, is the view from it’s bell tower, reportedly the best view in the city. The view of the Catedral on Parque Central with the lake in the background was pretty stellar. And let’s not forget the ever present Volcán Mombacho.

Below is a pic of the street below La Merced. I included it mainly because it shows the checkered sidewalks that line every street here.

The cathedral definitely looks like it’s been freshly painted. It doesn’t look like it in the pics, but the area around the Catedral and Parque Central is where all the action in town is. There are all kinds of food and souvenir vendors, people coming and going, car horns honking, and heat and humidity like hellfire radiating in all directions. I swear I think the soles of my shoes melted a little.

The inside of the cathedral is pretty stark, but I found this painting on the ceiling that looks oddly familiar.

Right next to the cathedral and Parque Central is the Plaza de la Independencia commemorating Nicaraguas independence from Spain in 1821. They also had a second independence day in 1838 from Mexico.

One of the oldest churches in all of Central America is the Convento San Francisco, originally built in 1525. Granada was plagued with pirate raids throughout most of its early history, and so Convento San Francisco was destroyed a couple of times in the 17th century, but a lot of it still remains.

The courtyard was probably the best part. The shade and the breeze blowing through it made it an ideal place to cool off a bit.

Convento San Francisco is also utilized to house the city’s collection of pre-colombian art. Awesome!

After exploring the city I made my way down the pedestrian street lined with restaurants until I reached the shore of Lago Cocibolca for a quick look.

That cathedral seems to pop out around every corner.

Luckily, my hotel has a really nice swimming pool. After all that walking around in this inhumane heat, a dip in that pool really hit the spot. The next day I hopped on a local chicken bus to Volcán Mombacho for a little hiking.

Hiking in this heat may sound ridiculous, but the only way to hike Mombacho is to take their transport to the almost top and then take guided hikes around the craters. Up at the top in that amazing cloud forest, it was nice and cool. It felt so good up there!

Along the way I got to learn a little bit about the plants on Mombacho, and I got to taste test a few as well. This cloud forest is also home to over 200 different orchids, though I only spotted two or three.

This nasty little bugger of a tree below right was hiding in plain sight. It’s thorns are poisonous. My guide said she got stuck by it when she was little and her hand swelled up as big as her head and caused tremendous pain for weeks. No thanks!

Signs that this volcano is still active are all over the place in the form of fumeroles, like the one below. They’re little pockets of heat and steam radiating from the lava below.

Another sign of Mombachos activity is the Dead Forest. The gases coming from the crater are strong enough here that when it rains, the water is so acidic that it killed all the trees. This happened only about five years ago.

Walking through the Dead Forest is quite an experience. The smell of sulphur is very strong and when the breeze blows just right, my eyes burn and tear up.

The views from Mombacho are also incredible! You can see all of Granada and a lot of Lago Cocibolca too from up here.

And stretching out into the lake are Las Isletas. When Mombacho erupted way back in 1570, it created 365 little islands out there. A lot of them are now inhabited.

Well, this post was supposed to have more interesting stuff in it. I had also planned to visit Volcán Masaya nearby which let’s you look directly down into a lava lake. But there was an earthquake a couple of weeks ago which caused some landslides into the crater increasing the risk of explosions, so they closed it. That’s twice now I’ve attempted to see a lava lake and was denied, the first time was in Ethiopia a few years back. I guess I’ll just have to keep waiting. Instead, just look at the absolute chaos of Granadas Market. It’s not a lava lake, but it’s probably just as hot. I had to make my way through that mess a few times between my hotel and where the buses leave.

Since Volcán Masaya isn’t going to cooperate, that’s gonna end my time in Granada. Now it’s time to make my way through that chaotic market and take another chicken bus to my next stop in Nicaragua, which is also probably just as hot. God help me!…