February 12, 2007 by sacuanjoche.

By VICKI SMITH - The Associated Press 

At the lip of the crater, cars must face outward.

Rangers at Masaya Volcano National Park make sure every driver complies: If one of the most active volcanoes in Central America starts coughing up ash and rock, you’d better be able to get away fast.

Once worshipped by indigenous people who sacrificed virgins and animals to the gods, the volcano 10 miles south of Managua is one of Nicaragua’s most popular tourist attractions. A plume of sulfur dioxide visible from space spews from concentric holes in the earth, burning the throat and lungs.

The only protection is a waist-high stone wall that in some spots has crumbled into what 16th century Spanish conquerors called “the mouth of hell.” Rock slides have shut down other lookouts, including a staircase to the Cross of Bobadilla, a replica of one meant to exorcise the devil.

But that’s just the way Nicaragua is - a little rough around the edges.

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LIKE SANDINISTAS THROUGH THE HOURGLASS

If you can’t deal with cold showers, bad roads and plenty of bugs and reptiles, don’t go. But if you like to zip through the forest above the earth, surf big waves and wake to the roar of howler monkeys, go now - before tourism can ruin it.

Most people asked one thing when they heard I was spending Christmas in Nicaragua: Isn’t it dangerous?

Seems all anyone knows about the place is that in the mid-1980s, the United States secretly decided to help a group of insurgents bent on overthrowin President Daniel Ortega. The discovery that President Reagan’s administration sold weapons to Iran and used the cash to support the Contras became a political scandal that made a TV star of Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, now a commentator for Fox News.

Fast forward two decades, and Ortega and the Sandinista National Liberation Front are back in power. Campaign signs are still firmly plastered along the Pan-American Highway, the red-and-black flags flying.

Some developers are concerned about Ortega’s return, but others say his administration has already sought to calm their nerves, assuring them he realizes his country can’t prosper without foreign investment.

And Nicaragua in general - and the beach town of San Juan del Sur in particular - have become immensely popular among American retirees and those searching for cheap vacation homes. It doesn’t have the same level of gang activity that Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala struggle with, and it is much cheaper than Belize and neighboring Costa Rica.

But Nicaragua is one of the poorest nations in the western hemisphere. Here, a dollar still goes a long way.

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FROM VILLA TO TOWN

Our journey to San Juan del Sur began with one of the few daily flights to Managua, then continued with a three-hour drive over narrow mountain roads.

We reached our hilltop villa just before sunset and were greeted with hugs from the staff as golden light poured in through floor-to-ceiling glass doors that remained open day and night. At first, it seemed odd there were no dressers or closets. Later, we realized they would have created hiding places for scorpions.

We dined in town, at a nearly empty beachside bar, then returned exhausted to the villa. There was a TV upstairs, but no one turned it on. Instead, we watched geckos scurry across the ceiling eating bugs.

We were asleep by 9 p.m. and awake before dawn, roused by a bizarre symphony - the faraway, lion-like roar of a howler monkey punctuated by the occasional crow of a rooster.

We discovered Bar Vivian and its two breakfast options. One was a platter of eggs, rice and beans, sweet fried plantains and a hunk of cheese, the other a heaping plate of pineapple, cantaloupe, watermelon, banana and papaya. With coffee, bottled water and tip, it cost about $5 apiece.

We shopped at a corner market to fill our refrigerator with wine and snacks. We bought milk and cereal and bug spray. On the street, a boy haggled with me over the price of cashews, demanding $1.50 for each little plastic sack.

“That’s too expensive,” I tell him in Spanish. He answers me in English, “But it’s a lot of work for me.”

He makes me laugh, so I hand over three singles for two bags and wish him “Feliz Navidad.” The smile on his face is worth every penny.

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THE ZIP FILES

Life slows down with every hour, our days revolving around sightseeing and food.

At El Timon, we feast on lobster ceviche, red snapper cooked whole, jalapeno steak and plates of pasta with seafood, garlic and oil. We toss back the local brew, Tona, until our bellies are ready to burst. It costs about $15 apiece.

We discover burgers at the Iguana, staffed by a fellow gringo, a Texan named Henry Roy. Children sell handpainted clay whistles in the shapes of turtles and toucans at our table.

We spend an afternoon at Playa del Coco, a wide, flat stretch of gray sand with crashing waves, and we stop by Playa Madera, where surfers and sunbathers loll among huge rocks.

Our guidebook suggests a day trip to the National Handicraft Market in Masaya, where teenage boys translate, carry bags and help convert cordobas to dollars. They practice their English and earn tips as we shop for leather belts, brilliant paintings, pottery and jewelry.

There is a pecking order among the boys and my assistant, Miguel, is clearly the senior man. He is going to college soon, he tells me. The money will help pay his tuition. So afterward, we pay him extra to lead us to a dusty back yard where five men craft beautiful handmade guitars for Sergio Zepeda.

With hand tools and a single palm sander, they can turn mahogany into music for $100.

But we save our best adventure for last.

Da Flying Frog is a zip-line canopy tour in the hills above San Juan del Sur, with 15 platforms and runs that grow progressively longer and higher.

On the longest, one of the guides yanks the line up and down so you bounce as you dangle in midair.

It’s scary and exhilarating, and by the end of the run, my cheeks hurt from smiling.

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See a video clip of Vicki Smith on Da Flying Frog zip-line here: http://tinyurl.com/3xavu6

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asap contributor Vicki Smith is an Associated Press correspondent based in Morgantown, W.Va.

http://www.centredaily.com/220/story/12740.html

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