WE DOVE IN A VOLCANIC CRATER/ A VERY NICA DAY

Today Erika and I went for our first dives in Nicaragua in Laguna de Apoyo! Just to get an idea of what typical life in Nicaragua is like, I think it's best to describe our day today - because it was VERY Nica. So I received an email last week from some guy that works at the biological station telling us to meet him at 8:30. I emailed him back for directions - no response. So we woke up this morning and got ready and walked to the bank to get money. There was a huge line at the ATM and, who would've guessed...no cordobas left in the machine (very Nica). After we found another bank, we tried to find a taxi driver who knew where the biological station was (wandering around aimlessly getting nowhere = very Nica). The second one we asked said he would find it, the first guy drove away from us after he decided we were too much trouble to deal with. So by now it's 8:30 and we're still in Granada and hungry, so we decide to stop at the gas station to pick up snacks and be pretty late to go diving...very Nica style. So we get to the place by 8:55, pretty quick and sit down with the guy who it still eating breakfast and hands us some odd handpicked fruit he has never tried before. So after talking and relaxing and waiting for other divers we find ourselves not beginning our first dive until 11:30. We thought we were picking up Nica style, but we were taught a lesson on what Nica late REALLY is. Our dives were pretty awesome. Laguna de Apoyo is an extinct volcano crater that is now filled in with a hot spring. It is about 23,000 years old, so quite new, and all of the species in the lake, except for the introduced Tilapia, are endemic to Laguna de Apoyo, Lake Nicaragua, and Lake Managua. All of the fish are related to Blue Gills and have some how migrated down to central America from the Great Lakes region. We even got to see a couple species of fish that have yet to be named. The fish are pretty interesting, we got to see them feeding, nesting, and defending their young, which is not usual fish behavior. There were also some blind fish, which is caused by a parasite that attacks the fish's cataracts. The underwater landscape was pretty eerie, ranging from short plants to large boulders from the volcanic eruption. The bottom also sloped off deeply, some places around a 45 degree angle. Overall experience: very cool and very beautiful. Erika and I then got a FREE ride back to the road (being cheap = Nica) from our dive master who was heading to Masaya. We packed 8 people into the car (too many people in too little space = no personal space ever/very Nica) and they dropped us off where we caught a minivan where I had about 12 inches to sit on the floor because there were way too many people inside (again, very Nica). The buses never tell you where they're going so, instead of stopping at an actual bus station, they dropped us off on the far south side of town (inconvenient = very Nica) and we walked all the way back to our house. To some this may sound like an extremely aggravating day, and it might have been had this been our first week here, but this is how things and people work here and if you can deal with that, it can be very relaxing and wonderful. Now we are preparing to leave for Isla de Ometepe in the morning. More stories soon to come!