Nicaragua's Natural Beauty: The Lakes

Darwin Vivas

Darwin Vivas

This one has a viewpoint of its own, at "Malecón de Masaya". Here, besides having a good panorama of Lake Masaya, visitors also have a good view of the Masaya Volcano, like in the picture at right.

There's also another place where this volcanic lake can be appreciated from; the Masaya Volcano, as seen on the picture on the left. And from the Masaya Highway, the view is like the picture on the right.

COSIGUINA

Volcano World

This is a lake on Cosiguina Volcano's crater with a diameter of approx. 2 km and 500 m deep, located on the northwest tip of the country, in Chinandega.

According to I.N.E.TER (Insstituto Nicaraguense de Estudios Territoriales; Nicaraguan Institute of Terrotorial Studies) and Volcano World, this crater was formed back in 1835 when the volcano recorded a mighty eruption. It was so powerful that its ashes reached as far as Jamaica and Mexico City, some 1,300 km and 1,400 km away, respectively. This eruption blocked out the sun in a 140 km radius. Its last activity was reported in 1859.

TISCAPA Darwin Vivas	This is one of the six volcanic lakes surrounding the city of Managua. Lake Tiscapa is located right in the heart of the city, near the Five-Star "Inter-Continental Hotel" and radiostation "La Sandino". Sadly, the lake is currently being polluted, but like Lake Managua, there's a plan to clean it up. I hope they really do it.
XILOA Ideay.net.ni	This is, or was Managua's most visited lake, at least before '98. Located just around 20 km NW of the city, Xiloá was a good options for those who didn't want to go to the beach. That was before 1998 when Hurricane Mitch debastated the entire country and polluted its waters making them unsafe to swim. It'll be years before Xiloá can become what it was before that horrible disaster.
NEJAPA Darwin Vivas	This one(left) is located to the south of the city.	ASOSOSCA Darwin Vivas	Another lake surrounding Managua City. This one to the north-west.
APOYEQUE Darwin Vivas	It's located between Xiloá and Lake Managua, at some 20 km from the city of Managua. This gigantic crater with a diameter of 2.5 km is now inactive, but in the past, it really made a lot of noise. Volcanologist at I.N.E.TER and others around the world, believe that an eruption by the then Apoyeque Volcano, approx. six-thousand years ago, formed the nearby Lake Xiloá. They also speculate that such an eruption by this volcano is possibly responsible for the creation of the "Huellas de Acahualinca", pre-historic footprints of people printed in mud found in a Managua neighborgood called Acahualinca, near the shores of Lake Managua, which are also about six-thousand years old.