by Stephanie Thomas

”The dogs receive Mass?” We were visiting Masaya’s Magdalena church in the indigenous barrio of Monimbó and our Nicaraguan guide Ruth López was explaining how every year the second Sunday before Easter, grateful pet owners dress their dogs as children, witches, space aliens and more in thanks to Saint Lazarus for wishes and miracles fulfilled. And they do, in fact, receive Mass. Afterwards, corn liquor and food is served for all. There are even awards given for the best dressed dog, she added.Another colorful festival, Ruth related, is that of “Los Aguizotes,” or the spirits of the dead. It features a haunting night procession of persons dressed as, for example, a headless priest and others riding a chariot of death, all accompanied by raucous music. Celebrated the last Friday in October, around the time of Halloween in the States, local merchants now sell Halloween related items, so these get mixed in with the traditional figures. One can also spot drag queens in the procession.

Among the many sites we were shown in and around Masaya, one of the most impressive was the well maintained Masaya Volcano National Park with its lava flows and the active crater… sometimes too active for comfort, Ruth added, explaining how a few years ago during a minor eruption of hot rocks, one landed on the hood of a tourist’s rent-a-car! Looking down into the crater, you see… and sometimes smell … the fumes arising from a relatively constant lava pool. The indigenous Chorotegas, probably descendants from the Mexican Toltecs, used to sacrifice virgins and children to placate the volcano’s god when he was angry. Ruth related, too, the story of the Virgin of the Asunción. Later we visited the church containing her image and saw her burned foot. It was scorched in the process of preventing a lava flow from destroying Masaya.
From Masaya Volcano, we went to the Coyotepe Fortress overlooking Masaya. Lawrence, our ex-pat driver and co-guide, explained that the fortress, constructed in 1893, has served as a political prison for both the Somoza regime and later the Sandinistas. With flashlights we walked through the underground levels and saw the prison chambers. We learned that the fortress was the site of a famous battle lost by General Benjamin Zeledón in 1912 to US forces. This loss, Lawrence added, was witnessed by a young man who was to become the famous hero Augusto Sandino who later led his forces in successful guerilla warfare against other US forces, ultimately leading to their complete withdrawal from Nicaragua.
Next, we descended to the Masaya Lagoon, a crater lake that forms the northern boundary of the city. The lake, Ruth explained, was the site of more than a dozen Chorotega settlements and one can see various petroglyphs carved on rock faces near the shore. We walked along the Malecón which has a few small vendors’ stalls, a baseball stadium at the northern end and a modern disco on the southern end. Masayans, like most Nicaraguans are avid baseball fans, and a recent championship game between the Managua and Masaya teams was the scene of a full-scale brawl.
From the lake we went to the San Juan barrio where we saw the elegant but crumbling old hospital, partially converted to a residence for the elderly.
This barrio is home to a hammock industry and I noted a shop which displays a painted sign of a lady in a bathing suit reclining in one of their hammocks, demonstrating, presumably, how to properly utilize it. Under the Spanish colonial system, Lawrence explained, each colony was required to produce certain items and Masaya was required to provide hammocks and cloth shoes.
From barrio San Juan we were driven to central Masaya and the well-shaded Plaza Central with its beautifully renovated church, the Parroquia de la Asunción, damaged in the 2002 earthquake. Ruth related how during the earthquake, she and her family and many Masayans were sleeping outdoors for days because of the frequent aftershocks until they became so tired that they finally moved back into the houses. Continuing our walk through the park, Ruth pointed out a classical nude statue of a woman known locally as the “the nude lady of the park.”
From the Plaza Central we went to the nearby handicrafts market, a full square block devoted to arts and crafts produced throughout Nicaragua, many of which come from the nearby workshops of the Monimbó barrio. This National Artisan’s Market also has several local restaurants and we enjoyed a leisurely lunch at one of the larger, quieter ones where we sampled traditional Nicaraguan dishes. Marimba musicians played traditional songs for us and Ruth herself sang a couple of Nicaraguan songs translated into English and explained their significance. She related some history, too, of Nicaraguan cuisine, pointing out, for example, that original Chorotega cooking contained very little fat before the conquering Spaniards introduced the habit of frying with “manteca” or pig fat. Information like this was one of the things that made our tour so interesting, offering us a picture of daily Nicaraguan life. One tour member, for example, asked about marriage customs and we learned that a high percentage of Nicaraguans choose not to marry legally.
After lunch we visited barrio Monimbó. ”Monimbó is Nicaragua!” Ruth explained, was an exclamation that arose during the revolution because in 1977, the people of Monimbó attacked Somoza’s feared National Guard using homemade weapons, contact bombs, and machetes. They engaged the National Guard for a week. After the battle, the Monimboseños wore traditional Spanish masks borrowed from folkloric dances that ridiculed those occupiers and they denounced to the newspapers the abuses and atrocities of the National Guard.
Monimbó is also important because, Lawrence added, it is a major source of Nicaraguan folklore and still retains some pre-Columbian social structures such as the Council of Elders. Not only a cultural center, Monimbó is also currently home to dozens of workshops producing the leather, cloth, wooden, and other arts and crafts sold in the Handicrafts Market and throughout Nicaragua and Central America. We visited several of these, meeting the artisans and observing them at work. We then visited the pre-Columbian Tiange or market where only women were allowed to buy and sell.
Our next stops were the two cemeteries. Ruth explained that one was for the rich and one for the poor and she recounted the elaborate, costly funerary rites. These extend over a year, in part at least, to allow the families time to gather the funds to pay for expensive items such as a tombstone. The common difficulty of making ends meet is reflected, too, in local credit systems with most small businesses allowing clients to pay a week or two later.
After the cemeteries, we visited the regular market, the second largest in Nicaragua. Walking through this maze we saw all kinds of food, herbs, furniture, shoes, CDs, appliances, pharmaceuticals, arts and crafts, and even exotic animals for sale. There were, of course, many food stalls and small restaurants and various services including locksmiths and many hair stylists.
There are moneylenders too, Ruth pointed out, typically making loans for twenty five days, charging twenty percent interest.
Our last stop was a late afternoon visit to a multi-level Cuban restaurant and lounge overlooking the Masaya Lagoon. We relaxed, asked more questions and sipped typical fruit and mixed drinks such as rum and coke. Looking westward, we enjoyed a spectacular view of the lake and the lava fields of Masaya Volcano National Park as the sun descended behind the volcano with its rose colored plume of smoke. 

 “Ruth’s Total Masaya Tour” is provided by “Our Nicaragua Tours” Tours including “Sandino and the White Towns,” Colonial Leon, San Juan del Sur, and other destinations throughout Nicaragua are also available and focus on the culture, history, and daily life of Nicaraguans. Based in Granada, “Our Nicaragua Tours” can be contacted at 895-5244 or 645-5702 or by email  at legoodlive@att.net or danelialopezguzman1@yahoo.com