Apoyo Lagoon or Laguna de Apoyo, not far from Granada Nicaragua, was formed 23,000 years ago when a strong volcanic explosion left an enormous hole measuring 6 km in diameter. Apoyo is conical, like an inverted volcano, 200 metres deep at its centre. Over time subterranean waters and rain filled the crater, which is surrounded by lush vegetation. I was able to dive with a local biologist named Lorenzo who showed me four types of fish that exist nowhere else on the planet. One of which wasn't even discovered until 1976. The landscape has a pleasant northern Ontario, Muskoka lakes feel to it. Jaguarundis (small wildcats), monkeys, iguanas and boas make the surrounding hills their home. And the water is warm; even at 23 metres below the surface the temperature hovers around 27C year round. Lorenzo asked me not to tell anyone about the place. At least I think he did. There was a pretty severe language barrier separating us.
The fishes are of the chiclid species. These are their types ... or perhaps names:
Amphilophus Chancho - (pig in Spanish)
Amphilophus Barlowi
Amphilophus Short
Amphilophus Zaliosus




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 Las Penitas - on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua

The Canadian man had just finished telling me of how he was invited to a funeral and wound up marrying the dead man's wife. And the troubles he encountered bringing his new young bride back to Canada.
'She's nothing but a w**** and you're a sex-slave trader.'
"That's what the son-of-a-b**** at the Canadian embassy told me." he said with angry, saddened eyes.
"The b******s! How callous." I responded, wanting to say 'You're in your mid-fifties, are really big around the middle and have teeth that are in need of major dental work. But you've got yourself a pretty, young 25 year old.' I would have liked to have continued, 'Did you ever try marrying a woman thirty years your junior back home? And if so, how successful were you?'
But I said no more. I wanted Ellen to come quickly and save me from the Canadian. Then, like a distracted puppy, the sadness evaporated and the anger vanished as the man explained that he thought we could become good neighbours; that I should buy a piece of property from him in the hills overlooking the sea.
I wanted to ask, 'Do I get a girl with the purchase, or ...' then suddenly Ellen arrived and took me away.

Later, I told Ellen, seeker of truth and justice, of my encounter with the man.
"You're quick to jump to conclusions." she said. "You don't even know that man. How do you know that it's not true love?"
"You've been to the brothel called Thailand. Seen this before. Of course it's true love. He truly loves being able to own a woman, young enough to be his grand-daughter and she truly loves not being poor anymore."
"Well I think..." Ellen paused, then said "Look at the big bunch of bananas in that tree over there."
I smiled in victory. She smiled back in defeat. I'd won my first argument in our three month journey. My first in 2008.