Great Day Flying From Iguazu Falls to Nicaragua

We took an eight hour flight from South America to Central America. Our route was over the Paraná River, the Amazon basin, and into the southern part of Nicaragua. I gave my fifth lecture when we flew over the Andes in northern Ecuador. It was cloudy so I didn't miss anything. I got some great shots of rivers and volcanoes on the way in.

Our hotel at Iguazu, the Das Cataratas

Summertime clouds over southern Brazil and Paraguay 

This is likely the Parana River and the boundary between Brazil and Paraguay 

As we approached the Amazon River, we saw many looping tributaries

There were many oxbow lakes, places where a loop in the River had been cut off. The course of this river is similar to the San Juan in Utah, except this one is not incised 1,200 feet.

As we landed in Iquitos, Peru for fuel, the great Amazon came into view. A boat on the river would barely be discernible, the river is that large.

More great clouds

And then Lake Nicaragua came into view with a volcanic island shrouded in clouds within it

This the famous two-volcano island of Ometepe. This conical gem is called Vulcan Concepcion. There is a cloud on top of the cone making it only look like it is erupting.

Aerial view of the colonial city of Grenada on the shores of Lake Nicaragua. I will have pictures of the colorful houses from here in my next post.

Grenada is framed by the Mombacho volcano, which lost it's top in a fiery eruption some 20,000 years ago

There are many "lagoons" in this area of Central America and they are water-filled calderas. This one is the Apayo Lagoon just west of Grenada.

And then the smoking Masaya volcano came into view. We did a hike between the two craters and I will post pictures of the hike soon!