What an incredible place this is!
The smell of sulphurous gases and smoke rising from the volcano make it feel primeval.
Apparently, the gas emissions vary between 10's of tons to 1000's of tons per day!
Amazingly, there is a parakeet that has adapted to living in holes in the walls of the volcano.
The toxic fumes mean that the parakeet has few predators!
The Spanish named it Boca del Infierno or "mouth of hell."
In 1529, Friar Francisco Bobadilla planted a wooden cross on the hill overlooking Masaya Volcano in order to exorcise the volcano.
Incredibly, a few years later in 1538, Friar Blas del Castillo was lowered into the crater carrying a wooden cross and a hammer to dig out what he thought was gold but was in fact "fools gold" (iron pyrites).
This is an almost 180 degree view using 8 photos of the crater.