Lava-loving tourists flock to active Nicaragua volcano

By Blanca Morel, AFP Centuries ago, a native Central American people terrified of a witch believed to live deep in the earth used to sacrifice children and young women to Nicaragua’s Masaya volcano. Today, the crater southwest of the capital Managua is an international tourist magnet, where photo-snapping visitors scramble among sulfurous fumes to get views of its bubbling lava — a rare sight. Photo courtesy of AFP The only volcanoes in the world to boast lakes of incandescent magma are Masaya, Hawaii’s Kilauea, and Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo, explained a Nicaraguan geographer and environmentalist, Jaime Incer. “It’s something extraordinary, unique in the world,” said Noheli Pravia, a French visitor filming and photographing the scene which has happened every 20 to 25 years since 1902. The red-hot liquid performs an agitated ballet for the spectators, with a cloud of white smoke filling the active crater, whose name is [...]