Short stories from a long journey is a book series written in the form of stories, born from uncountable miles and more than a decade of permanent travel within the Latin American countries. Most parts of these travels have been achieved by land in a wide assortment of vehicles, from first-class buses to bicycle and motorcycle taxis, small and large boats, trains and whatnot. Travelling in this fashion has allowed the author to visit the big cities and the well-known sites of each country, but most importantly, to include the small towns and villages and the not-so-well-known spots of the touristic grid. Also, to spend time getting to know the places and the people that live in them, sparking up friendships that are still ongoing today. It is from spending time with the local people and coming to know them and where they live, in the endless, varied and wonderful conversations enjoyed through the years, as well as adapting to the local customs and way of living, that these stories have gradually emerged. The intent of these tales is to share, even if in only a small part, the enormously rich cultural heritage of these beautiful countries that form what we call by the name of Latin America. In the land of volcanoes, is the first book of this collection. The stories it contains are set in Nicaragua, and they happen during the second half of the past century. The narrator, Francisca Diaz, is one of the main characters of the book. In the fourteen successive stories, she takes us through the history of the Diaz Family, starting with the wedding of her paternal great-grandparents, continuing with her Grandfather and Grandmother's childhood and subsequent marriage, to finally describing her own childhood, as she grew up in her grandparents' beautiful estate, in contemporary Nicaragua.