We were running out of weekends in Nicaragua, and we needed to go volcano boarding. I feared I would be disowned if I came back home and hadn't sledded down an active volcano at unsafe speeds. Being students, we ("we" is loosely defined here) waited until the day before to figure out important things like who was going, did we have to make reservations, what time and day were we leaving... It ended up being Camina, Jessica, and me. After a confusing morning, we left Friday afternoon to take a bus to Leon, which is about one hour west of Managua.
We made reservations with Tierra Tour for Saturday morning, found a hostel, and spent the rest of the day being tourists. It's important to ditch the backpack as soon as possible because, as if being white or Asian wasn't enough, a big hiking backpack makes you stand out horribly. We passed the evening sitting in the parque central and it was lovely. I think some of my favorite moments on this trip have been people watching in parque centrales as the sky darkens.
The actual volcano boarding!
We got into a van with a woman from Norway, a man from Germany, a couple from Vancouver, Canada, and a few Salvadorans. As we approached Cerro Negro the regular dirt turned to black ash, which farmers take advantage of. Cerro Negro ("Black Hill") is a baby volcano, born in 1850, and is one of Nicaragua's most active.
It looks like a big ol' pile of black rubble and stands out beside the verdant slopes of the dormant volcanoes which surround it.
It's a 45 minute hike to the top, all while carrying awkward, heavy boards.
The wind made some parts a little scary with our wooden wings sticking out; our guide told us this was nothing but a breeze, other days are much, much worse.
Another group going up, up, up.
We payed a visit to the crater, which doesn't look like much during the day but at night you can see hot stuff. The wind coming off the crater was hot, and, if you dug down a little bit, you would burn your hand if you touched the ground.
Suiting up! Our guide informed us of all the possible ways we could crash, burn, and die, which is a good thing because everybody in our group avoided injuries.
Jessica and Camina, ready to go.
And the going:
It's a 600 meter slope that starts out as a 43 degree angle then drops off to a 45, which is REALLY SCARY because you think you're going to fall off a cliff. The record speed reached was something like 87 kilometers per hour. I didn't go that fast. The whole thing is over in 3 minutes, after a hot hour spent hiking.
10 out of 10, would do it again.
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