Leon & VOLCANO Boarding

Ahhh Granada...Sydney and I stayed one more night at the Oasis Hostel (and one more night of Telepizza). The next morning, after a nice American breakfast at Kathy's Waffle House, we headed off to Leon, finally. It was about a 3.5 hour trip. Once we got there, I was instantly sad I had only planned to spend 2 days. We checked into Big Foot Hostel, which ended up being one of the best hostels I stayed in on the whole trip. Big Foot is run by this really cool Aussie who specializes in leading volcano hikes and taking people volcano boarding. Sydney and I spent the afternoon walking around Leon and taking in the sights. Like Granada, Leon is a colonial city. Even though the architecture is similar to Granada, it has a very different feel. And, they actually had a grocery store, right around the corner from the hostel! I'm talking about a real grocery store (they even had air conditioner!), like what we have in the states. So, Sydney and I picked up some groceries and came back to the hostel to cook dinner. Another hostel across the street was having a Bob Marley Fest, so we had some groovy music to listen to while we cooked. We topped the evening off by going to the local cinema to watch Pirates of the Caribean 2, which I thought was in English with Spanish subtitles. Wrong. In Spanish. With no subtitles. I went out to ask the clerks what was going on and wanted to try to get my money back, but between my bad Spanish and their no English, it was decided that Syd and I would try a different movie that WAS in English...Inside Man, with Denzel Washington. Sydney was very bitter and sat there refusing to enjoy the default movie. After five minutes, though, she got sucked in and and ended up really enjoying it.

The next morning, we awoke early to go volcano boarding. Big Foot provided a complimentary steller cup of coffee to start the morning off. Then me, Sydney, and 4 other girls hopped in the back of the Aussie's pickup truck and were off to Volcan Cerro Negro. This was about a 45- minute drive down bumpy, rural roads where (in the Aussie's voice) "we have to drive fast so that no locals try to jump in to catch a ride with six good-looking Gringos." It was a beautiful drive. Finally, we saw the large, black volcano looming in the foreground. I couldn't believe that we were going to climb to the top of that thing...carrying boards, nonetheless. Cerro Negro is a 675-meter active volcano. It is the most frequently active volcano in the Maribio Volcano chain. It's last eruption was in 1999. Which is why it is black...no vegetation. We parked the truck, tucked the boards under our arms, and started hiking. It was like trying to hike uphill in sand. The small, loose volcano rocks gave way under our feet every step of the way. I was immediately worried that Sydney would not be able to make it. But, once again, she was a trooper. Our leader offered to carry her board for her, but she refused. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the top. Once we got to the rim, the wind was whipping us pretty hard. You had to carry the board just right, so the wind would not catch it and blow you down the side of the volcano. Sydney surrendered her board at this point and grabbed my hand. We could look down into the crater, which was still smoldering from recent activity. It had this weird burning sulfer smell while the steam surrounded us. It was pretty cool...uh, or, hot. You could put your hands down on the rocks, and at some points it was so hot it could burn you.

After taking in the view, it was time to ride our boards down to the bottom. We did a little practice run a short distance down the slope, at which point, I thought I was never going to make it back up again. Sydney did start freaking out a little bit by now, saying she didn't want to go down. So, our guide assured her he would ride with her. I went down first. It was pretty fun, but some of the other girls had faster boards than me, so I was a little envious. Sydney came after, and did fine. Our legs and shoes were covered in this black-soot-like substance, and we were tired, hungry and hot. Time to go back to the hostel. The Aussie bought us a round of drinks on the house (Sydney had a yummy milkshake), and we reveled in our new accomplishment. How many people can say they went volcano-boarding down an active volcano? Awesome. One more notch in the belt. We finished the day off by going to the beach, which was beautiful. Tomorrow will be the beginning of the end: our last week and our final destination: the central highlands of Nicaragua, also known as coffee country.