We don’t know how many of you out there have ever tried climbing a volcano, but just being able to say that was our plan seemed pretty exciting to us. Little did we know!
Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America. It is home to 13 volcanos, 6 of which are still active, and all of which appear in a straight line in the same mountain range. We could see one of them off in the distance spewing ash and steam when we arrived at the pier, where we greeted by a group of local musicians and brightly dressed dancers performing traditional music and dances for us. As we moved from the ship to our tour busses, a little girl handed us small welcome bags. It was very sweet.
On our drive from the port to the volcano, we passed many bicyclists and tuk-tuks, bicycle-like vehicles with a bench on each side to carry passengers. We also passed several oxen pulling wagons full of twigs and small branches or other supplies. Our guide, Pedro, explained that most of the homes in the area do not have power or running water. Because of conservation efforts the people are not able to cut down trees for firewood, so they make trips into the wooded areas to collect fallen branches and twigs. Only if a tree is diseased or dying may they cut it down.
We also saw several cars and motorcycles being stopped by police. Pedro said the police were looking to see if any of them had two women traveling with them – Mary Jane or Snow White. 😊 Soon we noticed the police were following us. Pedro said they often escort tour busses through the city to ensure that they don’t get delayed by traffic and are late getting back to the ship. We would later question the truth of this.
We travelled along a well-maintained highway for quite a while, then turned onto cobblestone streets before finding the deep volcanic ash road that led to the base of the volcano. When we arrived at the base, it was very windy. We were joined by a second bus from the ship, giving us 2 guides for 34 hikers. The guides told us to look at the trail and decide if we wanted to continue, because once we started there would be no turning back. They also warned the wind would be three times stronger when we go to the top. We thought that meant there’d be a short section where we would experience a lot of wind, and then we’d find a windbreak and make our way down. Wrong and wrongThe climb was steep and rocky, as expected, and the wind was relentless. More than once we stopped to wait out a gust before continuing on. About 1/3 of the way up we reached a bit of a plateau where we stopped to rest. The wind was howling at 60+ mph, pummeling exposed skin with small volcanic rocks, spraying dust and particles into our eyes, and threatening to steal anything that was not firmly secured to our body. Ahead of us was the ridge leading to the rim of the volcano, wide enough to walk 3 across, with steep drops on either side. As the wind continued to rage, our guide said it was time to move on. We struggled to stand, let alone move forward. Ken grabbed Pam’s hand (he literally saved her life today) and pulled her the quarter of a mile to the rim. A woman traveling alone crawled along the path. An older gentleman with two walking sticks repeatedly fell, picked himself up, and fell again until he had to stop for a while. When we reached the rim, we sat in a line, waiting for the rest of the group. We saw a man in his early 20s nearly get blown over. How was the view? Pam couldn’t really say – she was curled up in ball trying to stay alive, but Ken got some great photos. 😊
And then it was time for our descent….straight down a barren 45-degree slope of hot volcanic rock, all the time continuing to battle that 60+ mph wind. Turns out there were no windbreaks. The recommendation was to walk sideways, allowing your foot to slide forward in the “sand” as you sank about half-way up to your calf with each step, or slide down on your bottom. Ken chose to stand against the wind; Pam chose the “easy” way, until her seat got too warm and she realized she had ‘burned’ through the entire bottom of her shorts! It might have been embarrassing if she hadn’t had so much company – there was more than one pair of ruined shorts this trip, and they didn’t all belong to women!
We did eventually make it down. The police that had been following us? They had to rescue five of our fellow hikers. Once everyone was present and accounted for at the bus, they high-tailed it out of there. We were now at least an hour behind scheduled, so the bus driver and Pedro decided to take a short-cut to our lunch location. Mistake! They got lost!!! We arrived back at the ship more than an hour later than we were supposed to, tired, dirty, and with stories to tell!
JodockWorldTravel 
O MY GOSH,
While I know you must have been scared to death, I had to wipe the tears from my eyes when I got to the end of your volcano trip recollections! Those tears were a mixture of sympathy and hilarity.
You two love adventure and you certainly found some that day!
LikeLike