Climbing the Volcano and other lazy stories…

Nicaragua welcomed me with open arms! After 3 busses, 2 taxis, and a ferry ride over to Ometepe Island in Lake Nicaragua I landed in the world’s 10th largest lake and home to the only sweet water sharks. Nice!

It was quite different here than Panama and Costa Rica. Pigs, chickens, and dogs roamed freely across the island scurrying from house to house.

Two volcanoes comprise the center of the island, one is named Concepcion and the other Maderas. I stayed by the inactive Maderas because I had heard from friends that it was worthy of a climb and a fun place to hang out for a few days.

The projected climb up and down the Volcan Maderas is 5 to 7 hours depending on if you choose to descend into the crater where a rainwater lake formed. This is no easy climb. Unfortunately two climbers died almost three years ago on this Volcano because they went up without a guide even though it’s highly advised not to do this. Now there is a city law that prohibits guideless hikes. I later found out these two hikers stayed at the same hostel I stayed at, so I could not help but think of them as I began my own climb (with guide) up the mountain.

There were six of us: two American girls, my Canadian friend Jon, and a friendly Dutch couple. We began the walk to the volcano briskly and with uncertainty how this hike would treat us. It was a very sunny day and already 30 minutes into the hike we all were sweating. The two guides that were with us were on a mission to get us up that volcano and down before sunset, so they were fast walkers. They, in fact, never seemed tired and every break that we did get they never sat down. Incredible! The walk went on and on, and the higher we ascended the more interesting it became. Howler monkeys were screaming in the not too far distance, and we even saw some monkeys at one point hanging in the tree tops.

Some kilometers later the Volcan Maderas was not so kind to us. She increased her incline fairly steeply and required us all to grab trees and branches to continue on. We were all slipping and falling and extremely dirty by this point. I think it was at this point in the hike that I had to remind myself that this was a mental challenge and not a physical one and that I would regret it if I was the only one to wuss out of the hike.

Many perspiration drops later we made it to the top of the Volcan! How glorious! We were lucky too because normally it’s very cloudy from the top and a good glimpse down into the crater is far and few in between. Not on this day, because we could see straight down, and we did. Not only did we see straight down, but four of us (me included) went on to climb down into the crater. If I had thought that the portion leading to the top was hard, then I was surely mistaken. All of a sudden the Volcano turned into a swamp and we were hopping from tree branches to tree branches trying to avoid getting sucked into a mud abyss. After escaping the swamp, I perilously avoided by a few steps tumbling down the crater on some slick rocks. But success was to be had, and we finally made it to the bottom of the crater! Ahh….

After a short rest we had to climb down. And again, if I had thought that I had just finished the hardest part of the climb, I was surely mistaken! Who knew that the finish is sometimes harder than the start? After 5 to 6 hours of walking already, my body was pleading with me to stop but we had to climb all the way down. By this point in time, all of us were tripping and falling over little rocks and roots not because we didn’t see them, but because we were so exhausted.

After a total of 18 kilometers and 9 hours of walking (what makes up a standard work day) we stumbled back into the property of the hostel. I don’t think I’ve ever been as tired and smelly in my entire existence, but now that I’ve had several days to recover from such a hike I would say it was worth it-- blisters, corns, bruises and all!