The way it usually goes is like this: Victor plans the itinerary, and I book the transportation and accommodations. One thing about Victor is he is meticulous, detail-oriented, and thorough. He doesn’t make mistakes, he doesn’t forget small details, he doesn’t just leave off details from the itinerary for no reason. So, when I saw “Dec 25 overnight Las Penitas” followed by “Dec 27 overnight Ometepe” while reviewing our Nicaraguan itinerary, I had to mentally compose myself. Last time this happened, three years ago in El Salvador, we camped on top of a volcano. Well, we first had to search for the man who owned this particular volcano, then experienced the most glorious views from the top of the volcano, followed by some of the most uncomfortable sleep of my life, and then more incredible views. Overall, an absolute win.
“Where are we sleeping on December 26?” I asked.
“We are going to camp on top of a volcano,” Victor said.
I had to fight off overwhelming déjà vu.
“Don’t worry, no need to search for the volcano owner! We can book it all online and, we’ll make a full day out of it with volcano boarding as well.”
If you have never heard of volcano boarding, that makes two of us. Volcano boarding is exactly like sand boarding, where you slide down a sand dune on a board, except on a volcano, with small molten lava rocks flying directly into your face as you glide down at speeds up to 40 mph. Also, Serro Negro is an active volcano, so there is always a tiny chance you’ll be sliding down to get away from an eruption. But don’t worry, they give you a jumpsuit, goggles, and a bright orange bandana to protect your face from flying molten lava. Also great for taking badass photos of yourself.
One person who had heard of volcano boarding was Victor’s mother. She always carefully researches all of our travel destinations before the trip and reviews every photo afterward, claiming to “travel vicariously through us”. On their weekly phone call, just a few weeks before Nicaragua, she mentioned volcano boarding and how dangerous it was, and that she was hoping that we wouldn’t even consider it. Victor quickly switched the subject. He did come to me later to confirm that I was still on board (pun fully intended) with getting on board on top of a volcano. I have already lived through paragliding in Colombia, ziplining in El Salvador, riding a horse that didn’t want to be ridden in Cuba, and getting on a tiny creaking chair lift in China. I wasn’t going to let some volcano scare me. I should have, but I wasn’t going to.
And before we knew it, it was Volcano Day. I am capitalizing the words because that’s the actual name of the tour and the words on the t-shirts they gave us. There were at least a hundred people that signed up for the Serro Negro volcano boarding that day and that made me feel a bit better about my decision. There were even a few families with children, but the vast majority were college-aged European kids on winter break. We were given backpacks with a jumpsuit, goggles, and a bandana, and we threw our camera, phones, water, and sunblock in there as well. Before we knew it, we were in an old yellow school bus, heading towards the volcano. These decommissioned American school buses are very popular around Latin America and are called “chicken buses” in Guatemala. Being inside the yellow school bus full of young people, with a backpack, made me feel like I was back in high school, heading out on a field trip.
One of the guides told us that Cerro Negro is one of the youngest volcanoes in Central America at only 167 years and one of the most active in the country. Once we reached it, it became clear why it was called “Black Hill” in Spanish. Surrounded by other volcanoes, all overgrown with lush green vegetation, it was the only peak completely covered by black volcanic rocks. Maybe, in a few hundred years the vegetation will overcome the barren rock, and it will look like the rest of its older volcano siblings. But for now, it’s one of few volcanoes in the world where volcano boarding is possible, including Mount Yasur on Tanna, Republic of Vanuatu, and Mount Bromo in Indonesia.
The hike up the volcano was only around 45 minutes, and we were lucky to be there in December, when the temperatures were moderate 80 degrees, rather than the 100-degree temps usual in the summertime. The guide told us it was common for people’s rubber shoe soles to start melting during the summer hike. Victor carried his board with him, while I chose to pay a porter $5 to carry my board to the top. After the strenuous Santa Ana volcano hike a few years ago, I will never again underestimate a volcano, plus I wanted to keep my hands empty for taking pictures and gesturing around at the gorgeous view. The climb turned out easier than I imagined, but I am still happy not to have lugged a giant board up there with me. In fact, a much younger and fitter girl walking behind me gave up halfway up the mountain and her boyfriend had to carry both of their boards.
Once we got up to the top, we had some time to explore and take pictures at the edge of the crater. While the crater itself was covered with a thick layer of rock and no magma was visible, the ground by the edge of the crater was hot to the touch. I could almost feel the heat pulsating through the small black volcanic pebbles covering the ground. For the first time in Nicaragua, I realized that we didn’t just mount a volcano, we were just a few feet away from the crater of a real-life active volcano. We were supposed to hike Masaya volcano near Granada just a few days earlier, but it was closed due to a predicted eruption. And now, standing on top of Cerro Negro, we heard our guide announce that Masaya Volcano has in fact erupted. It was a small explosion, and no one was injured. I crouched down and held my hand pressed into the sweltering ground, imagining magma moving deep underneath the surface, thinking of how helpless we would be in case of an unexpected eruption.
It was time to get off this volcano and fast. And we had the fastest way down possible – slide down on our butts. The guide had all of us dress in our cool orange overalls with our backpacks shoved inside, which made all of us look comically pot-bellied or humpbacked. We were told the slide could take as little as two minutes and as much as twenty-four (a record set by a girl on one of the previous tours) and that it was up to us to control our speed by how we positioned our feet. We were in the middle of the line I went down first. I pushed off and after a somewhat slow start, my board started gaining a bit too much speed. I leaned back on my heels to slow down and immediately small pebbles from underneath my feet started flying directly into my face. The bandana, goggles, and hat protected my head, but the photos and video the tour guides took of me halfway down the mountain were just a barely human outline inside a dust cloud. Victor was next, fast and smooth, barely breaking with his feet at all.
As we were excitedly sharing our experiences at the foot of the volcano, I noticed that not everyone had an equally great time. One girl had scratches all over her face, nose, cheeks, and chin. I am not sure if she fell off the board or simply didn’t wear her bandana on the way down. Another girl had fallen off the board and was stuck in the middle of the slope until her boyfriend climbed up and got her down. No one was seriously injured, and most people seemed to have enjoyed this outing. There was only one thing I regretted – failing to bring wet wipes. Our hands, necks, ears, and everything that wasn’t protected were now covered in a thick layer of dirt and grime. And unfortunately, we had no chance to take a shower until tomorrow.
And that’s all because we still had one more volcano to climb that day. But that’s a story for the next post!
