Volcanic Matter

If one thing had lacked in my travels this time around it was hiking. I can't say that anymore after finding the crater(s) of four of Nicaragua's volcanoes in just a weeks time. After hiking Volcan Masaya and Volcan Mambachu we took off to Isla Ometeme where two challenging volanoes make up the island.

I will back track a bit. Our group of volunteers decided to get a big trip together a a big hooooraahhh to those of us who are leaving this month. Fifteen of us packed our packs and set off in the early morning for Ometepe. I learned quickly that traveling in big groups isn't my thing. First, you get bombarded more than usual as you step of chicken buses for taxis-they also jack up the prices-just because they can. Second, finding a hostel that suits all needs can be a bit of a headache. I just stayed in the shuttle we booked off the ferry until all decisions were made so that the real adventure could begin.

We arrived in the afternoon sat back and enjoyed a Toña before heading off to the natural water pool- Ojos del Agua. Being frugal as I am, a few of us decided that the hourly fee for bikes was too expensive so we took off on foot. Our stubbornness was worth it. About 100 meters up the road was a little comedor that rented bikes for half the price and also served really cheap food that ended up feeding us that majority of the weekend. So we mounted our bikes just behind the other group that got them at the hostel and speed off to the water pools. It was far from what I expected from a natural water spring. The water was refreshing, but it was more of a pool than sitting in what I imagined it to be a  dubbed as a natural water hole. As soon as we arrived the sun went away and a storm rolled in, but we still sat to enjoy and relax a bit before a quick bike ride  home through the rain. That night we went back to the comedor to eat. I ordered the big fish to share with our German friend for his second meal. Good thing I was sharing it too! This thing was literally better than my face! Between the two of us we devoured it.  This comedor worked out great for us. My adventure co-pilot, Jack, and I had decided to hike La Concepcion(the bigger volcano towering at 5,282 feet- and yes we started at sea level) while the others hiked Volcan Maderas the next day. We arranged to have breakfast ready for us at 5:30 am and rice to pack up to the top.

Come 5:30 everything went as planned we enjoyed a hearty breakfast and packed up our rice just before the bus came to take us to the entrance of La Concepcion. We decided to go without guide- to us it didn't seem worth it to pay nearly $30 to go on a day hike. Although every local on the way told us that we were crazy we went for it. The guy working the entrance- well actually gardening and stopping us to pull the sign in book out of his bag across the field- had no problem with us going up. The trail was straight up and straight down. Easy as pie- he basically said. We set off and instantly got some slope under our shoes. La Concepcion was  extremely steep and rocky for the majority of the trail lacking any sort of switch back. Once higher on the mountain we were wishing we had a machete because most of the bush had overgrown the trail over the low season. Just as we were thinking that the trail clearly hadn't been crossed in a few days we were greeting by two medics coming down the mountain with their 17 year old guide. One thing I love about being from Bozeman, when you tell someone you meet on a Volcano in Nicaragua that you are from Montana they automatically say "Oh? Bozeman area?" or at least that was my experience. The medics informed us we weren't far off from the top, but that the crater was exceptional. So we marched on to above the tree line where the wind was brutal and chilly after being saturated in sweat and water from the plants lining the trail. We literally crawled our way up to look over the steep drop of the crater. Since we had been hiking in the clouds the majority of the hike there wasn't much of a view more than 10 feet in front of us but the crater itself was utterly impressive! No warning just a drop and lots of sulferic gas coming from the depths. Definitely worth the summit! The way down was a bit trickier we slid down the rocks lining the top in two big sweeps to get back on the trail. Now, I hate going down any mountain, but I REALLY hated going down La Concepcion. The whole way down I felt like a crab because I was holding on to anything and everything so that I didn't slip on the steep rocks we had just climbed up. I was more than content when we got to the bottom to look at the-now not so cloudy Volcano to know what I wouldn't have to go down that again.

We made our way back to the hotel to meet up with the other group. To our suprise they hadn't made it back yet. Our hike was supposed to be super long but only took us about 3.5 hours to summit and a good amount longer to get down. Immediately upon return everyone was talking about the intensity of the hike and how exhausted they were. Naturally we were intrigued and decided to give it a go the next morning despite the wear on our bodies from that day.

We woke up at 4:30 to hit the mountain early in order to make the ferry home in the afternoon. The hike of Volcan Maderas was like a walk in the park to Concepcion, but our fatigue was super evident about half way in so we took it slow and steady. I was really proud of us for getting so much slack for not taking guides and only getting off the main track once which turned out to be  an awesome detour. We stumbled upon a hike through a coffee plantation where we were greeted by the loudest symphony of howler monkeys yet and found a massively beautiful spider. When we got back on the main trail we were fooled by the summit. Unlike La Concepción when you get to the top you basically round the crater for a mile or so over some flat ground before you decend into the lake in the middle of it. There wasn't the same sense of accomplishment in seeing the crater, but it was super satisfing to get our fourth volcano done in just over a week. Success!! The hike took us round trip 7 hours and we were more than ready and to reach the bottom. When the time came our legs were best and we were forgetting that you need to step with your right foot THEN left foot. Yet we made it back to sugar up and otake a truck, ferry, taxi, bus, and tuk tuk to get back to Granada-all in that order. Although, walking to school this week has been really rough with the soreness setting in as soon as we sat down it was an epic weekend. We defiantly bit off more than our muscles could handle, but the soreness spreading over five days was totally worth it- plus it was great to have someone share the pain with when trying to run or jump with kids. It has proved to be a quite comical hinderance. 

We wrapped up this week with a trip to Laguna de Apoyo just outside of Granada. Again, a big group was organized but this time we just kept on marching instead of waiting to gather them all. It proved to be a perfect adventure. We hopped on the first chicken bus that said we would be able to manage to get there, not sure if he was telling us the truth or not. We spent the whole bus ride in laughter not sure if we were headed to a random town to tour or would indeed make it to the Laguna. Finally, the bus stopped to let us of by a big sign reading "El Pollo" we thought we had been tricked into going to somewhere that sounds super similar to apoyo- but no on the other side of the road was a sign leading to the reserve. We ended up meeting some locals who were on their way too and made sure to show us the trail full of mud and rocks that we descended so gracefully in our flip flops. Probably 40 minutes and one detour to see where they used to get their drinking water from later we made it to the laguna. We stayed with our new friends to go to the local "beach" and get some of the thermal waters that were sitting close to shore while they fished up some bate and some larger fish for their dinner later that night. It was great to get a local feel to a place that is otherwise catered to by resorts. We had a perfectly peaceful afternoon and got a little bit of culture tied into it.


For now that is all she wrote... I am sticking in Granada the rest of the weekend to explore a bit and get things set to take off North and make my way to Guate and beyond after my last week of volunteering.

Nica Time

Rolling into Nicaragua I instantly saw the caring nature of the people here and their economical struggles. As we crossed the border our bus stopped about a minute in route to give food to someone working the other side of the border and then contines to roll by a graffiti sign on a incomplete concrete building declaring "bienvenidos a Nicaragua."

So far my experience in Ncaragua has been eye opening rolled on with a whole lot of fun. I am volunteering with an organization called La Esperanza Granada that works with the lower income schools around the tourist hub of Granada. In working with them I have got a peek ino the issues and struggles behind the education here on a number of fronts. My job is to pull a list of kids out of class and give them on one help. Yet, they don't give me what they need help with or a curriculum of any sort. Most of the kids are 7-10 and I am working with them on the alphabet, writing letters and simple addition and subtraction. The kids are beautiful and full of energy and when I have them they are (for the most part) willing to learn, but when I send then back to class they get caught trying to write the shapes on the board to fill the space in their notebooks. It is hard to see kids as old as 17 struggling to attend and pass grade six. Yet it must be said that it is great to have the chance to help them, but difficult to see how my four or five weeks here will has little educational value to them. I have had some highlights so far though... My first day with a girl Karlota she easily wrote her numbers and rattled off the multiples of ten but struggled adding. So I decided to teach her multiples of 5 and the patterns that go with it- by the end the lightbulb went off and she had he biggest sparkle in here eye. We played hop scotch with the multiples and it was obvious how excited she was to come back the next day. First success! I hope this continues, but my time is limited with random days off for teacher meetings, bi-weekly flouride rinses, and bi-weekly computer practice it is hard to meet with all the kids who need us.

We also have had an interesting perspective on the lack of education in health. Last Friday we had a dental clinic where NYU dental students came into do free dental work in Granada with kids as their main focus. Some kids walked with with all their teeth rotten and changing colors and others had cavities and doctors to take priority with only the permanent teeth. What was most shocking was the parents, after the docor explained the issue to them- that is those that were there- they immediately brought the kid a candy and/or juice for the wait. HELLO! There is a reason behind your child having to have all of his/her teeth pulled. It was heart wrenching holding kids hands while the were numbed and drilled into- it will be hard yet necessary to go to the dentist at home. Especially after indulging a few days a week on coke-to-go-in-a-bag.

My other perspective of Nicaragua so dar is the wonderful markets and volcanos. On a daily basis we meander through the markets and buy all sorts of fresh fruit, veggies, beans, and naturally...rice. Something about local markets and straight up delicious goods makes me feel alive and so content with meals on a daily basis. Volcanoes have the same affect for me. So far in my two weeks here I have been able to "hike" two volcanoes with one- maybe two- coming up this weekend.

My second weekend here we chicken bused it to Volcan Masaya just 45 minutes away from Granada. Masaya has an active crater and an inactive crater- both of which are beautiful in their own ways. The Montana girl I am I was set for a trail hike with a few switch backs only to find the road paved and full of tourist buses an we treked our way up there. The approach over the hill was kinda funny. It looked like a whole bunch of tourist ants huddling around a plum of smoke. The active crater was kinda eary and Lord of the Rings esk, but it's own lo of beauty. We later hiked up to the inactive cater and it couldn't be more different the trees were over grown and it seemed as if a number of new species could be easily discovered there. It was a fun adventure for my new little community found through La Esperanza- we finished off exploring the market and getting some good ol' El Salvadorian Papusas from the street.

The next day we got a discounted exersion (it pays to volunteer) to the isletas on Lake Nicagua right outside of Granada. We got a nice boat ride out there to a private island with a pool and barbaque. The best part was the boat ride back. I left with the first group ready to get a cold drink somewhere, but quicky jumped back on with the boat driver when I saw that the sun would besetting  just behind the volcano over the water. I have never had a more with while boat ride... It was so peaceful being on the boat alone and seeing the sun light up the sky. Worth every second and a great cap to my first week.

The next Tuesday we were randomly granted the day off so my fellow volunteer Jack and I decided to get another volcano under our belts. Volcan Mumbucho is right outside of Granada and is the volcano I was drooling over on out boat ride back from the isletas. Again, expecting a trail I was confronted my a road, but this time with a lot if slope. We heaved and sweated our way up there while stopping to sit on the road and watch some monkeys tree jumping (one sitting above me just decided to jump before peeing- at least monkeys are considerate that way). Once we got to the top we decided to take the trail that didn't lead us to the crator. We were told that is was closed and that we should have a guide, but didn't see any signs so decided to go for it. The walk was like walking though Jurrasic Park with the howler monkeys and random abandoned buildings at the start. As we got further in we discoversed that the walk was in need of a lot of repairs with random stairs missing and a slippery dissent. It was wild and quite exilerating especially once we reached the end of the trail we discovered the rope closing the trail. Turns out we did the walk backwards- opps! No wonder we didn't see any signage. We then walked around the crator- again something that surely hid dinos. It was a perfect day off, but man alive the initial hike really wore out my legs. I hope hoping to rest them up for a week weekend as Isla Ometepe!