León

This 'new' time pressure is a strange concept. My backpacking days are numbered, with only two weeks until I fly to London from Guatemala City. I have one foot firmly rooted to the Central American earth, while the other foot dips into thoughts of Ireland, career, accommodation & friends. I feel restricted with a schedule, my wings clipped.

Leon is another colonial city, pretty to stroll through, but our main reasons for visiting are to use it as a base, firstly, for visiting Las Peñitas, a coastal town about an hour's drive from the city, and secondly, to climb the volcano, Cerro Negro.

Cathedral, Leon

Iglesia de la Recolección

Irina the Ballerina

Leon is the second largest city in Nicaragua, and has the feel of a university town. It is less touristy, calmer and (dare I say?) more civilised. We spend a few hours meandering the city and observing city-life. Irina is out of contact lens fluid, and whilst interacting with a local optician she muddles her words slightly asking for 'fluid to clear her lentils'....almost as bad as me asking for my fish in Colombia to be 'sin caballo' (without horse - rather than 'sin cabeza', without head!). Oh dear, the locals must have a good chuckle at us!

Other than buildings and cathedrals, Leon is famous for being the birthplace of Ruben Dario, perhaps the most famous Spanish-writing poet.

Rubén Darío (1867 –1916) was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated Spanish-American literary movement known as Modernismo (modernism), flourishing at the end of the 19th century. Dario has had the greatest and most lasting influence into twentieth century Spanish literature, and journalism. He has been praised as The Prince of Castilian Letters, and undisputed father of the modernismo literary movement. Dario is revered as Nicaragua's greatest diplomat and a leading voice of Central and South America (Wikipedia, 2009).

Fundacion Ortiz

Electricity is a huge problem in Nicaragua, and as we stroll through this pleasant art gallery the security guard switches on and off the lights at the appropriate moments.

Las Peñitas

Our original hope was to surf here. Once glimpse at the waves is enough to convince us that this is no longer a possibility - the sea is wild. A freak wave washes over us whilst sunbathing and another sweeps away our belongings, and again later while eating lunch in a restaurant. It has the feeling of a once popular place, now deserted and a bit miserable. A number of places in Central America have that feel, most likely because it is low season. We burn the calories from our tasty lunch racing the white monsters.

Las Peñitas

Soggy restaurant

Mé féin

Irina risks getting her toes wet

We catch another chicken bus (old American school bus) back to Leon, we are the last people left on the bus and the rain is lashing down upon us, the city flooded. The bus driver is a lovely fellow who drops us all the way into town. We walk through the floods back to the Lazybones hostel, laden with sand, dust and muddy water...to discover that there is no water for a shower (despite all the rain!)....

León, flooded

Dodging hidden holes in the road

Cerro Negro

A very new volcano, the youngest in Central America, having first appeared in April 1850. It consists of a gravelly basaltic cinder cone, which contrasts greatly with the surrounding verdant hillsides, and gives rise to its name, which means Black Hill. It has erupted frequently (and apparently is due any day now..last eruption was in 1999). One unusual aspect of several eruptions has been the emission of ash from the top of the cone, while lava erupts from fractures at the base. We are very keen to climb it!

Saturday morning at 4am, we meet at the Quetzal Trekkers office. It is strange walking through the city at this time, quite eerie, and on almost every street there is a security guard with weapon. Quetzal Trekkers is a non-profit volunteering organisation, offering tourists adventurous hikes in Nicaragua and Guatemala to raise money to help an organisation called Las Tias (The Aunts) who work with street children and children at risk. 100% of the profits goes to Las Tias who have been in existence for over 15 years.

We meet our fellow trekkers from France, Cecile and Matthieu, our guides, Justin and Mike. Also, joining us are two boys who attend the school, Alex and Santiago, originally street kids, but now well fed and receiving a decent education. Later, as I begin chatting to the boys I am shocked to hear the boys ages, 13 and 14 - judging by their appearance, maturity and topics of conversation I would have guessed about 9/10 years. I enjoy having them around, they are full of beans and mischief! After breakfast, we walk a few blocks to catch one of the local school buses to bring us closer to base for beginning the five-hour trek.

We begin with country lanes, local traffic jams and small paths on the edge of a forest.

The group

The Jam

After an hour, we come a cross an incredible black landscape - a dark desert of sand, stretching for miles head of us with rolling hills - a deep contrast with the vibrant green trees nearby. It could perhaps be described as the antithesis of the white salt flats in Bolivia!

After another hour we reach the park-rangers station, nibble a few biccies and take a look at their collection of iguanas and snakes. They are breeding these creatures here, two-thirds of which will be released ino the local wilderness and the remainder will be sold to the international markets.

The snake (& lady) charmer at the Parkranger's office

Little green iguana

Full-grown Iguanas

Alex holding his first snake

We continue walking up the side of the Cerro Negro. We are so lucky that the clouds are blanketing the sun today, keeping us slightly cooler! Reaching the summit, we wander around the craters and watch the smoke rising from the cracks in the surface.

It seems so strange that trees can grow here

Santiago & Alex

Wherever I am in the world, the ladybirds follow....

Then we run back down the other side, which is an almost-vertical slope! A very strange experience. The gravel makes it possible to bound and leap, making us feel we are floating and gliding! I think I scream the entire way down, kicking up black gravel in my midst, boots choked with ash and grit.

It is pretty steep!

Alex & Santiago manage to catch a little green lizzard shooting across the desert - very amusing scene!

At the base we enjoy lunch, and set off through a forest towards another local-bus pick-up point. We stop briefly for a fresca, and then journey on back to the city. I would unequivocally recommend hiking with this company, everything was extremely well organised, fun and socially responsible.

Time to prepare lunch (circa 10am)

Lunch time - I cannot even remember how many various ingredients went into this pot of deliciousness

After lunch, we notice this amazing ring around the sun

Hooray!

Fresca (simply coke & ice in a bag with a straw)

Hot & sweaty, we trekkers look on in jealousy at this wallowing piggy!

Nicaragua has been full of highs and lows, always provoking a strong reaction and certainly never a dull moment. The following morning we catch the 6am bus, quite pleased to be leaving in many ways, I am looking forward to Honduras.