One of the most fun weeks of my life.
My name is Joe Harrington, I’m travelling through Central and South America for the next eight months, here’s what happened on week five.
León, Nicaragua (continued)
My main reason for travelling to León was volcano boarding where you slide down the side of the Cerro Negro volcano on a sled made of a little piece of wood. Sounds fun, right?
Nicaragua is one of only two places on the planet you can do it and CNN named it the second most extreme thing you can do in the world because the volcano is actually active.
About 30 of us from the Big Foot Hostel hopped on the back of a truck at 9am and set off for Cerro Negro which takes about an hour.
There was nervous excitement in the truck and people were sharing stories they´d heard about it, mostly horror stories, so that didn´t help settle the butterflies.
We were given volcano boards, overalls and goggles and a demonstration at the bottom of the volcano before we set off on the hike.
It took an hour to get to the top and it was frickin’ boiling. A few English lads were hungover AF and were in the horrors; it was funny but I felt for them.
Once we reached the top we had potatoes which were cooked in tinfoil in the ground.
Our guide Ryan buried them a foot in the ash the day before and they were ready when we arrived 24 hours later. I was appointed official potato taster, obvs, and gave them two thumbs up.
The moment of truth arrived, we were sitting at the edge of the volcano in an orange jumpsuit ready to slide down on a piece of wood. It was an awesome feeling.
I went third and my visibilty was poor because so much dust and sand was being thrown in my face so I crashed twice on the first half of the route.
“My eyes. The goggles do nothing.”
I found my feet in the second half and built up some real momentum which was exhilarating.
There was a guy at the bottom with a speed gun and he clocked me at 40 kmph before I crashed to a stop at the base of the volcano.
The fastest person on the day was a German girl who did 69 kph and the fastest ever speed on Cerro Negro is 97 kph. Insane speed on a piece of wood.
What an experience.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BE0JH95GHdl
We returned to the hostel an hour later and then I was off to my next location.
Accommodation: Big Foot Hostel. It cost me €12 per night.
Their volcano boarding trip is excellent (€30). The dorms are nice, the bar is good, the staff are sound and they organise shuttles all over the country.
Food: Next door to the hostel is savage, the street vendors behind main cathedral are amazing too.
Drink: Hostel. Via Via across the street from the hostel is also cool.
Highlight: The volcano boarding, you have to do it.
Lowlight: The heat and humidity is tough to handle.
Next stop: Laguna De Apoyo, Nicaragua
I met an Alaskan guy named Sean and a Dutch girl named Suzanne at the volcano boarding and decided to get a shuttle with them to the city of Granada (€11).
At the hostel there, we bumped into their friend Linda from Fiji who I’d met in a few places in El Salvador so we had a little gang in place.
We stayed one night in Granada and got the shuttle to Laguna De Apoyo the next day. The place is beautiful.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BE3mxVjmHV3
We stayed in Paradiso Hostel and it has absolutely everything you need.
It’s right on the lake, it has a great restaurant and bar, free paddle boards and kayaks, nice dorms, a cool cat named Diego and good bathrooms.
By the way, on the bathroom situation, I´m not sure if you know but they don’t put paper in the toilets over here, you have to put it into a bin. Just an FYI if you’re heading this direction, i’s weird at the start.
I had only planned on staying at the Laguna for one night but I fell in love with the place and just couldn’t leave.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BE66K0GGHfo
It was three days of kayaking, night swimming, meeting interesting people, watching electrical storms, making friends, sunbathing, laughing hard, reading books and relaxing.
One of the funniest things on my trip happened the morning I checked out. I was on the top bunk bed in a dorm room laying still and staring at the ceiling thinking about how sad I was to be leaving.
The room was empty except for the Swiss girl in the bed under me. She didn’t realise I was still in the room because of my ninja-like silence so she decided it was the pèrfect time to make a huge, loud fart.
A few seconds after she finished, I said “Hiiiiiii” and started laughing. There was a deathly silence in the room, the girl was mortified and she said “sorry” around 200 times.
I´m still laughing about it, too funny.
If you are in Laguna De Apoyo, make sure to make the trip to nearby Catarina where you’ll find an amazing view of the entire lake.
Accommodation: Paradiso Hostel. It cost me €10 per night. The place is perfect, impossible to leave after one night.
Food: Hostel. I had a good breakfast, lunch and dinner for approximately €16 per day.
Drink: Hostel. The cheapest rum and coke is €1.50 and a beer is €1.30. Yep, so cheap.
Highlight: Floating on the lake at night with a beer and watching the electric storm light the place up. It was so cool.
Lowlight: Falling up a stairs, yes up, and breaking a toe thanks to a combination of dim light and €1.50 rum and coke.
Next stop: Granada, Nicaragua
Lovely Granada #Travel #Nicaragua pic.twitter.com/yx7a1wcB3h
— Joe Harrington (@ImJoeHarrington) May 4, 2016
We only spent an evening in Granada a few days earlier so we went back to explore the city a little bit more. It´s a beautiful place with a very European vibe to it.
The stroll down the main strip, where the bars and restaurant are, and on to the lake is very nice. On the way, we paid €1 to climb to the top of the cathedral bell tower.
The cathedral itself is stunning inside and out, and the view is great.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BE9YzpkGHUj/
We´d spent the previous three days lounging by the lake and we felt like doing an activity so we decided to take a three hour kayaking trip around Las Isletas of Granada.
Las Isletas is made up of hundreds of tiny private islands which are home to amazing wildlife and holiday houses. You can rent an island for €300 for an entire weekend, most of them can fit 10 people.
The highlight of the trip is Monkey Island where five howler monkeys live. We got damn closer to Lola, the most famous of the gang, and her friends. Check out this video.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BE-UHx6GHSd/
We went for dinner that night in the main strip (Calzada) where there’s an Irish bar called O’Shea’s. I thought it was just an Irish-themed bar but it turns out it’s owned by a man named Tommy Griffin from Dublin.
We had a great chat about his business, home, life in Nicaragua and Gaelic Football. A real gent with a lovely place on his hands in Granada.
In terms of safety in Central American, there are reminders like this everywhere.
I´d become totally relaxed here until last night when there was an attempted mugging on one of the girls in our group.
Ten of us went for dinner across the street from the hostel and a few of us decided to drop our valuables back to our rooms before going into the city centre. Smart.
On the walk back, literally 250 yards, a young guy cycled against us, did a quick u-turn, moved beside the Dutch girl Suzanne and tried to rip her bag from her shoulder.
Luckily she managed to just hold on and the guy sped off down the street. It was all so fast that we couldn´t quite believe it happened. A good reminder to keep our wits about us.
The Alaskan-Dutch-Fijian-Irish gang are going south today. On to the next adventure.
Accommodation: De Boca En Boca Hostel and Oasis Hostel (two different hostels).
They both cost €10 per night and we moved to Oasis to meet friends and because it has a pool.
Food: O’Shea’s.
Drink: Hostel or anywhere on La Calzada, it’s like Temple Bar but better.
Highlight: The chat with Tommy Griffin.
Lowlight: The sleep in Boca Boca. The sweating was taken to the next level of disgusting. Ugh.
#SoloTravelAdvice
I asked backpackers in Granada to share the advice they´d give anyone thinking of travelling by themselves in Central or South America.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFCRJoJGHVU
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFCRRX7mHVw
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFCRcPwGHWR
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFCRov0GHW4
I´ve another few weeks planned in Nicaragua so I´ll hit Ometepe next and then San Juan Del Sur.
If you’ve any tips, advice or questions, let me know on Twitter at@ImJoeHarrington or Instagram/ImJoeHarrington.
Talk to you next week.
Read more:
Diary #2 – Miami, Guatemala City, Antigua
Diary #3 – Antigua, Lake Atitlan
Diary #4 – El Salvador
Diary #5 – El Salvador, Leon, Nicaragua
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