So after arriving from my unexpected journey in El Salvador to see the hobbit it was time to do something a little more touristy in Leon Nicaragua.
While in Leon I stayed at Bigfoot hostel who are famous for inventing the sport of volcano boarding. What is Volcano boarding you might ask? Well it involves climbing up an active volcano and then sliding down the side of it on a wooden board. Just like you would a giant sand dune.
Bigfoot Hostel Lobby
Sounds a little insane right? So I signed up for $25 USD and a bunch of us piled onto the back of an old Russian army truck headed to Cerro Negro one of the youngest and most active volcano’s in all of Central America.
On the truck approaching Cerro Negro
After getting to the volcano we grabbed a beer and our board and started he 1 hour and a half climb up the mountain.
Cerro Negro Volcano
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- The path up towards top of volcano, Looks a little mordorish
The walk up the volcano was fairly easy and we got some awesome views and I even got to pose for some really cheesy tourist shots
The active volcanic crater
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- Side of the volcano with steam coming out.
Im on a Volcano 😀
On top of volcano
It was pretty surreal being on top of an active volcano. There were points where you could dig a few centremetres under the rock and the ground was visibly hot to touch.
Either way with all of the tourist shots out of the way it was time to do what we came here for which is boarding down.
We all donned our orange scientist protective suits and glasses and we were off.
Me boarding down the side of the volcano
In terms of what the experience of volcano boarding is like. I’d say its very similar to boarding down sand dunes.
I couldn’t tell you how fast I was going but the tour guide said that the record speed they had was over 90 kmph by someone.
Me watching the sunset after volcano boarding
After we were done we all got on the truck had another beer and returned back to the bigfoot hostel where we were greeted with 2 free mojito’s.
Me looking like I’ve just spend a day at the mines 😛
This was definitely one of the most random cool things I’ve done on my trip and i’d highly recommend anyone in leon to give it a shot.
Awesome! Did it smell weird, or was the mask just to keep the dust out?
Tiana Kai recently posted..Skiing & boarding the Italian Alps
It looks a little rough going down there; good thing you had the suit on! How long was the ride down? Was it a fairly high volcano?
Ryan @Treksplorer recently posted..Mottled Morocco: From Mediterranean Metropolises to Market Towns in the Mountains
I love the term “mordorish” 😀 Def. gonna adapt it!
Annika recently posted..Please mind the gap. 70 days to go.
Boarding down a volcano! Now thats not something you see everyday! Insanely cool!