Weekend fun

This weekend was muy ocupado! Saturday morning, we headed out early to visit the Mombacho Volcano, which was quite impressive despite the thick cloud cover that made seeing any great distance near impossible. We bought our tickets at the base of the volcano and then waited for our chariot, which turned out to be an old truck that looked like it had probably been used for military operations at some point. We climbed a steep ladder up the back and slid into the old metal seats that had been bolted to the bed of the truck. 

The only way I can describe the ascent is to say that for much of the trip, it felt as though we were on a roller coaster, slowly crawling our way to the top (although taking some sharp turns in the process). When we reached the top, we discovered a fairly modern-looking building that was a biological and ecological research center; it was here that we met our guide, Moses. We opted for a two-hour hike around two of the volcano's four craters, which actually offered a pretty good workout via some steep climbs.

The air on top of the volcano was surprisingly refreshing and I was impressed by the walking trails that had been installed in the steep terrain using cross-sections of tree trunks. Volcan Mombacho has been extinct for many years and is one of only two volcanoes along the Pacific featuring cloud forest (the other is also located in Nicaragua). Indeed, the amount of vegetation was amazing! Highlights of the tour included watching a howler monkey play in a nearby tree, enjoying a natural facial via some thermal pools emanating hot steam and walking through a narrow canyon created by an earthquake several decades ago.

The ride down the mountain was mercifully less of a nail-biter than I expected, and we piled back into the van from La Mariposa just in time for torrential downpours. On the drive back to La Concha, several stretches of road had water gushing down the sides, which made me wonder what to expect during the height of the rainy season, expected to be in the next few weeks. This has been an especially rainy year here, so hopefully flooding in the low-lying areas will not be a problem.

Sunday, I took a morning horseback ride to see the Masaya Volcano. I had to relinquish my first horse because he couldn’t resist the urge to cut away from the pack in order to snack on roadside greenery, and I was virtually ineffective at stopping him from doing this. Thus, I swapped out for a more tranquil horse, albeit with one bad eye due to an accident a while back.

The whole ride was very enjoyable, but the moment that we rounded a corner and the Volcan Masaya suddenly came into full view was awe-inspiring. This is an active volcano, as you may be able to ascertain from the photo, although the last emission of lava was in 1772. Unlike the Volcan Mombacho, the top of Volcan Masaya is clearly visible and devoid of vegetation.

The ride back was a bit more exciting in that we picked up the pace quite a bit from our leisurely jaunt to the volcano. I was beginning to feel a bit saddle sore from riding at what I considered to be a fast pace, but then the horse started galloping and I thought I was going to fly out of the saddle! Additionally, my horse with his bad left eye was hugging that side of the trail, meaning that I had to be on my guard to dodge various clusters of branches sticking out, to which he was completely impervious. Despite my best efforts, I twice caught a face full of branches and even drew blood, which I did not realize until we had slowed back to a trot and another student pointed it out. Nevertheless, I think I had it better than another student who said that the reins of his horse had somehow become covered in ants, meaning that his gallop was also marked by frequently slapping his arms to get rid of the ants crawling up them!

Later that afternoon, I took a stroll down the street to the local playing field in San Juan to kick the soccer ball around with Guillermina, the daughter of Paulette who runs the school, and another guest and his young son. We had a blast and eventually attracted a few additional players, and I was thoroughly sweaty by the time we finished. Thankfully, the language of soccer is universal as I had a very hard time understanding the young Nica boys who came to play with us.

This afternoon, a fellow student and I wedged ourselves into a packed van (the popular form of intercity transport here) to take a little trip to San Marcos, a nearby town. I had to laugh when we ducked into a café and there was a TV playing Sponge Bob Square Pants in Spanish – a proud export of the U.S., to be sure.

I’ve added a link here to the blog of Alexia, a 9-year old whose parents and brother are staying here at La Mariposa. In addition to offering a (slightly) younger person’s perspective on the goings-on here, she has posted some great photos of her adventures to date.

Okay, buenas noches!