This is our minibus packed with 17 people. This picture... The climb! Straight up! The climb looking down -- Notice the hiking stick needed! This is Jessica translating that we had indeed climbed... The sign. More Images Get your own free travel journal triptosomewhere

11th February, 2005 // Nicaragua
Volcano Mombacho

This week we were able to take a very exciting day-trip to climb Mombacho. Somehow, we were able to twist the arm of our Country Director (CD) into letting us hike this volcano. Generally, trainees are not permitted to take day-trips, unless they are with their families. However, our CD thinks very highly of our group, so she allowed us to go.
Seventeen of us decided to charter a microbus to take us to the volcano. Since, we left really early on a Saturday morning our choices of microbuses were very slim. We chartered the tiniest microbus I’ve seen yet, but we managed to squeeze everyone in. Once we arrived, we decided to forgo the $5 US bus ride to the entrance of the park because we are all poor and received word that it was only 1 km, less than a mile. So we started walking. It soon became apparent that this park didn’t believe in switch backs because we were heading straight up the volcano. However, we decided it wasn’t that much further and would keep going. The bus that we dismissed, “for the weak” steamed passed us, but not before one of our own threw in the towel and got a lift. The rest of us didn’t know what we had signed up for. This short 1 km hike turned into a 2 hour escapade to test our endurance. All of us did finally make it to the top and couldn’t believe that we had actually hiked 9 km, around 4.5 miles, STRAIGHT UP!!! No wonder my calves were killing me! However, it was all worth it because at the top waiting for me were Snickers bars! I couldn’t believe it! I had 2 right then and there!
Now that we had reached the ENTERANCE to the park and were completely exhausted; we had to begin what we came here to see – the volcano. This volcano is an inactive volcano and has been for centuries so it didn’t have the typical black top and domed look that you generally see in volcanoes. Part of the dome that you can see in the pictures, fell in the 1950’s and completely destroyed the town below. It killed all but one man, the man who had started the town! I enjoyed the views, tropical plants, and the different types of forests that this volcano offered. I saw a few different types of orchids that I included pictures of for my mom. Mombacho has one orchid that can only be found there, but I didn’t get to see it because it blooms only once a year in November.
This was a very cool experience, one that I had been looking forward to for a long time. Nicaragua has dozens of volcanoes, some are active but not all of them are climbable. I can’t wait to hike another one, but next time I’ll take the bus.