Drenched on Mombacho
Trip Start
Aug 21, 2008
1
13
59
Trip End
Ongoing
Granada,
Nicaragua
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
So, after Mark woke me up at 6:30am (blah) and updated the travel blog, we decided to head over to Volcan Mombacho for a hike. After sitting for 2 days on a bus and eating carb-heavy rice & tortillas, I was anxious to get to do something active. Let's face it... a J-Lo ass would not flatter this short Korean's body.
Lesson #1: Do your research for each activity the night before. We spent almost an hour trying to sort out how to get to the volcano. And after a very frustrating call with the volcano park ranger that Mark had to make, we learned that we needed to bust a move and get there asap so we could hike the Puma trail. So we quickly made our way to the chicken bus terminal and caught a bus in the direction of the volcano. After about 20 minutes or so, Mark realized that we really didn't have any clue where we were supposed to get off (as there aren't too many signs)
The long slog up
. Luckily, we had only just missed our stop. Whew! From the main road, it was another 15 minutes to the park entrance. When we arrived at the entrance, the woman was a bit surprised to see us. It was 11am and hikers usually arrive much earlier in the morning due to the intense mid-day heat. And according to the woman, it was another 2 hour (1.4km) hike to the Visitor's Center where the Puma trail actually begins... and they stop the guided hikes at noon. Doh! But, we were not deterred being the stellar athletes that we are (stop your snickering). Surely, if the road up to the Visitor's Center was anything like the flat path to the park entrance, we could do it in 1.5 hours easy and be only 30 minutes late, enough to persuade them to let us still do it.
Lesson #2: A 1.4km hike (less than 1 mile) should NOT take 2 hours. And when it says, "Warning: 4WD vehicles only on 1st gear.", that means one serious incline. Ummm... yeah. A warning light should've gone off when we heard that it was going to take 2 hours to the Visitor's Center. Instead, we found ourselves climbing a ridiculously steep road (45 degree angle or greater). We were sweating buckets within minutes. I tried to zone out, giving myself mental milestones, while Mark focused his attention to the wildlife surrounding us (Editor - and I bitched about whether we had missed the turning forever). The path was enclosed in a beautiful forest/jungle. Lots of lizards and butterflies... and even a snake that scared the shit out of me as it crossed right in front! Taking only a few water breaks, we actually did make it to the Visitor's Center in 1.5 hours. Yay team! We were absolutely drenched in our sweat. I still don't think my clothes have completely dried out
Walking thru a fissure
.Anyway, we ended up not doing the Puma trail and chose to do a trail around the volcanic craters instead. We paid for a guide who spoke English fairly well for Central American standards, who taught us a lot about the plants and animals, which I won't bore you with. And the views were amazing! We saw the town of Granada, the Islets (100+ mini islands just off the coast of Granada) and Laguna de Apoyo. As you can imagine, going back down was much easier, albeit a bit harsh on the knees. And towards the end, we found a couple of companions who joined us to the main road -- a man with his pet pig on a leash like he was walking a dog!
Tired and exhausted, we hit the showers then rewarded ourselves with a few well-deserved Tona beers for 15 cordobas (75 cents) each. For dinner, we hit up their version of Central Park and got some traditional Nicaraguan food - vigoron (yucca, spicy cabbage salad and fried pork rinds) and baho (stewed beef, yucca, plantains and spicy cabbage) - and brought it back to the hostel and watched a film "Drugstore Cowboy", where I kept falling asleep due to exhaustion not the movie quality. Ah, sleep...
