Volcano Surfing!

So we had heard that in Leon, Nicaragua you could do what is considered by some to be an extremely dangerous and manly sport, surf down the side of an active volcano! How could we possibly pass up a chance to be cooler than we already are (I know, I know most of you can’t believe we could get cooler, but keep reading). So we signed up and prepared to surf!

Volcan Cerro Negro when it erupts, spewing it's lava out it's base. Bad-ass!

 We woke up in the morning of the day in question and had a hearty breakfast.  Who knew, it could hve been our last! Then we played some pool and messed around the hostel. Finally the time came for our surfing trip. So we all loaded onto our huge orange truck slash tank (it had a hatch and everything!) and headed out to our adventure. The truck itself was simply the front car and a carriage at the back that was covered by an orange tarp on top and not covered on the sides at all.

We were all excited about what was to come, little did we know it was going to come sooner than expected, we had a massive torrential downpour on the way there! I don’t mean “oh no we got a little wet” I mean the roads were turned to rivers within minutes and all the staff clambered through the aforementioned hatch and left us to fend for ourselves on the back!

Ten bucks if you can see a guide.

Well the rain really came down! And everyone was soaked to the bone! Not only this but the weight of the water  really weighed  the surrounding tree branches down, which let them slap us around and deposit every sort of creepy crawly in the forest directly into the back with us, if not on us! But we soldiered on and eventually the rain slowed and stopped.

We arrived at the entrance to the national park and saw the volcano we had come to conquer ominously watching over the valley ahead of us. Volcán Cerro Negro is the youngest volcano in Central America, having first appeared in April 1850, and has had a record breaking number of eruptions  for the basaltic cinder cone type volcano which it is, these volcanoes usually erupt only a few times, mostly only once. But this one has erupted at least 23 times, and is very much still active. What makes this volcano unique is that the lava doesn’t flow from the cone, like typical volcanoes, it spews from the bottom…killing all life while ash is shot out from the top. Evidence of this was clearly seen, it looked like a fire had just gone through the área. Although on ‘orange alert’ the last eruption was in 1999.

The menacing Volcan Cerro Negro.

At the entrance to the park we found a little shop and bought four beers (one for having survived the trip there and one for after the surf).  Having got this vital bit of work out of the way we were kitted out in our prison orange overalls and safety goggles to help stop the ash and pebbles from blinding you. Then came the crème de la crème, the super advanced high tech volcano surfing boards, guaranteed to protect you from gasses, extreme heat and extreme awesome for the surf down…No, not actually; the boards are in fact pieces of plywood which have a rectangular piece of tin nailed beneath it so it can slide smoothly and a piece of plastic rope connected to the front which you pull up to allow the stones to slide under your board.

Team eXtreme ready to go...

 Sorted! Now for the walk up the volcano… Well it is dead everywhere and you walk along this path made of small rocks from the volcano, they are all black, hence the volcanoes name. So we walked along this path for a while as our guide explained about the volcano’s history. After walking for about half an hour we came to a ridge and as we got to the top of it we were met with a site out-of-this-world. The volcano crater beneath us was steaming and spewing out sulphur all over the place and fine layers of yellow crystals adorned the rocks alongside pure white crystals (obviously crystalized sulphur and calcium deposits). This also heralded the summit of our walk, we just had to follow alongside the ridge to the designated surfing area.

*Just out of frame tons of lava and dragons

Having arrived we saw there was a group ahead of us so we wandered around the volcano taking photos and chatting, we even stumbled across a toad living near the top of the volcano ridge, I wonder how he lives with such sensitive skin with such harsh gasses around. I mean I could feel the burn in my throat, lungs and eyes.

So now having explored the area the moment of truth arrived. Our instructor took her board and showed us how to sit on it and how to steer (this entirely involved of sticking your feet into the ground until you swung in the desired direction). We were also told the speed records for the run and the prizes for breaking one of the records, for the men it was to hit 80 km/h and you would win five free mojitos, for the girls it was an astonishing 87 km/h which was claimed by an Israeli girl who didn’t understand the safety instructions before and just sat on her board and flew down the hill! 

Hypno-toad does not need air! All Hail the Hypno-toad!

With an air of cockiness our grouped moved to the surfing area, a few people volunteered to go first so we watched as they slid down, both of them wiped out several times and neither seemed to get any significant speed. After a few more people Chrissie and I decided that it was our time to go, so we volunteered and walked up to the edge side by side. We sat down on our boards and pushed off, I (Rob) shot ahead initially and thought to myself the mojitos are in the bag. That is until I hit a speed wobble which resulted in me eating dirt and rolling down the side of the volcano with my board trailing behind.

I just realised we get free beer & cookies at the bottom :)

"Watch how fast I'm gonna go!"

 As I came to a stop I shook myself off and looked up only to see Chrissie barrelling down on me at a rate of knots! I leapt out of her way as she sailed by me at about a hundred and fifty miles an hour, only to wipe out herself! We clambered back onto our boards and tried to get our speed up again before the spot where they measure your speed but alas due to a few more falls and the ground being stickier due to the moisture neither of us won the coveted mojitos! This may have been a blessing however, as we learnt the previous week or so ago a person was trying to break the record for the guys, he managed to equal it before coming short just after they had clocked him at 80 km/h and breaking a wrist, collar bone and several ribs, but apparently he had his mojitos before they took him to the hospital…

This is exactly how Rob dodged Chrissie.

Our times were not that impressive (25 km/h more or less) but we still had celebratory beers on the way home and the hostel even gave us two free mojitos each for effort! 

One more thing...

Village People called, they want their member back!