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Published: November 28th 2007
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........... arrived 2 days ago in country number 5- Nicaragua. The border crossing from Honduras to here was completely crazy! Luckily I was travelling with quite a few other tourists otherwise I think I´d have been completely overwhelmed. As soon as our minibus started pulling up, there were about 20 men that started flinging themselves at the bus, trying to open the windows, all shouting trying to get us to change money with them. They climbed on top of the bus to get our rucksacks and put them in their vehicles (weird bikes with carriages) before we even had a chance to get out! I think that everyone basically got ripped off, but in the end it was just easier to do that so that they´d leave you alone!!
Anyway, am now staying in a lovely Colonial town called Leon. I´m staying in a great hostel called ´Bigfoot Hostel´where they offer Volcano boarding!!! I´d read about this before I left home, so it was definitley something I wanted to do, and it seemed a cool thing to do on the eve of my 100th day travelling! The hostel is run by an Australian guy who has boarded down the volcano
using all sorts of weird things- mattresses and fridges included! The boards that we used have been changed and adapted millions of times to try and improve their speed and saftey. People used to do it standing up, but there were too many accidents now now people have to do it sitting down, as if they are sledding.
It takes about 45 minutes to get to the top of the volcano (you have to carry up your own board, so it´s quite hard work!!!) You have to wear a bright orange boiler suit (attractive!) and goggles to protect you when/if you fall off! At the top they take you through the safety procedures (how to brake by putting your feet off the sides, how not to put your hand out to stop yourself if you want a hand left!) and give you a little practice down a small slope.
Then it was time to do it! Yikes!!!! It was sooooo steep from the top! Everyone was scared! There were 10 of us there, and I watched 2 guys doing it first, both falling off twice on the way down!!!
Then it was me- waaaaaaaaaaaa! Was completely exciting
and scary at the same time! It went sooooo fast! I got about halfway down then hit a bumpy patch and completely wiped out!!!!!! Rolling and sliding a few metres down a volcano was a completely bizarre experience!! Managed to escape with only a tiny graze on my leg and a bump on my elbow! I got moving again, then fell off again after about 20 seconds!
I managed the rest of the journey down without falling off. I had my feet off the sides the whole time then trying to brake, but it didn´t seem to do anything!! The whole thing was over in just over a minute, and it was sooooo much fun! It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience!!!!
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What next!!!!!
How many more of these adventures are you going to do!!!!?Thank goodness we only find out after the event! Lovely outfit but can't see it catching on here.