Land That Time forgot!

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Nicaragua is full of surprises and one of its most glorious, unspoilt areas is here...the twin volcanoes in the lake! Clearly visible from the main road to Rivas and onto San Juan del Sur, the volcanoes dominate the skyline. Volcanos Concepcion and Maderas sit in the middle of the immense Lago de Nicaragua, whilst clouds hover on the summits of both, Concepcion is by far the biggest and most open to the elements, exposed volcanic rock evidence of its previous eruptions. Maderas, on the other hand, is covered in thick, dense cloud forest.
We arrived by ferry into San jose, not Moyogalpa as we thought, which placed us in a better position to get to the southern area. After a trip around the north island´s new roads, courtesy of Japanese funding, we hit the more rustic dirt and pot holed tracks of the south. Our chosen method of transport, standing in the back of a pick up truck with food bales, kid´s bikes, packs and assorted other goodies. There is no choice and you negotiate what you can; $15 for 4 people. It took over an hour as some other travellers needed to be dropped off! As it turned out the 30 minute detour to our fellow travellers chosen accommodation proved fruitless as they were booked out and hadn´t made a reservation! Onwards to ours!
Monkey Island hotel is run by a local family who provide simple dorm rooms for 4, with fan, for $2.50 a night! The extremely helpful owners will help organise guides and provide meals between $2 and $4, and ´even make you a sandwich to take on your hike! There are other rooms available and plenty of hammocks, rocking chairs and tables to relax. A five minute walk takes you to the beach where you can swim in beautiful, clear, fresh water. Lake Nicaragua is home to fresh water sharks, but due to over fishing in the past these creatures are now extremely rare.
We decided to hike Volcan Maderas so arranged an early breakfast of rice, beans and eggs(what else!) and packed a sandwich plus 3 litres of water each and me and my entrepid buddies set off. Travel buddies I met in san Juan del Sur; Yeron, Nicholas and Jack.
This hike is not for the faint hearted or unfit; when they say a reasonable level of fitness is required...its true! We set off at a great hikers pace with gazelle Nic taking the lead, leaving our guide panting. It was our aim to beat the usual time of 8 hours!
This was one crazy hike, initially through rice fields then up into the forest. The views of Concepcion were fantastic and we used this as a guide to our own altitude. It not long before you are in deep forest and climbing...this trek goes staight up, no traversing whatsoever! Each step appears equal distance horizontal and vertical. Although we all brought wet weather gear, it is absolutely pointless as the humidity in the forest was so high that you were drenched by every branch you touched and the shear amount of sweat pouring off!
The highest part of the hike is incredible. I couldnt help think of such mystical times, ´Lord of the Rings´, ´Jurassic Park´; mythical environments. We trekked through forest so thick it was hard to see a pathway, rich green leaves with spikes and amazing fungus blooms growing out of rotting tree trunks. The roots of trees were our only source of climbing up the muddy route, as we grappled and hauled our way upwards. The forest became darker and the trees, eerily stretching out in all directions , were covered in hairy green moss. the mud, so thick and gooey underfoot was to become a huge problem on our descent.
We finally reached the top in under four hours and were rewarded with spectacular views of the lake, Concepcion, and the crater lake that lay a few hundred metres below us. Exhausted but exhilarated and after a snack we embarked on the descent! nic the gazelle and Jack took off at a pace to beat the time down but, unfortunately Yeron, whose reef sandles had served him so well during 3 months of trekking in Guatemala, failed him! The mud was so thick and slippery and the descent so steep he kept sliding out of the front...absolutely hysterical to watch, if you´ve ever seen this but not so great for him! In the end he ended up having to go down barefoot most of the way.
We arrived back at Monkey Island 6 and a half hours after we left, the others made it in 5...well done us!
A hike well worth doing but take loads of water!

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