Boards & Bruises

To continue where I left off, I went volcano boarding in Leon with three visiting friends (Mateo, Curran, and Annie) and my volunteer friend Maria. I realize this might be a totally new concept for people, so let me explain: there are a couple ways to do it, but we went through a hostel that supposedly was the first to offer this crazy opportunity. They drove us and about 8 other adventure-seeking tourists out to Cerro Negro (in Spanish: Black Hill) which we climbed up and hiked around in under an hour. We had to carry our boards which consist of wood with a rope handle stuck onto some sheet metal and a piece of plastic under your butt to make you go extra fast. You’re basically sledding with a handle. We were also given sexy orange jumpsuits & goggles.

The group heading up the Black Hill


Geographers on a volcano (the three of us were all geography majors in college, so no, I’m not the only one)


Maria & me dancing on the volcano



Curran & Annie modeling their jumpsuits


Our guide was this Aussie guy who irked me by explaining for the ladies how to go slowly and for the men (who were told they weren’t allowed to brake or they’d be called pussies) how to go fast. This of course made me decide that I had to go as fast as possible just to prove him wrong. I ended up going first with Annie. My friend Curran ended up pushing me off, I couldn’t really think fast enough to try to steer like we’d been shown so I just held on and rode out the bumps and curves as best I could (this isn’t sand, mind you, but mostly small volcanic rocks so some parts weren’t exactly smooth riding). I made it all the way to the bottom before wiping out at top speed in the worst place to fall due to the larger rocks in the last few meters.

I tumbled a couple times, gathered my wits, got up, and the guy at the bottom showed me my speed: 68 km/hr (aka 42 mph)!! I was pretty stunned from the fall but he said good job and I limped off to check my wounds. I had some minor scratches on my left arm and right leg, but my crowning glory was on my left leg – clearly the pants had flown up leaving my leg exposed when I fell.



Everyone in the group fell at least once, except for Curran who actually slid to a stop halfway down the hill, but no one got scratched up as bad as me. In the end I had the top speed by more than 10kph for both men and women and got my name on the high speed list for women at the hostel: tied for #4!! Totally worth it.

Maria volcano boarding


Annie & me showing off our wounds (Annie does have one, you probably can’t see it though!)


Look at me, I have a record!


The rest of the week we spent in my site celebrating Central America’s independence from Spain and at various beaches. As if I wasn’t beaten up already, I tried surfing since Curran & Annie had done it before and wanted to get some wave-riding in. Nicaragua is actually a fantastic surf spot due to favorable winds created by the big lake. I picked up some more bruises from that adventure (including a beauty from getting whacked by the fin) but I did manage to ride in a couple small waves on my knees and kind of almost stood up a couple times!

I’ve never seen sunsets as beautiful as in Nicaragua


Sand castle triumph


Clearly I had an amazing time traveling and hanging out with my friends, but now it’s back to site for the last 2 months of classes and continuing to plug away on my random projects. Oh, and healing up – don’t worry, my leg is healing nicely.