How do I start this… this weekend I spend it in Leon. I am actually sitting in Bigfoot Hostel. When we first got here we, as in Diego, TayTay and I, were feeling a bit out of place. This is a big party, backpackers with dreadlocks kind of hostel and we were not sure what we were getting into. We actually hadn’t looked into the Hostel in much detail. We pretty much chose to come here because on its website it said that they were the main Volcano board place. So out of excitement and desire for some adrenaline rush we booked a room for the three of us. So here we were Friday night three college students anticipating our next day adventure.
Saturday morning we didn’t want to get out of bed. We didn’t even want to shower and voted on showering after the day’s adventure; after volcano boarding down Volcano Cerro Negro. We ate breakfast at a small café restaurant adjacent to the hostel, its actually part of the hostel itself. We were running a bit late and didn’t have any sunscreen so Diego and I borrowed some. Before we knew it we were on our way to the volcano. It took approximately an hour to get there. We drove out of the city and up into the Volcano Cerro Negro…
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| Volcano Cerro Negro in Leon, Nicaragua. Last time it erupted was in 1999. |
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| All we had was this one board and an orange jump suit.. |
The walk up the volcano was not as bad as it may sound. Even though I had my board/sled I made it up without dehydrating. At the very top there were other groups from different hostels boarding down the slope. They were going pretty slow. Our guide Rich was pretty disgusted at how slow there others were going. He told us that he will show us the proper way to slide down the slope. Before going down we walked around the crater and touched the very warm, black, volcano ash. ( I have some reminding in my shoe!)
Alright, so the time came for us to slide down. Our guide Rich told us the instructions and said that he will run down the slope and ones he is down by the truck it will be time to look for his signal to start coming down one by one. We had two lines, and I was on the right one. We started going down… I ended up on the back of the line.. I was actually supposed to be second to last but for some reason the guide signaled the left side to go. I was left on top of the volcano. I had by this time seen my entire group go. Some had kicked a lot of ash onto their faces and others had flipped. There I sat, waiting.. Waiting.. Waiting on my signal. I waited for a long time not knowing what was going on… later I came to find out that the guide was sending me the signal but I couldn’t see it. So after waiting forever I decide it was time for me to come down. I actually saw Diego and TayTay wave so I thought maybe that was the sign. I said good bye to the volcano from where I sat and I started to go. As I started sliding down I panicked for a bit because I forgot to put my goggles on! I held on to the handle vertically just like Rich had said to do. I was going to the side a bit so I tapped the opposite side to get back on track… I tapped a few times actually and then I started to speed up. There was a point during this first half (hahahha yes first half) that I was starting to really feel the pace speed up. I tried to keep straight but I was caught up in an unexpected bump I think… or a turn that made me FLIP! I flipped ones, twice, definitely a third time… maybe even more don’t really remember. I let go of the board as I flipped and tried covering my face… I laid there… thinking I was done with boarding down the volcano and tried to catch my breathe… I had to slow my breathing and take in deeper breathes. I looked up a bit upset to not find anyone coming to get me… I was like damn you all! But that was just a split second of a thought. I realized I was only half way down the volcano.. or something like that.. so I got my board and got back on and thought.. “let’s get this over with because they aren’t going to come up here damn them” Ha.. Little did I know that I was going to beat their speed. I started going down again and in my head I comforted myself, I knew I was going to flip again.. this time down there… but It would be okay because I might not flip … or maybe I will but they will be closer and come get me.. Right? So I was going down pretty smoothly… Then I gained more speed and I got a bit freaked out so I started tapping with both my feet but I wasn’t exactly slowing down.. I think I might have been slowing down the speed of which I was gaining… ( the jerk .. lol) and as I reached the bottom of the volcano I was thinking… “I did it.. and I can do this… I can, not flip!”. But I had a lesson to learn and I flipped… badly … I flipped so many times that I wanted to lay there but I didn’t I sat up. Thankfully the group started coming my way and helped me get up. My face burned… my legs burned.. my left hand had two swollen fingers… but I was one. I was intact. I went 62Km/hr.
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| I do not know exactly when this was taken but there I am. |
I have some battle scars.. my face… my hand… my legs and now… my whole body is sore! But I made it.. I had the fastest speed.
Epic.
Epic.
