Volcán Cosigüina

Me: Hey Janine, thanks for leading this trip. This was the best weekend I´ve had in Nicaragua so far.
Janine: Yeah, wasn´t it great? Thanks for all your enthusiasm getting it organized.
Me: Pues, with enthusiasm alone you can´t move mountains, but you sure can climb them.

This weekend I made a trip with some friends to Volcano Cosigüina. We´d previously tried to plan the trip for a previous weekend, but only this time were we able to get enough people together. I went with my friends Sophia and Allie (fellow volunteers at Las Tias), and Harry, Adam, and Janine (guides at Quetzal Trekkers, who also organized and led the trip.) In addition, four Canadians (including three siblings) signed up for the trip as well. Our group of ten got along great--camping out, climbing the volcano, swimming at the beach, and playing games all weekend.

Cosigüina is a 870m volcano that sits at the very tip of Nicaragua´s northwestern peninsula. From that point, one can see the looming volcanic landscape of El Salvador and Hondaurus. In 1835, Cosigüina, then more than 3000m tall, erupted, in what is considered the largest volcanic explosion since European colonization began. Today the volcano is a relic of that former giant, but is easily summitable and contains a stunning crater lake.

We started out from León on Friday morning for the village of El Rosario, more than seven hours away. The ride there was a hot, bumpy, and dusty affair. The bus wound its way slowly over the pot-holed dirt roads. Though tiring, this trip allowed me to see a greater part of Nicaragua´s campo, and get a sense of how different rural lives are from city lives here.

Upon arriving in the tiny, almost forgotten settlement of El Rosario, we set up our campsite on the beach. We spent Friday afternoon swimming in the Pacific. I invented a very fun game in which you run from the shore into the ocean at full speed and get points awarded for how hilariously you fall over, collapsing into the waves. After a magnificent sunset, we built a fire, roasted marshmallows, and fell asleep outside under the stars.

We woke the next morning before 6 AM to begin the three and a half hour ascent of the volcano. We walked with our day packs up through a dry tropical forest, with temperatures rising above 90 degrees. It was a tiring walk, but the view from the top down into the crater revived us: Here, in the middle of one of the driest and hottest parts of the country, was a crater lake, filled with rainwater, a shimmering blue-green expanse, tucked away below the rim of a volcano like a jewel. Exuberant, we looked down at the steep, unclimbable slopes, and out across the gulf, across Central America. Clearly, we were standing on the cusp of something remarkable.

After lunch at the summit, we descended back through the forest. The day grew hotter still, and we were all rather thirsty and dusty when we returned. After an early dinner in a local comedor, we swam again. With Adam and Janine, I swam out quite a ways, out past the breaking waves. There, with the setting sun shining on the ocean, we gazed up at the volcano we had just climbed, and let the water soothe our bodies.

When I emerged from the water, a bunch of local Nicaraguan children showed up, and they challenged us to a soccer match. For some reason, I played goalie, but rose to the moment by saving eight shots ¨like a wall.¨ The game ended due to darkness and I went again for another long tranquil swim to cool off. That evening, my friends and I drank a surprise bottle of rum I had brought and spent the night joking and laughing. I slept again under the stars, with only the sand beneath me.

Sunday morning featured a swim in the hot springs in the nearby town of Potosí. We played tag, and I pretty much realized that from good friends all I want is for people to play and talk with me. I´ve found good friends this weekend, and it was great to go away and feel comfortable with them. Breakfast of gallo pinto and plantains was followed by an incredibly slow and drowsy return trip, pausing in the city of Chinandega for an excellent hamburgesa.

At that point, Harry traded hats with a Sandinista tailor, and he in turn invited us to ride gratis with him on his bus to León. There were a dozen buses going to León from Chinandega in that convoy, all filled with jubilant Sandinista supporters. They were attending a Sunday night rally in León at which Daniel Ortega, the President of Nicaragua, and Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezula, would speak. So the ride back to León was filled with bastante flag waving, cheering, clapping, and hooting. These folks were excited, and their excitement was contagious. (For more on our experiences at rally on Sunday night), see my next post.

As for this trip to Volcán Cosigüina, I was happy to be with my friends out in countryside. We had for a weekend our own slice of nature--sleeping on a completely undisturbed beach and swimming in the ocean. For me, to be with these people in this place was something to remember.