|
Using the city of Leon as my base, Volcan Momotombo stands at 1280 meters. As I found this picture after I had climbed Momo, as I went by myself, before the trek I had no idea how to ascend it or what to expect. Getting up at four am, on a bus by five am, on the shores of Lake Nicaragua by seven, by noon I had circled around the volcano’s mid-section and was in a position to ascend the primary lava corridor to the crater. Arriving shortly after one pm, I was surprised at having to walk through the crater to get to the rim (usually it is the other way around). Cloud free, I had excellent views of Lake Nicaragua, the volcano chain that extends seventy kilometers to the Northwest, as well as the surrounding landscape and lava fields. At the peak of the crater rim, under the dry surface crust the red clay was moist, hot and slippery; so hot I was unable to kneel or sit down on the surface. Through the steam and sulphuric gases, my only companions here were millions of beetles (alive and charred), grasshoppers, flies and wasps. Two and a half hours later, with lunch dined and pictures taken, I descended from the crater and entered the lava fields as the sun went down. Using my camera as a flashlight, I found a great piece of flat lava, built it up with rocks to keep the wind off me, and spent the night under the stars, cricket festival to my right, a gently smoking Momotombo to my left, around me the jagged outlines of an eerie lava field lit by moonlight. Come six am I resumed walking until I made Puerto Momotombo by ten thirty, catching a bus and returning to Leon. Thirty-two hours in total, I saw two owls, two coyotes, six green parrots, and my first ever wild jaguar -- the latter being a type two to three times the size of a house cat. Of the fifteen volcano treks I have done to date, my overnight lava field sleep by Volcan Momotombo remains the most memorable. |
