After a day of rest and sightseeing we jumped on the truck and headed to the Cerro Negro for some volcano boarding. Our two guides equipped each of us with some protective goggles, an orange jumpsuit and a board/sled after arriving in the national park around the volcano. It took us about an hour to climb Cerro Negro, including some stops for rest, water and taking pictures. From the top it looked quite scary, our bright orange truck just a tiny speck in the moon like landscape below. Our driver had a laser speed gun, so the competition was on! Having been on a sled since a little kid I expected to break my neck on such a steep and long decent. But of course, gravel doesn't slide as good as snow and ice and the speed wasn't was as crazy as expected. The gravel, dust and dirt hitting you in the face where another story though. Having braked at the beginning I only ended up with 69km/h, still the fastest of the day, wohoo!
The next day we left for Granada, the big rival city of Leon. A bumpy ride and stop-over in Managua, another ugly central-american capital, later we entered the colonial city of Granada. Sadly our first choice of hostel was booked out and the next three options where quite disappointing. So we ended up at Hostel Oasis, which turned out to be quite nice!
Feeling entitled to another day of rest we headed to the Laguna de Apoyo. The lake inside an old volcano was recommended to us by a young couple we met on the bus from Honduras into Nicaragua. We spent the day relaxing in the hammock or sun chair, swimming in the lake or just hanging in the water in one of the tire tubes.
Of course we had to visit the old colonial town and do some sightseeing. Having access to a kitchen we cooked a decent meal and had some leftovers for our big sea adventure the next day.
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| La Merced - Granada |