Telica Sunrise

(hugely out of date post!)

So we started work and the first thing I did was volunteer to swap a hike with one of the other guides who wasn't feeling too great. After doing all the prep the night before we had a 5am start to make sure our clients had a hearty breakfast before we headed out up Telica, a very active volcano.

An hour long chicken bus ride dropped us at the bubbling mud pools and we hiked a couple of hours across lush finca (farm) land before we hit the volcano itself. A steep and sweaty hour climb followed, and I was pleased to find myself in decent shape, despite the ridiculously heavy rucksack. As there's no water on the volcano and with this heat/humidity everyone has to carry 8 litres of water, as well as a tent and/or a chunk of heavy food - no dry noodles here!

The camp spot is just below the bellowing crater of a volcano that was chucking rocks at this very spot only last year. We headed up to the crater edge and peered down the vertical sides into the deep crater hoping to see lava but unfortunately there was way too much acrid sulphur smoke coming out to even get a glimpse, but the true size and power of this volcano was pretty evident. We checked out the bat cave, with loads of little bats skittering around when our torch beams disturbed them, and then we watched the sun disappear behind San Cristóbal, the next volcano in the Maribios chain and the highest in Nicaragua (1728m).

Marden, one of only 2 local guides, cooked a delicious veggy pasta followed by the obligatory roasted marshmallows, before we turned in for the night. In the morning it was a 4:30am start and we were quickly up the steep hill for a spectacular sunrise across the flat plains before the mountains I the north.

The second day of Telica is a short one, with about 2.5 hours down to what the guides call 'the desert', although TBH isn't as bad as it sounds. When we are really lucky we get picked up by one of the other tour groups who drive their 4x4s to here, but normally we have to slog through a dry river bed of a road for another half an hour before we get a long chicken bus in town.

There's an never-ending debate amongst the guys about which is easier/better, and after doing them both a bunch of times I'm leaning towards Telica being my fav. The crater is just awesome, particularly when the smoke clears for a few seconds and you see the lava river dribbling through the crater floor. I also like getting back to town before 12 as it's almost like having a day off, particularly of you have something the next day and need to start prep again at 6pm.Read more