León

The morning came quickly. I got up and started packing my bags for our departure from Coco Loco. Another aventure awaits for next 5 days.

We say our goodbyes to everyone and leave for León around 9am. This time we are able to get a better view of the various villages as we travel through them. When we arrived last week it was extremely dark. People are out in the streets doing their thing.

We get in León around 11am and do our check in at our Hostal. We have the whole place to ourselves. It is quite warmer in town than at the resort. Thankfully there is a little breeze.

We decide to go and walk around. We quickly visit a large cathedral and then head to find a place to have lunch. After finding a restaurant and taking a seat, the waiter comes to take our order. As he is doing so we hear a very loud siren. The waiter does not look stressed so I decide it's nothing. Ben seems a bit more curious and asks what the sound is for. The siren is to announce that it's noon.

After lunch we get ready for our hike. Our guide Grethell picks us up directly at the hostel. We have a 1:45 drive to the based the volcano. The first 25 minutes are smooth driving. The remainder is however in a very bumpy dirt road and we get thrown around from side to side. I wish I had a handle to hold.

We get to the base of the Telica Volcano. This volcano is still active. Our guide explains that its last activity was a month ago 🌋. She also explains that there are wild horses, scorpions and snakes. Watch where you step. Our hike to the top takes about 45 minutes. The circumference of the rim of the crater is around 750m. It is quite the hole. We do not see the lava as the sulfuric smoke blocks the view but we can hear it hissing.

We buy drinks from a guy who carries a cooler at the top everyday and enjoy the view. He offers beer or coke. After our drink we head to another spot to go watch the sunset. On our way we make a small detour to see the bats in a small cave hidden. As we approach the bats hear us and start flying everywhere. There are many bats coming and going flying inches above our heads. It is quite interesting to watch and hear.

When then head to a spot to watch the sunset. As we watch, we chat with our guide to learn more about her an what she does for fun in her spare time. She has 3 dogs and loves music and movies. She is very kind.

After sunset we walk back to the top of the Volcano to try and see some lava. We still see nothing, Grethell says that we have to wait for a bit more darkness. We see a small crack with orange lava open for a couple of seconds and then it disappears. All excited we try and see if we can spot more. 2 minutes later we hear a small explosion. Our guide asks if it was us that threw a large rock. We say no, she then says "Sorry guys we have to go". Because it's active she does not want to take any chances as she has had one scary encounter 3 years ago and had to run down. We are not running down but walking fast enough. Thankfully we do not hear any other loud sounds from the Volcano.

We get into the Jeep and start our bumpy ride back to the city. My butt is happy when we finally arrive on pavement. We are taken to a bar where we share a beer with Grethell. We eat supper there and then take a nice deserved shower before going to bed.Read more