When we arrived in Nicaragua we didn't know that they were inventing new sports by the day. With more localized volcanoes in one location than anywhere in the world, Leon Nicaragua is the perfect place to do what they call volcano boarding. Basically you sit on a wooden plank with a solid metal plate attached to the bottom. Then for more fluid and fast motion they glue on smooth counter top plastic to make you go super fast. When arriving at the hostel Bigfoot, we noticed on the chalk board that the record was 87 km/hr. We had to try this!



A group of 20 people were picked up on an oversized cattle truck where they hearded us into our seats and then unloaded us at the base of a cinder cone volcano that is still active. Yes...still active, maybe we would be boarding faster than we thought if this thing starts to blow! We continued to hike for 30 minutes to climb to the top of the 700 meter volcano. The group suited up in orange coveralls provided by the staff and we couldn't forget the chemical goggles they provided or we might lose an eye from flying rocks and dust on the way down. In groups of two we all cheered as people went racing down the volcano face sitting on their boards and holding onto a makeshift rope attached to it. Your only hope for steering and breaking is using your feet. This tactic can also be your mistake as you could crash instantly by planting your feet too hard as some people found out.


When you start you don't know what to expect. Dirt and rocks are flying everywhere, in you eyes, nose, mouth and ears. Derek took a good bruiser to the head that drew blood and some people ended up scraped and bloodied from their wipeouts. Even at your fastest, you really are not going as fast as you think. The experienced guides only got up to 76 km/hr but they looked like a blazing dirt trail coming down the mountain.





When done we all hopped back up into the cattle truck where everyone was grinning ear to ear with beers in hand celebrating our victorious attempts at volcano boarding.