Volcano surfing (more like sledding) down Cerro Negro in Leon, Nicaragua

You probably won’t have the chance to slide down a volcano anywhere else in the world, much less an active one. But Cerro Negro’s pebbly black sand just lends itself to throwing yourself down its steep sides.

ANOTHER OLD TRAVEL JOURNAL

The Place: Leon, Nigaragua (Cerro Negro)

The Date: March 16, 2009

Journal Date: March 23, 2009

“Volcano surfing involved lugging a heavy wooden board to the top of Cerro Negro, and then sledding down what must be about a 90-degree angle (it isn’t)… It wasn’t the hardest trek I’ve ever done, but it was still scary because of the strong winds the higher up we got, and the narrow paths. At one point we were told to hold our boards horizontally and flat to let the wind pass easier because if the wind caught the boards it’d probably toss us away. I went through one stretch where all I did was say Hail Marys.

And when it became time to slide down? Freaky. I thought Danny, our guide, was joking when he indicated where the “track” was. It looked so steep. My fear ebbed as people kept going and looked fine, but I was still nervous (despite my oversized bright-orange Guantanamo Bay jumpsuit). I confessed my fear to Danny, who said, “People never regret going too fast, and they always regret going too slow.” Despite that, when I took off in my race against Grace, who also pledged to go slow, I used the “tap-tap-tap” method Danny told us to use to go slower (punctuated by my nervous yells of “taptaptaptaptap…!”). Only halfway through did I decide it wasn’t too scary and put my feet completely on my board – and I loved it. I was fast and furious, until I crashed. But even that wasn’t so bad, and I just giggled as I got back on. I ended up with a top speed of 37 kph – far better than Grace’s 29 kph, but far behind Danny’s 60+, Richard’s 50+, and the record’s 80+ kph.”

What You Should Know: To go sledding with Bigfoot Hostel it was $23.50, plus another $4 to enter Cerro Negro. There are other surfing tours, but before you sign on, inquire what their definition of surfing is. While we were up there we saw another group that didn’t have to put on our silly-looking protective gear (goggles and heavy orange jumpsuits). However, they surfed down standing (more like real surfing) and they also moved incredibly slow compared to us sledding speedsters.