Today, I slid down a volcano on a tiny wooden board...

Did you know that volcano boarding is actually a thing?? I would say that it takes extreme sports to a whole new level, but aside from the fact that you are sliding nearly straight down the side of a volcano at up to 90kph on a billion tiny rocks that jump up and try to eat your face, it isn't all that extreme.

(That's the slope we slide down.)

After a 45 minute minivan ride on the most bumpy and uncomfortable road in Nicaragua (in my book anyway...) we arrived at Cerro Negro Volcano, a beautiful little bump in the ground made up almost completely of black volcanic rock. 

We were given a board...

...and a backpack, and for the next 40 minutes our team hiked up to the peak while carrying our equipment. Beneath our feet, we crunched stones that sounded like packing snow or tiny little shells, and stepped carefully between loose boulders that at any moment could roll away and crush us all. 

Cerro Negro is one cool volcano! (Er, hot.) It is an active, smoking, sulfer smelling volcano that is overdue for an eruption. In 1999, it had a little mishap and lost some of its lava. It left a neat "frozen" river though!

As we walked, we discussed our sanity and wondered what on earth would posses people to seek entertainment in such a way as to speed down a volcano on a little board. We didn't come up with any answers, but our guide assured us there was a Bible in our equipment bag so we could pray before our decent. He was kidding, but it didn't really make us feel better about what we were going to do.

At the top of the volcano, the wind threatened to to tear our boards out of our hands, and we could see several other volcanos. The photo doesn't do it justice, but the view was incredible.

We paused for some last minute photos...

(It looks like a fake background, but it's really not!)

...and opened our equipment bag to find our sledding gear!

Oh yeah, sledding ready! The suits are necessary to keep the flying sand and pebbles out of your clothes. It did an awful job, so I can't imagine how dirty we would be without them!

We put on the jumpsuits, knee pads, an elbow pads, and started to get the rundown on controlling our boards...

The rules were simple: lean back, feet back for breaks, pull rope, and keep one hand behind to steer. Sounds simple enough, right? I was pretty excited to be wearing such an awesome costume...

Or maybe because I was gonna slide down a volcano in 30 seconds - when it took 40 minutes to go up. Originally I and two other guys had been planning to actually "snow board style" it down the hill - standing up with a board strapped to your feet - but our guide said its not nearly as fun, so we settled with sitting on the sled.

There were two trails to choose from: a fast and a slow trail. Of course I opted for most extreme. After a bit of hesitation to push myself off the top of the volcano, I was off, sticking my feet in the gravel in front of me and my hand down behind. Rocks flew in my face and my goggles made it nearly impossible to see; I felt as if I was going to slide faster than my board, and slide off the front to roll to my death. At one point, the sled trail took a nose dive and I wondered who on earth came up with such a sport...

But just like that, it was over, and I survived!

Seriously, though! The things we humans  do for a little adrenaline! 

At the bottom of the hill, we took our suits off and shook pounds of sand out of our clothes, shoes, ears, and hair. I'm pretty sure I still have some in my hair though...

Besides that burst of adventure, I have been staying in Leon and loving almost every minute of it. It is such a beautiful, active yet peaceful town. There is so much to do and so much to see!

My favorite part, I ran into a good friend we had met in Guatemala!! It is so incredible that the world can be so big and yet small enough to run into people in different countries more than once. So, I have been spending time with wonderful people from the hostel as well as Chapi and his Nico friends! 

Last night we went dancing and had such a great time. One of Chapi's friends happened to be a dance teacher and taught me some more meringue! I absolutely love dancing meringue (mer-ang-gay) and its so fun to watch people who really know how to dance! And these people definitely know how to dance, especially Chapi. Seriously the best little dancer in the world, and he is such a happy soul, always. 

In the morning I again ran I to him on the street and he invited me for breakfast - I wish I had pictures of it, but he made the strangest meal ever. It was good, of course, but I have no idea what it was! Something that looked and tasted a bit like a mix of tofu and potatoes...as well as a drink made by soaking "tamarindo" beans in water. So weird, but so good. 

Then, for quite awhile we sat around and the Nicos played guitar and drums and sang for me. They would make up songs that made no sense and we would all end up laughing and rolling our eyes.

Such happy times; such great people.