Today's adventure was a little off the beaten track, so we designed our own tour and then sought out a car and driver. I found Julio Cesar Pineda via a recommendation on the Backpackers Nicaragua Facebook group, and we made arrangements via email.
Julio picked us up at 8:00 a.m. at our hotel in Leon for the 2 ½ hour drive to Volcan Cosiguina, located on a peninsula jutting into the Pacific at the far northwestern tip of Nicaragua.
Until recently, ascending Cosiguina required a long, hot hike all the way from its base. Now, there's a road that goes almost to the top, where a steep path leads the final 3/4 mile or so to the crater's rim. The trail is called El Sendero Los Tres Paises (the Three Countries Trail) because you can see into El Salvador and Honduras - and of course Nicaragua - from the top.
El Sendero Los Tres Paises trailhead
Volcan Cosiguina was once the tallest volcano in Central America, until a violent eruption in 1835 reduced its height in half, scattering ash and rock for thousands of miles. The explosion left a large crater, now filled by a lake over 500 meters deep.
Tom above the crater lake
Laguna Volcan Cosiguina
Hiking around the entire rim is possible but not particularly safe, and it takes several hours. We did a shorter hike, walking east along the rim trail for a few hundred yards to a second outstanding viewpoint near a communications tower before backtracking to the car.
Surveying our surroundings
Shrimp farms and volcanoes
Julio not only drove, but hiked with us as well, and his company was quite welcome, especially when we took a wrong turn on our way down and stumbled upon a small military base - harmless but disconcerting when you don't speak the language.
Leaving Cosiguina, we drove a few minutes north to the small town of Potosi, on the shore of the Gulf of Fonseca. We'd seen some large shrimp farms from the volcano, and here we came across a group of locals drying and processing the farmed shrimp.
Gulf of Fonseca from Potosi
Drying shrimp
Pulverizing shrimp
Pulverized dried shrimp
On our way back to Leon, we pulled over in a fallow peanut field to get a photo of Nicaragua's current tallest volcano, Volcan San Cristobal. Since Julio was with us, we got to be in the photo too.
Volcan San Cristobal - We love volcanoes!
The highlight of the day was Julio himself. As we rode for hours across the Nicaraguan countryside, he told us the story of his life. Julio is about the same age as Tom, and the things he's experienced in that time are almost unbelievable from our sheltered American perspective. Julio is an excellent guide and an incredible person. You should hire him yourself.
Our excellent guide, Julio!
After our long day, we relaxed at the hotel for a short while before heading back out for dinner. I chose El Mirador-Bar Terraza, a rooftop bar and restaurant just off the square of Parque Central. The food was great and also cheap. We stuffed ourselves with burgers and nachos.
El Mirador-Bar Terraza
Sunset from the bar
After dinner, we walked over to Volcano Day to claim our second free tank top, the one you get for leaving a good Google review, because we hadn't gotten around to doing it last night. These Volcano Day shirts are EVERYWHERE down here. I wonder why...