Nicaragua 2022

Wednesday26October

We start our second Nicaraguan week with a little surprise, the car has a flat tire!   The stony paths of the day before got the better of our right front tire...   The objective of the day was supposed to be the ascent of the Cosigüina volcano but we will have to revise our plans, at least if all goes well, just delay our arrival on the volcano... So we take the spare wheel out of the trunk and Christophe starts removing the tire...

But barely two nuts removed, a neighbor arrives and absolutely wants to do the job for us!   We won't be able to stop him and in less time than it takes to say it, he installs our pretty yellow spare wheel on its nut...

We now have to find a tire dealer or at least someone who will be willing to repair our tire... We go to the nearest town, El Viejo, and after asking at the town gas station and some pedestrians for an address, we arrive in front of the recommended mechanic. Neither one nor two, he takes charge of the tire and puts it in the fridge...   filled with water to find the leak.  ;;

And hop, we will hardly have wasted any time (one hour though). Time to put the spare wheel back in the trunk, our repaired tire in its dedicated place and a few tens of cordobas to the heroic repairman, here we are already back towards our target of the day, the Cosigüina volcano, located at the very north of the country 70 kilometers from here.

Ninety minutes later, here we are at the start of our hiking trail.

And here we go!

On the way, we meet more animals than hikers.  

A white-necked puffbird (Notharchus hyperrhynchus).

On the way, "ruta de evacuación" signs indicate the direction to follow in case of a problem with the volcano. Except that the signs sometimes indicate different directions... It's going to be complicated to reach safe zones...    

A huge ficus with magnificent "branch-roots" shows us that the volcano was rather kind to this part of the mountain...  ;;

Finally, here we are at the edge of the crater! 3h40 since we left...   We are at 872 meters altitude.

"In 1835, one of the most violent historical eruptions (with those of Tambora, Krakatoa and Mount Katmai) decapitated the volcano, reducing its altitude (estimated at 2,300 meters before the eruption) to only 872 meters" © Wikipedia

In the distance, we can guess a sea and mountains. We are a few kilometers from El Salvador and it is the Gulf of Fonseca that separates us from the neighboring country...  

The difference in altitude between the lake and the top of the crater exceeds 600 meters in places.

And on this side, it's Honduras!

And to think that almost 200 years ago, there were still 1500 meters of mountain above our heads... Phew...  

Some black vultures (Coragyps atratus) glide in circles around the crater.

Here, you can pitch your tent to make the most of the volcano! As for us, we have had our fill, and we shouldn't delay too long to go down to avoid returning in the dark... In 2016, a French tourist got lost for three days... But he didn't have a gps and that's not our case. We know exactly where we are and we are going to follow the pseudo paths towards the north-east...

"The Punta San José is located on the coast of the Gulf of Fonseca and was formed from materials ejected during the eruption of the Azte volcano in 1835, one of the most powerful in the country's history. It is a haven for bird life, sheltering birds found nowhere else and serving as a nesting site for the green turtle. The area is also known to house the dry forest of La Salvio, one of the best preserved in the region, and constitutes a natural habitat for the last ten specimens of Ara macao, an endangered red parrot"

Fatigue is felt and the descent is not so easy with the vegetation quite dense in places. And the paths don't always go where we want...  

And in addition, plants seem to send us stinging particles or hairs from a distance... I have the impression that it is this plant that is never far away when it prickles us, but finally this Acacia hindsii is not the culprit...   Mystery...

Ha on the other hand, this one, I identify it well, it is a papaya tree with all its papayas.  

Finally, we will take 2.5 hours to reach our car, and the night we wanted to avoid arrived, but fortunately only once out of the forest! Tomorrow, it will be calmer, we will join the city of Masaya!