Volcanic activities

I went to León this weekend for the umpteenth time and along with my mate Gonzalo we had plans to hike a nearby volcano, Cerro Negro.

Cerro Negro is the youngist volcano in the Americas. Erupting from a field outside Leon in 1850 it first appeared as a small 20m hill but over the past 157 years and coutless eruptions it has grown to 650m.

Anyway, it proved not as easy to get to Cerro Negro as I had thought and we had to go with a tour. The tour we went with however was slightly different than most in that whist we hiked to the top over a gas filled volcanic wasteland, we "snowboarded" down.

Yes you did read that right.

The eastern edge is covered in fine (ish) volcanic sand and gravel and whist it took an hour to ascend it took only a matter of minutes to descend a 650m, 60 degree slope.

What a rush. Whist I dont know my speed, the fastest recorded had been more than 50 kph!

Okay they might look more like sledges than snowboards but the adreneline rush was quite the same I assure you (up until last year they did descend upright on snowboards but due to significant head traumas and near loss of limbs they had to adopt a slighly safer approach. Vocanic rock isn´t that forgiving!)

Anyway just another day in the life of Nacho........

Music

Last weeks 6 month celebration was marked well with a group of us going to the capital Managua to see Calle 13 in concert. Calle 13 are the current kings of reggaeton.

Reggaeton, originating in Puerto Rico, is Central Americas music of choice and whist popular in the US it´s yet to have much impact on European markets. Look it up on iTunes if you fancy, however I imagine most of you will not become instant fans. To be honest last year I hated it. On coming here second time around I continued disliking it but all of a sudden I have become a fan. If you can´t beat them join them.

Along with reggaeton the more familiar Latin sounds of Salsa still heavily influence day to day life and along with Bachata and Merengue the hips have taken on a new life of their own.

Dancing will never be the same again..........

6 months

Last Wednesday I celebrated 6 months being in Nicaragua. At times it feels like its flown by and at others it feels like an age with so much having happened. With the beginning of a new semester and a new six month period, as always planned, a new volunteer coordinator has arrived. Gonzalo arrived from Spain a few weeks ago and we have been working together in the hand over phase. Whilst a tad sad to be handing over my role I feel very proud of the work I have done as Coordinator and also feel very comfortable in leaving the role in more than capable hands. I feel Gonzalo will lead the organization to the next level, where it certainly needs to go.

For me I had thought with the culmination of the role of Coordinator I would pack up and leave to the soundtrack of The Littlist Hobo playing in my ears but I just can´t do it quite yet. After 6 months Nicaragua and its people have quite a hold on me.

For the time being I am continuing working in a school and maintaining my contact within the 4 communities and generally enjoying the pace of Latino life.