Cerro Negro

Just a couple more days left before school starts and so a bunch of us ventured out to Cerro Negro. Let me tell you a bit about this volcano. It is young, unique, and active. This volcano was formed in 1850 which makes it the youngest one in Nicaragua. The last time it erupted was in 1991 when it spewed out ashes. This volcano is one in a chain of volcanoes near Leon. As can be seen from the picture there is no vegetation on it. This volcano was also the site were Eric Barone set a record for the fastest speed on a mountain bike when he descended. I've heard varying speeds that he reached, but I conclude that it was in the 130 km/h range.
To climb this volcano we took the rocky ascent around the back which actually doesn't take that long maybe about 25-30 minutes. We walked around the rim of the volcano's crater to see the spectacular view off the other side. In the picture above, you can see the two other volcano's in this area. The most thrilling part of the trip is the decent on the front side of the volcano. This side is made up of fine volcanic rock which is almost like a rough sand. We ran down in about 15 min. It's awesome! Almost worth hiking back around for a second time. Some people have done sand boarding here, we just ran down.

Upon returning to Managua I had two low tires. So, I went right to get them fixed before everything was closed. The first place I went a guy was digging around in a tire with a screw driver and some other tools. I told them I'd be back (aka not sure I wanted you working on my tires). Second place I went to took both back tires off and found nails in each one. About 20 minutes and $5 later the car was in working order again!