Our first hike was the western volcano, Volcán Concepción, 1610 m high. The return trip took about 6,5 hours, and we walked about 16km. First we went through the forest, steep and sweaty in the heat, stopping occasionally when our guide showed us different plants and their usages. Once we got about halfway up, we took a bit longer break. As we got above the tree line we were greeted by strong winds which cooled us down quickly, though we took care to apply some extra sunscreen as the sun was still very strong. The last part of the hike we basically walked straight up the volcano on the steep, rocky and windy path. The crater was very impressive, and we enjoyed the incredible view from the top as well as a small lunch before we headed back down. In the trees on the way down we saw some howler monkeys, a capuchin monkey and plenty of blue jay magpies.
The last four days we spent at Finca Mystica, a place a bit further into the jungle on the south part of the island, with cozy bungalows and great food. The shuttle we took between our accommodations was kind enough to stop at Santa Cruz, where the weekly Saturday market offered various food and snacks, many of them vegetarian or vegan, so we could buy a bunch to bring with us. In the afternoon, we decided to join some other people at our hostel going kayaking in the wetlands. While the wetlands area was beautiful and we got to see lots of birds, turtles and a caiman, we had to paddle pretty far to and from this very small area, where we only spent about 10 minutes. However, we had good company and once we returned to the kayak place we enjoyed a few beers and the sunset before we headed back to Finca Mystica.
The next day, it was time to hike the second volcano, Volcán Maderas, 1394 m high. Maderas is a very old volcano which is now completely covered in forest, and with a crater lake. This hike was very different from hiking Concepción, and unlike any other volcano hike we have done before. When we got to about 1000 m elevation, the trail became very steep. Landslides had put big trees across the path, and we had to climb over, under and squeeze through branches and tree trunks, and often having to use both hands to climb our way up towards the summit. It was a lot of fun, definitely one of the more adventurous hikes we’ve done! As we had heard that it was possible to swim in the lake, we let our guide lead the way down into the crater. The trail down was very muddy and it didn’t take long before the both of us had stepped on what we thought was solid ground and ended up with a mud-covered shoe. And so, we were looking forward to a dip in the lake to wash off the mud before having some lunch. However, it turned out that the lake consisted of about 70% mud and just a small layer of water on top. Our attempts to swim ended up getting us more dirty than when we went in! If you ever find yourselves doing this hike – don’t try to swim in this lake. It’s not worth it. Overall we really enjoyed the hike though, and after hiking two volcanoes in just a few days we were happy to spend some more days just relaxing.
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| cloudy cloud forest |
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| view of Concepción |
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| the non-swimmable lake |
Apparently we timed our stay with the last Sunday rodeo of the season, an event where all locals gather and there is plenty of food, drinks and music. This was however the same day that we hiked Maderas, and as we are not big fans of rodeo we decided to stay in, drink some local rum, and rest our tired feet. Others who went told us of a fun, chaotic evening with DJs as well as brass bands playing at the same time – no doubt an interesting experience.
Around this time, as we had been considering how and where to finish our trip and when to return home, the flight prices suddenly went up a lot, and we had to hastily buy a very expensive flight ticket back from Panama City. We also started to plan out a few stops in Costa Rica and Panama, and booked our accommodations during Easter as Semana Santa, as it’s called here, is a big holiday and we didn’t want to risk waiting and finding everything fully booked.
Time for our last stop in Nica, for which we chose Guasacate – the northern part of Playa Popoyo. Most hostels here were either expensive or fully booked, but we ended up finding a place via AirBnB – Casa La Aventura - that had a few rooms as well as our choice, a van remade into a “double room”. As with most of the Pacific Coast in this region, Popoyo is a surf spot, but we chose it as a place to relax, walk along the beach and read books.
The hostess at our place told us about a turtle sanctuary a bit further north, where she had been lucky enough to see hundreds of turtles hatch, so we decided to rent bicycles for a day trip there. We stopped in El Astillero on the way, a small fishing village, where we had some nice lunch, including tostones con queso (fried plantain with big chunks of cheese). The last part of the road to the sanctuary was very steep, and we arrived tired, warm and sweaty only to find out that there were no turtles there, and that the beach still required and entrance fee to be paid. We managed to find another beach nearby where we rested a bit, before starting again on the long ride back. At least we got plenty of exercise, but I would say it’s not worth the trip (especially on rental bicycles) without knowing for certain it’s turtle season. A day walking along the beach and cooking some dinner was a nice way to finish off our time in Nica before heading to Costa Rica.
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