Americas

[Visited: April 2000, December 2022]

Before going to Ometepe, I had not set my mind on climbing the volcano of Concepción. It is the highest point of the island, and when we drive past it, it is covered in clouds. Our driver claims the best time to climb is early morning, and my inner drive to climb cannot withstand the idea of going to the top. I have climbed it partly on my first visit and had to go down because I did not have enough time many years before. I feel that I want to reach the summit now, and when we get back that evening, I arrange a guide. After a few accidents, it is not allowed anymore to climb Concepción independently. When the guide José shows up the next morning, it is just getting lighter. I jump on the back of a motorbike of a Canadese traveler, and we drive up the road on the west side of Ometepe. We pay our entrance fee and continue up the road.
Soon enough, we take a trail on the right, which gets always narrower. It starts to rain, and we slip and glide up. When we reach a big tree, the trail gets too narrow and steep to continue. We get off the bikes, and get ready to hike up. The rain is coming down always more heavily, and I get out my rain cover. José now tells us that reaching the summit will not be possible because of the rain. I convince him that my only reason to hike up is to reach the top, and he finally agrees we will give the summit a try anyway. The trail goes up steeply, and José and I stop at times to let the Canadese guys catch up. The narrow trail meanders through the forest, and after over an hour of pushing us up through forest and rain, the forest opens up and we reach the viewpoint. Clouds swirl around us, and there is not even a hint of an opening in the white wall allowing us a view of the summit of the Concepción.
Instead of turning around, we continue hiking up in what now is a totally different landscape. We walk on raw rocks, past plants with enormous leaves - always higher, further into the clouds. Here, the wind is blowing mercilessly, and we need to concentrate on threading the sharp rocks and keeping our balance. When we touch the earth, we feel that some of the rocks are warm. When José finally stops at a boulder, he declares we have reached the 1610m summit of Concepción Volcano. Below us, he explains, is the crater of this active volcano. After a short break, we start our descent. When we reach the viewpoint, the clouds finally starts to break. At one point, we even see parts of the shore through openings in the clouds. When we reach the village of Moyogalpa, the sun is shining, making us finally dry. We have done the hike up and down in less than 5 hours. My travel companion and I get our bags, walk down to the harbour, and take the ferry back to mainland Nicaragua. Before my eyes, I see the clouds disappear, and within an hour, we get a marvellous, clear view of the cone of Concepción Volcano.

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Concepción Volcano (Nicaragua)

Concepción Volcano > Nicaragua > Americas

[Visited: April 2000, December 2022]

Around the World in 80 Clicks