The main draw in Leon for adrenalin junkies is Volcano Boarding down the Cerro Negro. That’s right, Volcano Boarding down an active Volcano. For anyone who doesn’t see how epic this is, here’s the story of a guy who broke the world speed record on the exact same volcano (in a latex suit - sexy!).

So…being the daredevil that I am, and constantly on the lookout to test my boundaries and push my adrenalin levels…not, I got myself pumped up to give it a go. Most backpackers book through Bigfoot Hostel, but most hostels will offer the activity. 

Cerro Negro is one of the youngest volcanoes in Central America, formed in 1850, and is one of the most active. Unique in its spouting ash rather than lava, the recent eruptions of ’92, ’95 and ’99 meant there was a perfect surface of ash to board down. It also meant that another eruption was long overdue… hence my panic levels rising. Luckily, I teamed up with a group of gals from the hostel and we all bonded over our mutual reservations. A problem shared is a problem solved and all that.

I was feeling pretty sick, having discovered yellow fur on my tonsils that morning, which in hindsight kinda helped me out. It meant the guide helped me carry my board up the volcano, a pretty treacherous trek over loose volcanic rock, approximately 1000 vertical ft to the top. Also, my fuzzy head made me think about it less and enjoy it more. After the hike up, and several stops to recuperate and enjoy the mind blowing scenery, we donned our sexual boiler suits, goggles and gloves and were ready for action.

Maximum speeds of up to 85mph have been clocked boarding down this volcano, however most of us opted to control our speed by digging our heels into the ash. We’d seen far too many backpackers walking around town with grazes and burns from touching the ground on their way down, or digging their heels in too strong and flying out of control. The problem with keeping a constant speed is the ash gets kicked up into your face and you turn up at the bottom literally chewing volcanic rock.

I don’t know how fast I went but the way down was freakin’ intense! Every so often I’d pick my feet up and dig them back in again just as I felt the board begin to lose control. It was exhilarating flying down the crazy steep slope, looking from the top like it dropped away into nothingness. It was all over way too fast, and I’d have loved to do it over and over. They should really put some kind of volcano escalator up there - that would be ace!

Nicaragua really is the land of volcanoes, they’re everywhere! Two of the most stunning are found on Isla de Ometepe, an island formed by two volcanoes rising out of the Lake of Nicaragua. The island is a well known stop on the backpacker trail due to its magical beauty and laidback feel. 
We went for a few days, travelling south from Granada and catching a ferry across to the island. We got on the ferry just before sunset and were lucky to approach the island under the magical glow of the setting sun.

We stayed at Captain Morgan’s, recommended by Lonely Planet, which turned out to be fantastic. I’m always wary of well known backpacker places, worried that everyone will be on their Gap Yah or worse, but this one turned out to be great. Set in lush gardens and all built in home-made tree house style, we had a romantic double bed in the dorm! They offered a different dinner option each night and had some great advice on things to do around the island.

We hired bikes and set off in search of the famous petroglyphs – ancient rock carvings that are scattered all over the island, dating as far back as 1000 B.C. The island is referred to by archaeologists as the Island of circles and spirals due to the intricate carvings found there.

Unfortunately we set off in the wrong direction – standard, and ended up cycling for 7 hours without seeing very much at all other than the beautiful coast line. On our way back we stopped off at El Ojo de Agua (The Eye of Water), a pool formed by a natural spring. The water was cool and clear, perfect after 7 hours of bike riding hell (Omeptepe has a lot of hills!). We sipped our cervezas and cooled off before getting attacked my mozzies and heading back for some relaxing reading time.

For info on Ometepe click here 

SURVIVAL TIP: 
Check your bikes thoroughly before setting off (a fellow rider had a lot of trouble with his) and plan your route. Any roads off the main highway are extremely uneven so be prepared to take a long time travelling a small distance. 

We had a few days spare so decided to check out The Monkey Hut situated on Lake Apoyo. We’d heard endless fab things from fellow travelers and just couldn’t bear to miss out on this idyllic chill out spot.

Lago de Apoyo is more or less evenly situated 30 minutes from either Managua or Granada. If I remember correctly it’s not too difficult to get to, however it’s better if you arrive with a group to share the taxi from where the bus drops you off. The crater was formed after a volcanic explosion 23000 years ago and reaches depths of 175m. We spent our few days here drinking caprihinas, eating home-made pizza, sunbathing and dive-bombing off the floating jetty. The caprihinas also helped us contemplate and appreciate the amazing feats that nature is capable of.

Furthermore, Lago de Apoyo formulated mine and Lisa’s new found friendship. There’s nothing like turning up to a new place after only knowing each other for a day and there only being a double room left. We laughed for about an hour after asking the owners “Do you have a pet…that’s a monkey?” (you had to be there), and the rest, as they say, is history!

I was super excited for my parents to come and visit me in Colombia. My parents (my mother especially) love a holiday so it didn’t take too much to convince them to come and visit me on the other side of the world. My Mom tried to cover her fears when she realized that the only time they were available was when I’d be in Colombia and for several weeks before the holiday she had sleepless nights over taxi kidnappings and ride by shootings. Luckily, we faced no such obstacles.
My first thought after embracing them both in the clammy heat was the list of goodies I had asked them to bring across the waters with them…marmite!...baked beans!...clean socks!...YAAAAAY! It’s amazing the things you miss from home.

After spending a couple of days seeing the sights in Bogota (all by air conditioned private vehicle of course), they flew to the beautiful sea side port of Cartagena to meet me. Cartagena is definitely the most expensive city in Colombia and there are many western tourists strolling the streets and plaza’s but it is truly beautiful. Areas of the city are still to see development and the old Spanish walls have been beautifully maintained.
We spent our days sipping cerveza’s in shady squares and looking at the stunning fading architecture. My father busied himself in the ships and war museums while Mom and I shopped for souvenirs.

There are several excursions you can take around the city, and we booked all ours through the hostel I was staying in, The Chill House. Dad opted out of the trip to the mud volcano, an experience which wasn’t quite as relaxing as we’d have hoped, but an experience none the less. You drive up to the mud volcano, a massive lump of mud with a slippery climb to the top. Hop in with up to 30 other tourists and bake in the sun as a Colombian man rubs you down. The thick, sticky mud feels strangely calming, and the inability to stay afloat is somewhat unnerving, ending in giggling from all parties as you float off from your group unintentionally and struggle to ‘swim’ back. After negotiating the dangerous climb back down, the group heads to the river where you can pay someone to wash you down, or as we preferred, simply do it yourself. I was finding mud in my ears for the next 3 days so whether you pay someone or not, you’re not gunna get properly clean for a while!

The other trip we went on, which Dad joined, was a day trip to one of the stunning offshore island beaches. I can’t remember the name now, but I will endeavour to update this blog post with more accuracy soon. Most backpackers head off for an overnight stop here which I think is much advised. The tours take you to a few other stops throughout the day which are basically excuses for you to buy things, and leave you with a very short amount of time on the white sand beach which is the bit you want to relax and enjoy. Furthermore, once all the boat loads of tourists have packed off back to town and the beach vendors have given up trying to sell you things, an evening in your hammock or thatched hut would be very close to a slice of paradise.

Costa Rica is a beautiful and diverse country. Heaps of wildlife, tons to keep adrenalin junkies happy and endless beach on each coast you can easily see why tourism has boomed here.
Travelling down the west coast from Nicaragua I found myself monkeying through the forest canopy one day and relaxing on a beach a few days later.

For the record I am petrified of heights, to the point where I once blacked out on the side of a mountain. Serious. However, in the spirit of facing your fears and all that and zip lining being one of the 'things' that all he other travellers had done I decided to give it a go. With two new friends I felt safety in the group and the day started well.
We went with Extremo Canopy Tours in Monteverde who offer all kinds of tours, the big draw being the mile long 'Superman' over Costa Rica's fabulous rainforest canopy. It started easy enough, with each zip line gearig you up for the next. However as each line got longer I started to freak out. The free fall Tarzan swing bought me to years and by the time we reached the 'Superman' line I had taken to closing my eyes and praying for it to end. I vaguely remember opening my eyes for a split second, seeing the sheer drop below and quickly closing them again. Saying all this I had a great day. I faced some fears, saw some beautiful scenery, learnt I NEVER want to do a bungee jump and now never need to put myself through the ordeal ever again. Yaaaay!

After seeing almost all Monteverde had to offer we headed to Montezuma, a beautifully quiet beach town on the west coast. We'd heard it was a bit of a party town but were pleasantly surprised by its laid back feel. The three of us managed to bag ourselves a beach side villa with cable TV and kitchen for a surprisingly small amount and we were set for 3 days. We had the beach to ourselves to get on in the day and sat around beach fires drinking rum by night. We also saw an AWESOME lightning storm from the waters edge one night and trekked up to a beautiful secluded waterfall to full one of our days. Fabulous.

Finally! We're on a beach! Man had we waited a long time for this. Tyrona, a national park on Colombia's north coast is where the Colombian's go for holidays. A slice of the Caribbean it's seen heavy development, especially in the sleepy village of Taganga on the outskirts of the park.

After a few days adjusting to the heat and munching fresh seafood we headed to the park. We decided to head to the only campsite with kitchen facilities and took some pasta and supplies with us to keep the costs down. We found a place recommended in the bible (Lonely Planet of course!) and Gemma convinced me not to get a mini bus and to walk 4km with 5 liters of water in my rucksack. I almost killed her. Once we'd done that we realised why the mini buses couldn't go any further and took a 30 minute hike up and over huge boulders to get to the beach itself. You can take a horse but with the steep ups and downs I reckon that'd be pretty traumatic too! It was tough but the scenery was great.
Once we'd settled into our hammock and had rum and pasta in our bellies we were planning tomorrows beach action.

Tyrona really is paradise. We stayed in a campsite just back from the beach (£3.50 a hammock) but for a little more (around £8) you can have a beach front hammock on Cabo San Juan. We stayed at Finca don Pedro which had kitchen facilities as well as a restaurant and a great communal atmosphere. A 10 minute walk to the nearest beach and another 30 minute jungle trek to pristine waters suitable for swimming, it was stunning. Logs washed up on the beaches and it was possible to find a secluded stretch of sand somewhere along the way. There are lots of treks to keep you busy within Tyrona as well as wildlife spotting trips but we stayed true to ourselves and spent lazy days on the beach sipping cerveza's.

Cali, the town most backpackers will get to when crossing in from Ecuador gets its name from the Spanish 'caliente' meaning 'hot'. My travel buddy and I were mega excited for scorching heat and a little trip to the zoo. After a stressful border crossing at Ipiales, we wanted something to cheer us up. For anyone interested we'd arranged a full day of travel to get us to the border town before dark. Horror stories of robbings on these borders are rife, especially the Colombian guerrilla ones.. (Now I realise these are all ridiculous as Colombian people are some of the friendliest I've met). We arrived on time at about 5pm and as 6pm drew closer we were nearing the front of the que after about 5 pusher-inners had jumped ahead. "Heeeey, that's how they do it in South America", we mused. A que was forming at another window but we held our ground as the light faded.

There was one woman to go before us when the window closed and the guard fucked off. Brilliant. As she pushed her way to the front of the second que I grabbed Gemma's arm, smiled at the lady and said "We're with you!"
The lady in the second que stuck her arm out and blocked us so the three of us waited patiently.

The guard on duty had a particularly tight uniform bursting at the buttons and Gemma and I were giggling at his resemblance to a member of the YMCA when a gentleman piped up from behind "You think it's funny you can push in because you're westerners?"
Erm I don't think so Mister! In broken Spanish I argued that "Actually we've waited a really long time and loads of people pushed infront of us and were pushing with this non westerner so eeeeeerm no??!!" When Gemma added the brilliant line of "Noone wants to be out after dark!"

Everyone looked a little scared and confused, the guard grabbed our passports, stamped then quickly and told us to go. We ran across the border, were ushered into an unmarked car by a policeman and shit ourselves the whole way to our dirty hotel where we got takeaway pizza and watched horror films before our early morning bus to Cali. The zoo was necessary!

Cali zoo has tons of animals, lots of big scary ones like bears and lions and weird cute ones like meerkats and anteaters along with a ton of animals that I have no idea about. It was cool! They also had nice statues for photo ops, and this amazing 'make monkey facial expressions' mirror board. We spent a good half an hour pushing kids out of the way here.

We weren't sure if these turtle shells were for kids, but seen as they had small ones and then one that was less small we have it a go. Brilliant!

SURVIVAL TIP
Take a packed lunch to the zoo, the food's crap and overpriced.

Macchu Piccu was at the top of my bucket list and was the thing I was most excited to see in South America.
Most people do a 4 day Inca Trail (booked 6 months in advance) and others take a tour from Cusco a few days before, either a similar 3-4 day hike or for those who don't want the hard journey up the Inca train and then coach to the top.
I had booked a 2-day Inca hike along the original Inca Trail before leaving the UK (I don't find hiking particularly pleasurable) and was so pleased I did.
I woke up early on the day of my hike and was put on the Inca train where I went about a third of the way up and was hurled off on the side of the tracks. There I met my guide and we started up hill. The rest of my group had cancelled due to sickness so I got a private tour which was excellent. I practised my Spanish and learnt as much about the Inca's as I could.
The scenery along the way was spectacular, waterfalls, valley views and smaller Incan and pre-Incan settlements kept us entertained and were beautiful spots to take the necessary breaks. We chatted about how different we thought the world might be today if things had turned out differently for the Incas. Known for their warrior mentality the Incas had a great respect for 'Pacha Mama', the earth goddess. They only took from her what they needed and gave back when they did. They were also great thinkers, who built civilisations with complex water systems and mapped the stars. When they first met the Spanish they gave them gold as a welcoming gift, bad idea.

My favourite thing about the hike was walking through the Sun Gate and seeing the great Macchu Piccu nestled amongst the hills. We sat for about an hour looking at it, after regaining my breath which took some time!. My guide told me how no matter how many times he sees that view it is always like he is discovering it for the first time. It was magical.

After walking down to the town we had dinner and a good nights rest ready to see the site in all it's glory the next day. We got up early to see the sunrise, taking the bus up to the site (I got a stamp in my passport!) and then we waited for the sun to appear through the sun gate that we had walked through the day before. Their are too many amazing facts to share about Macchu Piccu, it truly is mind boggling. The stones within each temple fit together like a jigsaw, each block unique, and yet you cannot fit a blade between each rock. In one place, just to show their craftsmanship and skill the Incas built a curving wall between two natural stones with no purpose other than beauty and showmanship.

Complex stone hinges meant the city was secure, and a water system meant crops and inhabitants were hydrated. Scattered everywhere were signs of their belief systems, water fountains in the shape of frogs and an underground vault which opened up to the mouth of an eagle, believed to be where the dead were prepared for burial and then reborn.

Then I learnt about the Sacred Valley, a series of Incan settlements that lie around Cusco, and of which Macchu Piccu is a part of. The Incan king foresaw that the end of the world was near (which coincidently was foreseen to take place around the time the Spanish invaded, spooky). Believing that you travel to the afterlife via the Milky Way, the king began to build his own Milky Way on earth in order to control his destiny and pass through to the next life when his end came. Each town within the sacred valley lies directly below a constellation and from an aerial view the cities are built in the shape of each constellation. It literally is the Milky Way on earth. Pretty impressive huh?!

Many people sidestep Ica and head straight to Huacachina to sandboard and Nazca for the unexplained desert lines. Some come to Ica to volunteer to help restore the city after the devastation of the 2007 earthquake. I however made Ica my base and set off on day trips while contributing to the local economy. The town square was pleasant with winding streets surrounding it and a cheap lunch deal can be found on every corner.

1. SANDBOARDING AT HUACACHINA

The oasis at Huaachina is stunning and I can see why people want to spend a night here. A short cab ride from Ica the magical palms spring out from the desert and for me the place had a 50s nostalgia to it, where vintage screens sirens might come to live out their own Arabian Nights.
The real pull here is the sandboarding and I would recommend opting for a board an buggy package. For a third of the price you can just have the board but the dunes are steep and the real trill comes from ragging it full force. After a few crazy wheel spins and some face first tabogganing we watched the sun set over the dunes and all was calm. Until I screamed like a baby on the drive back!

2. ISLAS BALLESTAS

Las Islas Ballestas are known locally as 'The poor man's Galapagos' but then so are most other islands off the west coast of South America so don't get too excited. The trip consists of a few hours boating where you get up close and personal with penguins, boobies, pelicans and seals. I'd seen many of these animals somewhere more secluded on my trip so it wasn't super exciting but animal lovers and bird watchers especially would live this trip. I did find myself zoning out, imagining myself a crew member on some great expedition to research the mating rituals of sea birds and I felt a smile creep onto my face. Then I zoned back in to a seagull shitting on my right shoulder. Hey ho.

3. THE NAZCA LINES

I did the Nazca lines in a day from Ica. I remember it seeming difficult but it really wasn't, an early bus gave me time to book myself a helicopter ride, see the lines, have some food and catch the bus back before nightfall.
The lines were awesome. The flight is expensive, there's no two ways round it and you can see two of the lines from a viewing tower just off the highway, but its not the same.
Waiting for my flight to fill up I watched the National Geographic video play on a loop getting more and more excited. After a bumpy 20 minutes in the air it was all over, I'd seen them. It was ticked off the bucket list and I felt a sense of accomplishment. I have no answers for you. I doubt the alien connections, it's easy to see how man could make the lines, especially men with great mathematical and scientific minds capable of such wonders as Macchu Piccu and other similar Mayan civilisations. The why is still questionable but I won't ruin it for anyone wanting to go, the spirituality of these civilisations is evident everywhere in South America and for me it shows more of mans strength than it does anything else.

SURVIVAL TIP:
Take some snacks to the airport. I was advised not to eat before the flight due to air sickness but I booked the flight at 9.30am and didn't fly till 2pm so was bloody starving!