When we arrived in Nicaragua at the end of February, our first stop was in Ometepe. It is an island in Lake Nicaragua that is made up of two volcanoes: Concepción and Maderas. We hiked part of the way up Maderas, but Maderas is dormant.
Earlier this month we drove two hours to visit the Masaya volcano, an active volcano. Nicaragua sits on the Ring of Fire that runs down the western coast of the Americas and has many volcanoes. The name Masaya may sound familiar because on March 4 of this year Nik Wallenda walked 1,800 feet across the mouth of the volcano on live television.
The first eruption ever recorded at Volcán Masaya occurred in the early 1500s. Another large eruption happened in the late 1700s and you can still see the black path of the lava flow from that event as you drive up to the volcano. There are three craters that makeup Volcán Masaya. There is a paved road all the way to the top with a large parking area and viewing area.
We arrived at the park a little after 5:00 on a Monday night. It had been raining earlier in the day and when we got there the volcano was closed because the sulfur dioxide gas coming out of the volcano was too thick. We were told that there was a chance that it would clear up so we decided to enter the park and take our chances.
There is a small museum, a new restaurant (that is closed on Mondays) and a great outdoor area with playground equipment. We were the only people there. The boys ran around outside for a while and we toured the museum.
The museum, although small, is well done. There is a part that shows the history of the volcano. The Spanish called it the ‘Gates of Hell’ and would make human sacrifices to it. There was a section of the museum that described the tectonic plates and science behind the volcano. There were also sections devoted to wildlife and plants found in the area.
At 6:30 pm we got the ok to drive up to the top of the volcano. Lucas and Henry were scared. Henry really did not want to go. He kept asking how we were sure we would not fall in.
It was getting dark when we parked at the top. There was still a large plume of smoke coming out of the top of the volcano. We walked to the edge of the crater and looked over the edge. Bright orange river lava was rushing at the bottom. We could hear it like a raging river. It was mesmerizing. Lucas and Henry were apprehensive at first, but once they saw the lava, and saw that they were not going to fall in they were excited. Henry even asked if we could go back the next day.
We only stayed for about 10 minutes. The cloud of sulfur dioxide gas started moving towards us and we decided it was a good time to head home.
Lucas and Henry learned about volcanoes earlier this year. It was incredible that they got to see an active volcano with the lava flowing in it. This is one of the many reasons we decided to worldschool. We are not getting to execute our worldschooling plan right now like we thought we would because of COVID, but we have our moments. It makes us excited for the future once we can travel again.
