Hiking Maderas Volcano

It's been two days since we've seen a volcano, so guess what ... time for another volcano! Ian and I are suckers for mountains, so climbing volcanoes seems the thing to do. The hotel arranges for a guide to meet us bright and early as this climb will take 6-8 hours. We head out around 7 AM and walk through the lowlands near the lodge, passing plots of beans and corn, people's houses and horses. Eventually, we meet up with the main trail up the volcano. Suddenly, everything is steep, way steep. During the next few hours, we find ourselves climbing up root structures and on our hands and knees. Some places are so sketchy, they have ropes installed. We feel like we are WAY off the beaten path at this point, especially considering that Jaime, the owner at La Omaja, tells us that this hike is gnarly. Gnarly sounds perfect to us! We finally make it to the top, where we don our jackets. It's cold up here! Dropping at least 20 degrees. Ian and I decide that if we moved to Nicaragua, we'd have to live on top of a volcano or else we would sweat to death. Downhill seems much faster for some reason and we make it back to La Omaja in time for dinner, a bottle of wine and a dip in the pool. We are fairly exhausted after the hike and sad to be leaving Ometepe. I take a mental note that 2 days/1 night on the island is not enough. For all future Nica trips, I will suggest at least 2 nights on the island.