Hiking El Hoyo volcano has been one of the most exciting and challenging adventures of all my life. It was my first hiking experience and it was very difficult, but rewarding because now I get to share the story with you. El Hoyo, literally, translates to “the hole.” Near the apex, the volcano has an enormous hole due to the erosion caused by very strong winds. This is an active volcano that belongs to the Marribio volcanic chain and is located on the outskirts of the city of León, Nicaragua. El Hoyo volcano has a height of 1,050 meters and the last eruption was in 1954. It has some vegetation in comparison with other volcanos such as Cerro Negro. I’d like to warn you not to hike this volcano on your own, you should really contact a tour agency, so you don’t get lost, dehydrate and died. Here is a news article from La Prensa in Nicaragua that you can read about two brothers that went hiking this particular volcano and unfortunately only one made it alive.
Anyway, we contacted the tour guide and drove early morning from Estelí to León. Here we left our car and hopped onto the tour guide’s vehicle and drove to the volcano site. The volcano is about 30 minutes from the city. We started our hike around nine in the morning. There were five of us, including my husband, my brother and my sister-in-law, and the tour guide. Within less than ten minutes my sister-in-law had given up and my brother decided to quit the hike to accompany his wife. Note that my sister-in-law had bragged about hiking mountains when she was single, so it was funny for us to see her give up so soon. My husband was determined and helped me climb the volcano. He pushed and pulled me upwards. For the first two hours of the hike, the path is on a slope of 60 to 70 degrees and the soil is dry and very slippery. One needs to pull upwards with legs and arms. We tried to stagger our vertical positions to void bumping into each other in case one rolls down. Even though it was very hot, near 40C, there were many trees for shade and rest. In our ascent, we saw breathtaking views of Cerro Negro volcano and could also see tourists hiking and sandboarding that volcano. We kept climbing up to about 900 meters and the terrain was much flat and comfortable to walk. Nevertheless, we walked for about two more hours until we got to the other side of the volcano and the view was just spectacular. We were so full of excitement when we saw the large hole. From our position, we could see the Asososca lagoon, Momotombo volcano, Xolotlan lake with its volcanic isle (Momotombito). This was an absolute and unforgettable experience. It felt cool at this height due to the strong winds. At this location tourist also camp, but we were ready to go back. The return took about two hours and it was somewhat challenging. This is because the sand is loose and one descent we fell a few times; likely, we didn’t suffer any major injuries.
Here are some pictures of this adventure:
I hope this blog post was helpful. I am working on the next blog post about my second volcano adventure. I’ll be creating a Youtube video, so stay tuned and subscribe to my Youtube channel. If you have any questions please do not forget to leave them in the comments section below. As always please be humble wherever you go!
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