Home on the Highway - San Francisco to Ushuaia, Argetina in an 87 4Runner
05-25-2012, 07:49 PM
#241
Registered User
Thread Starter
Border fiasco behind us we drove deeper into Nicaragua. Nicaragua is the land of volcanoes. Pretty much everywhere you turned your head your eyes would meet at least one or two of them towering over the horizon. On the road to Leon we were passing many parks that looked good for camping.
We turn down the road into one of the parks, A guard meets us at the gate. We tell him we want to camp near the Volcano. He seems confused but then explains there is a road that goes up the Volcano and points towards some farmers and their cows plying up some path.
We ask “Can we camp up there?” He says “Sure!”
So we headed off towards the “road”.
We end up in "traffic" behind a farmer, his horses and his young son. The "road" appears to be more of a cow path that farmers use to move their cattle from pasture to pasture.
After slowly creeping behind this farmer up this horribly rutted and rocky path for about 15 minutes he stops and asks us what we are doing?
We tell him we are trying to drive up the Volcano to camp....
He says he has never seen anyone drive up this road and it gets pretty rough ahead. I ask him if he thinks its possible to continue, He replies “Maybe…”
We push on further up the volcano, the road continues to deteriorate the higher we get.
I am mashing in 4x4 over huge boulders, the path is barely wide enough for the 4Runner to fit. I was having a blast tackling this challenging trail, letting the 4Runner do what she was born to do. The farmer is enjoying watching these crazy ass gringos drive up his volcano. Poor Lauren is bouncing all over the truck, worried about breaking our home while driving up this crazy path.
The farmer is now on-board with the adventure to drive up this Volcano. Him and his son are going up ahead of us clearing huge differential murdering boulders out of the way and helping me pick lines to climb up and over rocks, cliffs, and washes.
After about an hour of mashing the living crap outta our truck we reach a point where we just cant clear the differentials any longer. The farmer looks heartbroken. He offers up his horse to Lauren and I to continue our journey. He wanted to take us back up to his ranch and to spend the night with him and his family.
We considered his offer. Unfortunately, the 4Runner was wedged in the cow path, Nothing else could fit through. I figured I should probably turn around and not leave my truck out here in the middle of nowhere blocking the way.
Sadly we had to say Thank you and Goodbye to our farmer friend and his son. We reversed in 4x4 for about 1/4 mile to a wide enough spot to turn around and start heading back down the mountain
Eventually we get back to the guard at the park gate. For some reason he was laughing his butt off when he saw us drive up… turns out that bastard knew it wasn't a trail for trucks! He was pretty impressed when we told him how far we got up though.
We caught a beautiful sunset that night as we drove into Leon, Nicaragua.
I also got pulled over TWICE in one day in Managua for legitimate reasons. It appears Nicaraguans actually enforce laws of the road. Passing on a double-yellow and using a turn-lane to pass is illegal here…
I explained to the first cop I was just a dumb tourist and he left us off with a warning.
The second cop actually confiscated my license and was about escort us to the bank to pay our citation. Before he pulled off towards the bank he asked where we were going for the day. I explained we were trying to get to Volcano Masaya. He starts laughing and explains we are very lost and completely off-track. All of the sudden he gives me license back, tears up the ticket, then pulls out his motorcycle, stops traffic both directions in the 6-lane highway and gives us a police escort all the way across town to the correct highway to Volcan Masaya. Talk about a turn of events!!
Rest of the story, more pics, and videos on the blog at http://homeonthehighway.com/volcano-driving-in-nicaragua/
We turn down the road into one of the parks, A guard meets us at the gate. We tell him we want to camp near the Volcano. He seems confused but then explains there is a road that goes up the Volcano and points towards some farmers and their cows plying up some path.
We ask “Can we camp up there?” He says “Sure!”
So we headed off towards the “road”.
We end up in "traffic" behind a farmer, his horses and his young son. The "road" appears to be more of a cow path that farmers use to move their cattle from pasture to pasture.
After slowly creeping behind this farmer up this horribly rutted and rocky path for about 15 minutes he stops and asks us what we are doing?
We tell him we are trying to drive up the Volcano to camp....
He says he has never seen anyone drive up this road and it gets pretty rough ahead. I ask him if he thinks its possible to continue, He replies “Maybe…”
We push on further up the volcano, the road continues to deteriorate the higher we get.
I am mashing in 4x4 over huge boulders, the path is barely wide enough for the 4Runner to fit. I was having a blast tackling this challenging trail, letting the 4Runner do what she was born to do. The farmer is enjoying watching these crazy ass gringos drive up his volcano. Poor Lauren is bouncing all over the truck, worried about breaking our home while driving up this crazy path.
The farmer is now on-board with the adventure to drive up this Volcano. Him and his son are going up ahead of us clearing huge differential murdering boulders out of the way and helping me pick lines to climb up and over rocks, cliffs, and washes.
After about an hour of mashing the living crap outta our truck we reach a point where we just cant clear the differentials any longer. The farmer looks heartbroken. He offers up his horse to Lauren and I to continue our journey. He wanted to take us back up to his ranch and to spend the night with him and his family.
We considered his offer. Unfortunately, the 4Runner was wedged in the cow path, Nothing else could fit through. I figured I should probably turn around and not leave my truck out here in the middle of nowhere blocking the way.
Sadly we had to say Thank you and Goodbye to our farmer friend and his son. We reversed in 4x4 for about 1/4 mile to a wide enough spot to turn around and start heading back down the mountain
Eventually we get back to the guard at the park gate. For some reason he was laughing his butt off when he saw us drive up… turns out that bastard knew it wasn't a trail for trucks! He was pretty impressed when we told him how far we got up though.
We caught a beautiful sunset that night as we drove into Leon, Nicaragua.
I also got pulled over TWICE in one day in Managua for legitimate reasons. It appears Nicaraguans actually enforce laws of the road. Passing on a double-yellow and using a turn-lane to pass is illegal here…
I explained to the first cop I was just a dumb tourist and he left us off with a warning.
The second cop actually confiscated my license and was about escort us to the bank to pay our citation. Before he pulled off towards the bank he asked where we were going for the day. I explained we were trying to get to Volcano Masaya. He starts laughing and explains we are very lost and completely off-track. All of the sudden he gives me license back, tears up the ticket, then pulls out his motorcycle, stops traffic both directions in the 6-lane highway and gives us a police escort all the way across town to the correct highway to Volcan Masaya. Talk about a turn of events!!
Rest of the story, more pics, and videos on the blog at http://homeonthehighway.com/volcano-driving-in-nicaragua/
05-25-2012, 07:50 PM
#242
Registered User
Thread Starter
05-25-2012, 07:50 PM
#243
Registered User
Thread Starter
05-26-2012, 01:16 PM
#247
Registered User
Thread Starter
We headed to Volcan Masaya. The only active Volcano in the Western Hemisphere you can drive to the rim of.
Look for the 4Runner on the left to compare to the crater
The volcano is surrounded by legend and lore.
The indigenous people would sacrifice young girls to appease the volcano gods to prevent eruptions. The indians considered the mouth of the volcano "the gateway to hell"
A spanish priest back in the 1600's placed this cross at the top of the Volcano.
The volcano is spewing tons of Sulfuric gas into the air. It is the largest natural polluter IN THE WORLD. You can barely breathe up there and cough the entire time. Definitely not a safe place to hang out very long.
The volcano went off in 2005 shooting huge rocks and gasses all over the place, lots of people were injured and cars were damaged. Now they have warnings to park your car facing outwards just in case you gotta get the hell outta there!
OBEY THE SIGNS
Prepared for a speedy escape
We took a hike up to the top of the ridge, Lauren is standing in front of an older volcano that is now dormant and filling in with plantlife.
Volcan Masaya
Read the rest of the story on the blog at http://homeonthehighway.com/volcan-masaya-nicaragua/
Look for the 4Runner on the left to compare to the crater
The volcano is surrounded by legend and lore.
The indigenous people would sacrifice young girls to appease the volcano gods to prevent eruptions. The indians considered the mouth of the volcano "the gateway to hell"
A spanish priest back in the 1600's placed this cross at the top of the Volcano.
The volcano is spewing tons of Sulfuric gas into the air. It is the largest natural polluter IN THE WORLD. You can barely breathe up there and cough the entire time. Definitely not a safe place to hang out very long.
The volcano went off in 2005 shooting huge rocks and gasses all over the place, lots of people were injured and cars were damaged. Now they have warnings to park your car facing outwards just in case you gotta get the hell outta there!
OBEY THE SIGNS
Prepared for a speedy escape
We took a hike up to the top of the ridge, Lauren is standing in front of an older volcano that is now dormant and filling in with plantlife.
Volcan Masaya
Read the rest of the story on the blog at http://homeonthehighway.com/volcan-masaya-nicaragua/
05-26-2012, 01:25 PM
#248
WOW, yet again! lol.... I KNOW you are going to make a HARD COVER book some day out of all of this, right? IT WOULD SELL! Not to mention, slap a DVD in there with music and narration... OH HECKZ YEAH! lol.
GREAT pics, crazy trail, lol... BTW, I had a flash of a movie come up in my head where a guy is in a trail like that/drycreek and lava comes rushing down, lol..... Glad no carnage, and WOW, the wifey looks as happy and beautiful as ever! BEST SMILE ON YOTATECH, IMHO! lol. Stay safe, guys!
GREAT pics, crazy trail, lol... BTW, I had a flash of a movie come up in my head where a guy is in a trail like that/drycreek and lava comes rushing down, lol..... Glad no carnage, and WOW, the wifey looks as happy and beautiful as ever! BEST SMILE ON YOTATECH, IMHO! lol. Stay safe, guys!
05-27-2012, 01:14 PM
#250
Registered User
Thread Starter
We camped at the Volcano that night. Next morning we pushed off into Granada headed towards Isla Ometepe
Isla Ometepe is an island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, a HUGE fresh water lake, 2nd largest freshwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and largest freshwater island in the world. The lake is so big is has BULLSHARKS, tarpon, and snook living in it. All saltwater species.
It also has 2 awesome volcanoes on it. One still active.
You can drive on the island but you need to take a ferry to get there. We bought some tickets and found a palapa to chill under while we waited for go time.
Loaded up
Volcan Concepcion as seen from the road as we mash around on Isla Ometepe
Main road/Airport runway. Dont get caught stalled out in the Runway when a plane comes to land
We stayed at a coffee co-op called Finca Magdalena, 25 Nicaraguan families all work the farm together. They recently built a small hostel/campground/restaurant. $3 a day for camping and around $1.50 for meals. Place was awesome.
Shot of the turn of the century processing house/hostel/restaurant
Made some new friends at the Finca, We decided to hike to the top of Volcan Maderas together. The finca suggested we hire a guide but after our last guided death march up Volcan San Pedro we said No thanks and hit the trail solo.
More pics and the rest of the story on the blog at http://homeonthehighway.com/isla-ometepe-nicaragua/
Isla Ometepe is an island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, a HUGE fresh water lake, 2nd largest freshwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and largest freshwater island in the world. The lake is so big is has BULLSHARKS, tarpon, and snook living in it. All saltwater species.
It also has 2 awesome volcanoes on it. One still active.
You can drive on the island but you need to take a ferry to get there. We bought some tickets and found a palapa to chill under while we waited for go time.
Loaded up
Volcan Concepcion as seen from the road as we mash around on Isla Ometepe
Main road/Airport runway. Dont get caught stalled out in the Runway when a plane comes to land
We stayed at a coffee co-op called Finca Magdalena, 25 Nicaraguan families all work the farm together. They recently built a small hostel/campground/restaurant. $3 a day for camping and around $1.50 for meals. Place was awesome.
Shot of the turn of the century processing house/hostel/restaurant
Made some new friends at the Finca, We decided to hike to the top of Volcan Maderas together. The finca suggested we hire a guide but after our last guided death march up Volcan San Pedro we said No thanks and hit the trail solo.
More pics and the rest of the story on the blog at http://homeonthehighway.com/isla-ometepe-nicaragua/
05-27-2012, 07:31 PM
#252
WOWOWOWOW
Hehehe. Hey, ... you ever drive down those roads near volcanic mountains and think, "Hmmmmmmmm, I wonder.....".... the rest of the statement shouldn't need to actually be stated! lol.
SO BEAUTIFUL, man! Stay safe! Wishing you traveling mercies as you move onto the next portion of the adventure
Hehehe. Hey, ... you ever drive down those roads near volcanic mountains and think, "Hmmmmmmmm, I wonder.....".... the rest of the statement shouldn't need to actually be stated! lol. SO BEAUTIFUL, man! Stay safe! Wishing you traveling mercies as you move onto the next portion of the adventure
05-28-2012, 10:45 AM
#253
Registered User
Thread Starter
Back on the mainland we book it down to San Juan Del Sur. This place is supposedly really popular for surfing. We checked out one suggested campsites and it was "BRO CITY". Not our scene, We searched around a bit and found a secluded spot called Matildas. $5 a night, beachfront. Sold.
We hooked up with some fellow overlanders. Our buddies from www.liferemotely.com in a 3rd gen 4Runner and our friends Zach and Jill in an Astro van from www.anywherethatswild.org. You can see us all tucked up in the trees
The beach was gorgeous and hot. We spent most of the day lying in hammocks and drinking cold beers. Its a rough life.
At sunset the beach would fill with zillions of hermit crabs
Went on a adventure into town over this cool bridge to resupply on rum.
Drinking rum and watching the sun go down on sunset beach. Life is good.
More pics and the rest of the story at http://homeonthehighway.com/san-juan-del-sur-nicaragua/
We hooked up with some fellow overlanders. Our buddies from www.liferemotely.com in a 3rd gen 4Runner and our friends Zach and Jill in an Astro van from www.anywherethatswild.org. You can see us all tucked up in the trees
The beach was gorgeous and hot. We spent most of the day lying in hammocks and drinking cold beers. Its a rough life.
At sunset the beach would fill with zillions of hermit crabs
Went on a adventure into town over this cool bridge to resupply on rum.
Drinking rum and watching the sun go down on sunset beach. Life is good.
More pics and the rest of the story at http://homeonthehighway.com/san-juan-del-sur-nicaragua/
05-28-2012, 10:54 AM
#256
Registered User
Thread Starter
