What is Volcano Boarding?
The Volcano Boarding tour was one of the major things we were excited for on our trip to León. If you have never heard of this, basically we climbed to the top of a volcano called “Cerro Negro” and then sat on a board and flew down it, kind of like sledding. It is an active volcano covered with ash and black sand making it perfect for sand boarding.
Tour Options
Many bloggers and travelers will tell you that Volcano boarding can be done on the cheap… and it can. However, we went a different route and used a company called Mas Adventures. While it cost slightly more than the average company, I chose them because they give back to the community surrounding the volcano.
The tour guide, Anri, was the most kind, passionate, and thoughtful man. Along the 45-minute dirt road journey to Cerro Negro, he took us to the homes of multiple families. Having done volcano boarding tours almost weekly for 10 years, he knew the families and has watched their children grow. We were able to meet these families and give them school supplies that we had brought with us. They were extremely grateful, and the experience was one of the most impactful parts of our travels thus far.
It is important to note that we flew to Nicaragua with a bag full of school supplies from the US. Upon arrival we realized that we could have bought about 10 times the amount that we brought with us there in Leon. They had a market with EVERYTHING schools could possibly want and we actually could have made more of an impact if we had prepared to buy things there. We will definitely keep this in our minds the next time we do something like this.
What to expect from the tour
The tour itself was also incredible. Apart from eating real sugar cane for the first time, we had personal attention the whole way as we rode in Anri’s car and learned about life in León.
When we go to the volcano, we grabbed our boards and strapped them to our backs, ready to make the hike. It was windy, especially with the 6ft board like wings on our backs, but was a neat experience. At the top of the volcano there are some areas where you can actually feel the heat coming off the ground. Anri did the full hike with us and provided us with extremely detailed instructions on how to ride down the mountain and avoid crashing. We put on our denim jump suits, gloves, helmet, goggles and bandanas and took off down the steep slope of the volcano. Anri was toward the bottom of the hill and recorded us as we raced down and stayed on our boards. We watched many other volcano boarders from other tour groups wiping out all over the place, but we avoided the road rash and were sailing smooth thanks to Anri’s attentiveness.
On the way home we stopped at another local home and Anri gave us a bottle of the local Rumpope. Rumpope is a traditional holiday drink similar to eggnog in the US. It was a great experience to get a glimpse into local life while also getting to board down a volcano. This was something we’ll definitely remember all our lives.
If you’ve now read this and are ready to go on your own volcano boarding tour, you can book that here —-> Volcano Boarding Tours
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