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Even the name sounds tough. It is one tough volcano. To climb that is. It is no longer active. There is foilage all around the crater. I sucked into climbing this volcano with my compadre thinking it would be somewhat of a....well, I don't know what I was thinkin...but nonetheless, that is what my adventurous spirit has been calling for. BUT 5 MILES in an average of some 40 degree incline? The last two and a half miles, being around 45 degree inclination or so? That is more than I bargained for at my condition and weight. I told my compadre not to poosy out on me but after a few minutes into the climb, I was the one in danger of being the so called name.
It was one dam tough climb. When I finally got to the halfway marker, where they had a slide cable for a canopy ride, they told me I had another 2.5 miles left, ALL UPHILL at at least 45 degrees inclination. I was going a snails pace. I had to stop and rest after each winding incline, some so many steps, and rest at least for 5 or 10 minutes. While going up, I ran into this lady with her kids carrying provisions up the hill. They appeared in this trail, and they told me that they came up from a road on the backside of the volcano. TOUGH COOKIES. They had been on foot for some 5 hours from where they came from. They finally got a ride from a compasionate driver as they waved to us leaving. I wondered why they just didn't stand by the road until someone could take them up. These people have alot of dignity and don't really like to ask for things. I ran into the least amount of beggars in any poor country I have ever been. Again. TOUGH INDIANS. The only way I can describe it is torture for the last mile. All in all, it took me 4 hours to get to the top. The other adventurous locals climbing were in good shape, all mostly young and healthy, and took an average for them about some 2.5 hours. On the way up, they had trucks designed for heavy steep climbs. They looked like RUSSIAN type built trucks. I may have yelled out "WHIMPS" to the truck load of whimpy backpackers taking the ride up, but otherwise, they were the smart ones. I didn't see any backpackers humping this volcano. I had been told that there were records broken by Norwegian and Swedish maybe Canadian ladies that made this in 45 minutes. They obviously trained for this thing.
After leaning on my stick with towel on my head watered down to keep me cool, and sun beaten face, I MADE IT WITHOUT THROWING IN THE TOWEL. Next time I decide to climb a volcano, I won't say it so vaugely. Surprisingly, I am not too sore as I thought I'd be. This volcano is credited for creating "LAS ISLETAS" in the grand LAKE NICARAGUA. How did I get back down? I took the ride down. FORGET GOING DOWN ON FOOT. That was some adventure that pushed me to a limit. On the top, I was so hungry I ate a hot dog and some pastry with a couple of cans of juice. I definately won't climb a volcano from its base again unless I train for a year. My advice for adventure types is take the ride up, and walk around the top, or if you still want to play RAMBO, go easy. VERY EASY up the hill and rest alot. Don't try this at home. Going down at the base, we ate in this site some TIPICO type food. It was delicous. The lady even kept it open to serve us, and made some interesting conversation. We then took the bus back to GRANADA.
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Please tell me there was at least a photo of Arrrnold up there. 
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