The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

Walks in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Bogotá

Following a diverse six weeks in Colombia, my route back to Hastings, England was somewhat circuitous: via a week in Nicaragua, three days in El Salvador, and finally a one day layover in Bogotá, Colombia. A few interesting walks were the highlights of my journey.

Granada Cathedral. This city was my base for a week in Nicaragua, and features a very pleasant center with a large plaza and colorful Spanish colonial buildings, some fine restaurants, and miles of lake front walking.
Granada, view of Lake Nicaragua, the largest in Central America. While too rough for swimming, the linear park along the waterfront provided shady trails and a great opportunity for bird watching. I also spent a morning kayaking and birding with a guide among the nearby Las Isletas.
Volcán Masaya crater. Although it didn’t involve any walking, an early evening trip up to the rim of the most active volcano in Nicaragua is obligatory for anyone visiting Granada. The churning lava 1000 ft below the crater rim is hypnotic.
Trailhead at the Café Las Flores at 2300 ft altitude on the slopes of Volcán Mombacho. They produce some fantastic coffee, perhaps the best in Nicaragua. Most hikers took a 4wd to the crater, but I thought the cardio benefits of a 1600 ft climb would be worthwhile.
Volcán Mombacho crater trail through the cloud forest. There are three trails around the rim of the volcano, ranging from 1.5 to 4.7 miles in length. The trails are well-maintained in this ecological reserve.
The orchid Sobralia macrantha, seen on the crater rim trail
A fire-star orchid (Epidendrum radicans) on Volcán Mombacho
Looking down into the Volcán Mombacho crater. Eventually the clouds dispersed, but the day was too hazy for any good photos.

From Nicaragua I took a one hour flight to El Salvador, and immediately transferred to El Zonte, a sleepy village on the coast where the surf culture predominates. With only a couple of days in the country, there wasn’t much opportunity to explore, but I did climb the country’s highest and most active volcano, Santa Ana.

Volcán Izalco, Cerro Verde, and Santa Ana (left to right) on the road from San Salvador. Maize fields are in the foreground.
Lago de Coatepeque, seen from the road up to the trailhead for the climb.
Volcán Izalco from the Santa Ana trail. Coffee plantations are clearly seen below the trail here
Santa Ana crater, 2381 mslm (7811 ft). Clouds of sulfate gases are visible in the crater and the sulfur smell was quite strong. The last eruption was in 2005.
The Vagabond Hiker on the Santa Ana crater rim
My Hotel Palo Verde terrace view in El Zonte. I wasn’t exactly slumming it in El Salvador.
El Zonte beach at low tide. I happily airbrushed three people right out of this photo!

My flight schedule precluded a quick return to England from El Salvador, so I took advantage of a layover day in Colombia’s capital of Bogotá and climbed the popular Montserrate, which dominates this sprawling city of 8 million.

Vista of Bogotá from the lower portion of the hiking trail up Montserrate. There is also the option of a funicular (in the morning) or an aerial tramway (in the afternoon) if the nearly 500 meter (1600 ft) ascent over 2.4 km (1.5 miles) is too intimidating. (Confession: although I walked up, I paid the $3.50 for the funicular back down to save my knees).
Panoramic vista from the summit of Montserrate. It rises to 3,152 meters (10,341 ft) above the sea level, where there is a 17th century church surrounded by scads of stalls selling tourist tat.

I am now back in Hastings, enjoying first world amenities after nearly eight weeks in Latin America. The weather, however, has been a bit mixed. . .

A gorgeous dawn on Valentines Day over the English Channel in Hastings
Forty eight hours later and the morning vista could not have been more different. Storm Dennis is lashing the coast. And no, this is NOT a black & white photo.

Next week I fly to the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco, this time to Tenerife and La Gomera, for a series of day hikes. Then, following three days exploring Lisbon, I will head a bit further down the coast of Africa to the Cape Verde Islands for two more weeks of hiking, before coming back to Hastings for a long weekend. Somewhere in there I hope to have time to post a couple of blogs!

Happy trails,

The Vagabond Hiker

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