A VOLCANIC VOYAGE – discovering Telica on your own terms Why would you pay someone to take all the adventure out of your trip? Don't get on the tour bus! Keep the excitement in your travels do it in your own way.

Travelling is the perfect way to unearth hidden treasures. Everyone is out there doing it. The quest these days is not in deciding where, but how. With a little bit of courage you can feel like an intrepid explorer no matter where you go.
That’s how we felt when my husband and I solo hiked Telica, one of Nicaragua’s most active volcanoes. Online information suggested the possibility of hiking without a guide, so we decided to cycle to San Jacinto and ‘see what happened’. While unable to source a map, we managed to glean some friendly tips. Apparently it was easy to spot the trail.
Initially we planned a two-day hike camping at the bottom of the volcano. Telica is famous for the opportunity to see red lava bubbling. However, being unable to source information on the campsites exact location, I became wary. With only bike panniers, carrying all of our camping gear was going to be uncomfortable. So I somehow managed to convince my husband that we could do the entire 24 km hike in 5 hours, setting off at dark to make the crater before sunrise. ‘Los Hervideros’, a nest of boiling mudpits and fumaroles, has a small campsite where we stored our bikes and borrowed hammocks, waking at 1am to the sound of gurgling mud. Our headlamps lighting the way we set off, with only small bags crammed with food and water.
Barely managing to avoid a huge coral snake slithering in the dark, we made several wrong turns. The ‘path’ was sometimes long grass over our heads with bugs screeching intensely. Breaking through dense scrub and scrambling through rocky valleys, the night was hot and we were covered in sweaty dust. Tiny owls flew across the beams of our headlamps as we hiked through the night.
It was just after sunrise when we reached the 700m wide crater at the summit. Smoke wafted like a stirred caldron as we braved closer to the edge. It was incredible to be the only people up there reveling in the solitude.
The light of day made it no easier to find the path and we finally completed the hike at midday. Collapsing after cold showers at the campsite we scarfed well-earned ice creams before jumping back on our bikes. Luckily we were only riding to Leon that afternoon, a mere 25km further.
My advice; definitely take a map & compass. From its summit Telica offers clear views of the volcanic chain running to the south of Nicaragua. Hike in the afternoon, camp overnight 10 minutes from the summit, catch incredible sunset and sunrise views, and check out that bubbling magma.