Cerro Negro travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises, spa and resorts

Cerro Negro is a volcano in Nicaragua, about 10km from the village of Malpasillo. Cerro Negro is a very new volcano, the youngest one in Central America. This fresh magma landmark offers a sudden experience through a roughly 1,600- foot volcanic slope, having air-rushing trajectory previously occupied by you and your volcano board.

Such an extreme sport is often notably at Cerro Negro. It’s hot, dusty, a little scary – and crazy enough to be fun. Cerro Negro is accessible from Leon, a colonial city historically emerged as a center of left-wing intellectualism that is about 15 miles southwest of the roughly 2,388-foot mountain (the height can vary from eruption to eruption, experts say). The city was once a Sandinista stronghold occupied by poets, revolutionaries and university students.

Nowadays despite from its spectacular churches, bright-hued colonial architecture, Leon is becoming synonymous, at least among backpacking adventure-seekers, with volcano boarding. The picture shows boarders receiving instructions on how to balance, steer and control speed on the slope, which is 41 degrees at its steepest.

With pebbles and dust flying everywhere, the ride is bumpy and the noise deafening. The whole run only takes a few minutes to descend.

Volcano boarding,  isn’t easy to master, but you can’t help but want to try. It’s a cheap adventure and a novel challenge, with actual technique required and speeds recorded. The post-boarding mojito Bigfoot throws in didn’t hurt either. Bigfoot Hostel runs boarding tours Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The price is $28, including $5 park admission. Dorm rooms at the hostel cost $6 a night; there are also four double rooms for $13, and a room for four is $28.