WOW!!!!!!! Unreal Man, can't wait to hear more about it!!!! Jacques, you are the Adventure athlete Extraordinaire :-)
Amazing!!! On 26 March 2012 00:57, Jacques Booysen <[email protected]> wrote: > I have a healthy obsession with volcanoes, mountains and the great > outdoors. Passionately curious of what the planet has to offer and of what > human beings are capable of. It all happened a few years ago when i did the > diagonal of fools on la reunion island and seeing the active volcano erupt > during the run, it was magic. Afterwards being curious of what other > volcano trail races existed, i stumbled upon a great report by Christian > Griffith's on a trail race named Feugo y Agua. Translated fire and water > from Spanish, it is a 100km wilderness run up two volcanoes on a remote > volcanic island in lake Nicaragua, central america (the piece joining north > and south america). > When i saw this race a few years ago i knew i just had to do this race no > matter what, by looking at this island on Google earth you will see what i > mean, it is quite unique. So i drooled over the lakes and volcanoes and > always had it in the back of my mind. The race was canceled last year > because of financial reasons, but the date was set for February 2012. > > Nicaragua is quite far from South Africa, so i added my own adventure to > the mix to make it worth going. I always wanted to fly somewhere far and > unknown and ride out of the airport solo with my mountain bike and explore, > and this was the perfect opportunity for me to make it happen. Nicaragua > lies on the pacific ring of fire and is bordered by Costa Rica on the south > and Honduras on the north, it has undergone periods of political unrest, > military intervention by the United States, dictatorship and earthquakes > but has reached a period of stability and are described as the safest in > the region. I did my research, and even though people tried to scare me > with all sorts of stories, they didn't manage to scare me. I was gonna see > for myself, armed with my mountain bike, running shoes, super potent bug > repellent, antibiotics and hammock, i was well prepared and on my way. > > So packed with the bare essentials like any adventure racer would as hand > luggage and only booking my bike as checked baggage on the airplane, i left > for two weeks traveling on the 4th longest nonstop endurance flight in the > world 17 hours directly to Atlanta with a slight detour near bermuda > avoiding a storm (these airplanes are amazing), so touching US soil for the > first time i connected to Managua Nicaragua with another 4hour flight. On > the connecting plane to Nicaragua, a German guy saw me stand out in between > the american missionaries with my South African passport, somehow he knew i > was not a missionary and not from the US, and seemed keen to chat, we > swapped seats and talked nonstop for 4 hours, what an awesome coincidence, > this guy turned out to be an epic German cartographer that has mapped large > parts of Nicaragua, central and south america and other parts of the world, > a true adventurer. I showed him my topographic map on my tablet pc and he > was impressed how well i was prepared and showed me the best way to get up > some of the volcanoes in the arch. On one of this mapping expeditions he > told me he traversed a large section of the volcanic arch on foot. His name > is Klaus Wiesner and he gave me one of his own maps he made of Nicaragua > for free, he said i needed it more, what a cool guy! > > Coming in over lake Managua for a landing at the capital with the same > name he showed me momotombo volcano (they actually have a geothermal power > plant there) and it's tiny offspring volcano inside the lake, > momotombito. This was very cool, and he told me that the US marines used to > do combat training there. We landed at the small but modern new airport in > Managua that lies on 11 seismic faults, in 1972 an earthquake occurred here > with a magnitude of 6.2 at a depth of about 5 kilometers beneath the centre > of the city. The earthquake and after shocks caused widespread damage, > among Managua's residents, 5,000 were killed, 20,000 were injured and over > 250,000 were left homeless. Even though no recent earthquakes took place > large parts of the city was never rebuild, and made the country even poorer. > > I booked into basecamp for my biking and running adventure, the best > western hotel opposite the airport after crossing the pan american highway > with Huge trucks like you see in trucker movies, hectic trucks, trucks you > want to avoid getting your bike close to. But my plan was to take back > roads and stay away from cars and experience the country from the top of my > seatpost in style. Double story buildings in Nicaragua are rare, and > because of the earthquake you can understand why. The settlements around > the airport and next to the hotel looked similar to the townships we get > here in south africa, very poor. > > So i mounted a small bike carrier on my seat post to carry the heaviest > stuff and took the rest in a 40l backpack on my back, leaving my cardboard > bike box at basecamp. I had my GPS and had semi planned were i wanted to go > each night. It was quite a liberating feeling riding out there with my bike > into the unknown on dirt roads in a strange country that only speaks > Spanish, but i ended up having the time of my life experiencing tropical > living in one of the poorest and richest countries in the region. Poor > money-wise but rich in volcanoes,natural beauty, passion for poetry, art > and friendly people. > > "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door," he used to > say. "You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no > knowing where you might be swept off to." ~J.R.R. Tolkien > > My goal was to get to the island Ometepe in lake Nicaragua in time to do > the 100km Feugo y Agua race and then cycle back, i ended up cycling more or > less 30km every day, taking it easy before the race, exploring and having > my own adventure. > > I cycled through very poor areas seeing very interesting landscapes, > interesting people and funny dogs along the way. A couple of nights i > stayed at a biological research centre inside the dormant apoyo volcano > crater with clear blue lagoon inside hosting Cichlid Fish found here and in > lake Malawi, i swam inside the lagoon most mornings, a very inspirational > place with awesome people running it. It was a little though for me to get > out of the crater with my loaded bike in the mornings but this place was so > awesome that it didn't even cross my mind. I also cycled past the active > volcano of masaya where i peeked inside the crater seeing the raw earth at > work, one night i went with a group to explore it at night, we went into > old lava pipes looking for vampire bats and found some, on our way out we > had a peek into the main crater to see the glow but were quickly > overwhelmed by the sulfur and quickly left the reserve. > > From the port of granada on lake Nicaragua that hosts fresh water bull > sharks, i took the weekly 2pm ferry witch was a 4 hour ferry ride to > ometepe, the twin volcano island on lake nicaragua. My bike was loaded with > the cargo and i spend most of the time in my ticket to the moon hamock > outside on the upper deck of the ferry hanging and seeing on my gps were i > was. > > We saw spectacular views of the island and the active volcano, la > conception when we arrived at altagracia just before sunset. Waiting for us > at the port were locals with stacks and stacks of banana's or plantain > that would be exported off the island with the ferry continuing through the > night to the south of the lake. I got off and i managed to get my bike > after a while, and then there were nothing, no lights just a pitch dark 3km > road i knew i had to take to get to the little town from the > port according to my gps. Here after 100m i went over the handlebars with a > heavy backpack on my back after trying to turn on my red back light and not > looking, hitting a big rock my bike stopped and i bought land like we say > when you fall off your bike, it was quite funny, but i won't mind buying > real land there. Then out of nowhere locals on bikes came riding past and > trying to stay in my light as they had none or very basic lights, i must > have looked like a spaceship to them with my gps and all my lights. My gps > helped me allot. All towns in Nicaragua are small, they basically have a > central plain surrounded by a few settlements. Altagracia was even smaller, > but i managed to find accommodation and eat something and get a nice nights > rest in a very basic room with a bed and a fan, this day was full of > adventure for me. > > The next morning i took some 16km of rough dirt roads directly to > mayogalpa riding next to la conception volcano, a near perfect cone-shaped > volcano, mayogalpa is where i was gonna stay for 4 days while doing the > 100km fuego y agua ultra marathon, this is also where the race would start > the next morning. I settled into a room that looked like a converted horse > stable with a door, bed and fan. > > We departed in one of the chicken buses from the town of mayogalpa on the > island of ometepe to the Feugo y Agua race briefing. Chicken buses are > yellow america school buses found all over Nicaragua, locally decorated > and converted to transport people,chickens and basically anything. After an > awesome island style sunset and pre-race dinner we had the race briefing > and a traditional island dance show by the local ometepe children. > > Twenty 100km runners lined up at the 4am start, and then, boom! Fireworks > were shot into the air with sparks missing us by meters, giving us an extra > jump in our step and off we were. Starting on the main road in mayogalpa > the road turned into dirt trails with bush tunnels making use of sections > of road, we were on our way to the malderas volcano on the other section of > ometepe by means of the narrow strip of land joining the two volcanoes on > the island, almost like a bridge. Even though it was early it was already > hot and humid. > > We ran on trails and a piece of black sand beach on the island bridge > section and missed the turnoff, allot of runners got lost here, but by > using common sense and an detour through the forest, we eventually found > the path after losing a bit of time. Running though the true > wild banana forests was quite cool where after we reached the natural > springs. From here we followed the road on the other side of the island > bridge section next to a more white colored sand beach to the start of the > volcano climb at porvennir 31km into the race. At this stage i think i was > already dehydrated as i was drinking allot of water and sweating from the > heat and not getting in enough salt. Luckily they had salt tablets at this > aid station and i took a few with me. > > I followed a very rocky trail up to the start of the climb of the malderas > volcano and started heading up into the cloud forest where i heard howler > monkeys making freaky noises in the forest. The higher you go up on this > volcano the more dense and humid it gets, the trail transforms from always > wet mesh of roots in nutrient rich soil into mud pools in a jungle gym > where you have to use all fours to pull yourself up the volcano on strong > tree roots. Cloud forests are green, growing, glowing gardens of trees, > ferns, orchids and mosses in an always cloudy or foggy atmosphere. > Climbing through these forests reminded me of the film "Lord of the Rings". > Movement was very slow and tiring here, but an awesome privilege to > experience. I reached the rim and descended into the crater, at the bottom > of the crater there is a lake composed of rainwater and a natural spring. > It measures 300 by 250 meters, but with the fog one can see only about 50 > feet across. This is 41km into the race, it was cold up here and I used the > aid station to get some food down and refill my water. > > Going out of the crater the forest became so dense at places, that you > would have to stop and figure out how you are going to get though this mesh > of moss covered roots, eventually you would spot the gap where you could > slide though. I have never seen strong dense roots with moss and forest > like this in my life, it was very cool. Coming down though the mud it would > drop steep at sections where you just had to hang on to roots and slide > down. > > I reached the bottom for the volcano at the 50km mark after 10 hours, 2 > hours before cutoff. I had blisters from wet feet, i was semi dehydrated > and slow. Had a peanut butter and banana sandwich and hit the hot stretch > of dirt road leading to the other side of the island and volcano la > conception. At this stage 10 out of the 20 that had started the 100km had > dropped out for various reasons. I was last and slow, but i make the > cutoffs. It was probably my dehydration and blisters that made me so slow. > > As the sun set in an spectacular mushroom cloud over the volcano, i headed > for flor the start of the la conception climb, here i went though > local villages where my feet was starting to get very sore and i was > getting very slow but i was determined to finish. The music the locals > listen to here is exactly 15 years behind the rest of the world, so as i > was making my way to flor i had to listen to remixes of the > titanic soundtrack and other 1997 hits. I reached flor, the 80k mark in > 17hours, and had 24hours to finish the race. Even though i was slow, i > wanted to finish even though i made the cutoff with just an hour to spare. > > At this checkpoint the race organizer informed me that he can't stop me > from going up la conception, but he wouldn't advise me to go at my current > speed, as it is very steep and can be very dangerous. So this is where i > ended up flipping a coin, a cordoba - nicaragua money with a triange on the > one side. If it would fall on the triangle i would go up to volcano, if not > it would stop here. It landed on the side without a triangle and this is > where my race stopped. It was an awesome race, and i would love to do it > again. So i did 80km in 17 hours and got a dnf, i enjoyed it and learned so > much and are not killing myself about the dnf. It is definitely an > experience of a lifetime i can recommend to any trail runner passionate > about mountains and nature to put on their bucket list, a though one. > > After the race i stayed on the island for a couple of days exploring it on > my mountain bike, whereafter i took the weekly midnight ferry to granada > where my bike was stacked between lots of bananas. I did some off the > beaten track exploring involving steep hike a bike sections, being chased > by dogs, fired upon with fireworks, and escorted by friendly locals on the > rim of the apoyo crater. > > I made my way back to the city of managua, and finished a > very successful adventure. > Jacques > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "DarkAndDirty" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/darkanddirty?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DarkAndDirty" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/darkanddirty?hl=en.
