Buenas Noches from Leon! My name is Hannah, and today I am the Lider Del Dia. Since today was our fun day, I can say that we went on an adventure. We left the hostel at around 7:30 am and took an hour bus ride to the base of a volcano. This particular volcano is called Cerro Negro–the only volcano in the world you can slide down on! Cerro Negro is approximately 760 meters high and erupts approximately every 15 years. When we finally got to the base of the volcano, we had our two great tour guides that had each one of us carry a backpack with our suits in it. For me, it felt like I was carrying 50 pounds of rocks on my back. To add on to that heavy backpack, we also had to carry our own sled to use to slide down the volcano.

Hiking up to the volcano got us pretty exhausted; it took us about an hour of walking and climbing in the middle of a very hot day and flying bugs everywhere. Even I had to stop walking to catch my breath. Thankfully to our GG leaders and other glimpsers helped some of us carry the sleds. Some of the big rocks also made it easier for us to step on or hold on to. There was many times when the wind was literally hitting our faces and making it tough for us to stay standing still. When we were halfway up the volcano everyone was feeling really tired and dizzy, so as a leader of the day I had to make sure that everyone was able to stay hydrated by drinking tons of water.

We saw lots of great views and more volcanoes while we were at the top, we all cheered for one another. When it is finally time to slide down the volcano, everyone was all suited up with our overalls, goggles and gloves. We slid down the track one by one and when it was my turn I decided I wanted to slide down fast; however, that was a failed attempt since I kept putting my legs on the sled when I’m not supposed to. Some of us even had our faces covered with black dirt. Overall, everyone had a great time sliding down the volcano. After, we enjoyed a “raw burrito” for lunch that had corn, bell peppers, avocados, and more vegetables than I have ever eaten in a day from the Quetzal Trekkers. This experience has made me feel a deeper connection to my peers by stepping out of my comfort zone and being the leader of the day.

In conclusion, this volcano adventure that we had today was really fun. Even though it was tough for some of us to the climb up Cerro Negro with all the dust and sulfur in the air, we fought through it all and worked hard to get to the top and at the end, it is clear that all our sweat and hard work was all worth it.