My three months of volunteering with Quetzaltrekkers from Oct 2014 till Jan 2015 – one of my amazingst adventure time of my life – just finished – so that I can make my summing up.
Everything started in June 2014 when Katharina a colleague of a friend told me about this volunteer organization in León, Nicaragua – Quetzaltrekkers (shortly QT) http://leon.quetzaltrekkers.org/ – hiking volcanos, helping kids. Everything she told me was exactly that I was looking for without knowing it.
To live for a while in a town of a Central American country close to the sea, loads of sun, meeting international people, lots of sport, to spend as much time as possible in nature. So I knew that´s gonna be my spot for the next 3 months. And she didn´t promised to much. My expectations were more than exceeded. It was one of my best times of my life. When you experience this you do not watch any television anymore, this was better than any movie what you can imagine.
Since I arrived directly from Germany it took some time to get used to my new environment – English and Spanish speaking team on work, 35 degrees from 8am till midnight (having a fan is super recommendable to survive), different currency, different food, hiking 4 to 5 times a week, lots of rum, lots of fun, lack of sleeping, and not to forget stories over stories from super interesting, outgoing people all over the world.
After the first intense month of training there it came up a moment of 2 days having off. Heading to Matagalpa, sitting 3 hours in a chicken bus btw another travel experience you should not miss in Nicaragua – I got some reflections moments.
Allthough there is not too much time in between to take a deep breathe during working there, it is such a unique opportunity to work as a guide in Central America, beeing in charge of guiding tourists through protected areas and national parks. At the same time all the money which we were earning due operating hikes was going directly to social projects mostly in the suburbs of León. Helping in projects involve some kindergarten, donations for building roofs and toilets for a school in Somoto, building and painting tables for a library, playing and teaching kids etc.
If you go hiking with QT there are some highlights expecting you:
Volcano Boarding on the authentic volcano Cerro Negro
Seeing, smelling and hearing lava on the volcano Telica
El Hoyo Hike – 3 volcanos in 2 days – Volcano Boarding on Cerro Negro, Camping next to the crater on el Hoyo, swimming in the lagoon Asososca
And last but not least my personal highlight: Canyoning and Rapelling/Abseiling in Somoto
All this can just be realized, if you have an awesome team that support eachother specially in busy times though. I want to say thank you to all my colleagues I always could count on – this team spirit was kind of unique. Not to forget to mention our crazy, loveable dog “Caña” (see picture above) we had great moments of joy and laugh with.
After all I can just say, it was a great time I don´t ever want to miss. Let´s now start with my life “being a nomade” for the next three months. I am looking forward what else gonna be the next small and big adventures of this journey of “vivir mi vida”.