On our way back down from Volcan Mombacho, we decided to pay US$25 each to do the canopy tour and zip line from 17 platforms. The canopies are attached to giant trees suspended over the coffee farm of El Progreso, all surrounding the volcano.

The entire zip line course runs 1,500 meters and there is a hanging and shaky rope bridge to cross from one of the platforms. The last step is to rappel from a large ceiba tree 23 meters down to the Cuttire Farm.

It was beautiful up there. You can see Lake Cocibolca from some of the platforms. A coffee plantation was right below us. The massive trees look so alive with orchids and ferns growing from their branches.

The 13 horizontal zip lines felt safe enough. Our two guides gave us an all-Spanish quick lesson before we started. You zip line on your own until you decide to do the more exhilarating options. In my case, I agreed to do the 'Superman' and the 'upside down' with one of the guides. When I rappeled down, our guides pulled the line to make the ride even more scary.

At the end of the course, they radioed the base camp and had us picked up. We were given a ride all the way down to the Biological Center, so all we had to do was walk the last 30 minutes back to the highway to catch the bus to Granada.

At last, steady ground.

Nicaragua has at least twelve volcanoes you can hike. We first visited Volcan Mombacho because it was only a 20-minute bus ride from Granada. The bus from Shell Palmira cost 12 cordovas per person and the fee to hike was 100 cordovas for 2 people via the Biological Center at the bottom of the volcano, or Plan de las Flores.

Volcan Mombacho is the perpetual backdrop in a lot of Nicaraguan postcards. Fundacion Cocibolca maintains the concrete streets up the volcano and protects the cloud forest 4,000 feet up.

Starting at 10am, you can walk from the highway to the Biological Center (about 30 minutes, more if you're not a New Yorker) and sign up for the shuttle up the volcano. (We just told the bus conductor to let us off Mombacho.) From the base camp, you have two craters to walk: Sendero el Crater and Sendero la Puma.

We're early birds and arrived at the Center before 10am, so we decided to hike the concrete way up ourselves rather than wait for the first shuttle. We regretted it after two hours of mostly vertical paths. By the time we got to the top, we were too exhausted to even think about the estimated 3-hour hike around Sendero la Puma. We walked for 30 minutes along the much easier Sendero el Crater instead.

The Sendero el Crater is overgrown with different species of trees, orchids, and ferns. It's more of a forest than what you expect of a volcano crater, although there is still smoke coming out of the fumaroles. There's a moss-lined tunnel and several lookouts to check out the view of Granada, the largest lake in Nicaragua, Lago Cocibolca, and of course, Mombacho's daughters, Las Isletas, believed to have formed from the last major eruption of the volcano. You can hire a guide but it's so easy, it's a walk in the park. It didn't seem worth the two-hour hike for us, so make sure that when you go, you take the shuttle up so you have enough energy to hike the larger crater, which requires a guide from base camp.

Take the bus from the Shell station in Granada and tell the driver to drop you off at Mombacho. This ride is about 15 minutes and will cost you 5 cordobas, which is about $.30. Once you get to the road leading to the Volcan Mombacho, walk about 10 minutes to the park entrance and pay the $9 entrance fee, which includes the ride up the 7k road to the top. The jeep ride takes 30 minutes and only goes up 4 times a day: 8:30am, 10am, 1pm, and 3pm, so make sure you get there around one of these times, or you’ll be sitting around for a while. All the information at the station and along the trails is in Spanish, so unless you speak Spanish or have a translation book, you’ll have a hard time reading about the sites. The signs really don’t say anything more than what your eyes can see.

The Mombacho consists of two craters; each has a trail that circles the perimeter. Crater One’s hike is one kilometer, and Crater Two's hike is four kilometeres. Along the 1k trail, there are breathtaking, spectacular sights, and on a clear day, you can see for miles. The trail takes about 1½ hours, only because of all the stops you will make while viewing the sites.

The Lake of Nicaragua that contains the island of Ometepe is mainly what you can see from all the overlook points. You also can see the Laguna Apoyo and the 365 islands near the edge of the lake, all of which are great photos, but you cannot capture all of it in one picture unless you have a panoramic camera, because you see so much and so far. Also, at one point of the trail, you can take a small side trail that goes through a tunnel that is damp and lush in vegetation, created by the mountainside. Another cool side area has ventilation releases for the fumes built up inside the volcano. You can’t stay for too long, or your face will burn from the sulfur. The Mombacho is still somewhat active and last erupted in 2001, but there are no signs of this now.

The $9 entrance fee is a small price to pay for all the sites you get to see. Keep in mind that it also includes your ride to the top. The receptionist at the bottom said some people walk the road and end up regretting it. I wouldn’t want to hike the trail either, as it's almost completely vertical at some points. If you ever do make it to Granada, Nicaragua, the Volcan Mombacho is a must.