Category Nicaragua

Recipes- Central America

The Spanish Cave

Food from Central America and beyond to make at home with your family. Turn on the radio to a Spanish station, and have fun! Note that the recipes are ordered alphabetically by country.

Central America & Beyond

Nicaragua- Nik Wallenda

The Spanish Cave

NICARAGUA: Nik Wallenda is a tightrope aerialist who recently (March of 2020) walked across an active volcano in Nicaragua. Watch the news clip below… and be amazed!

If you work at a school with outdoor facilities, a class project to extend this could be to try slacklining a few inches above the ground (safety first!), for anyone who wants to volunteer. You might supplement this with expressions of encouragement in Spanish or a rhyme where classmates can cheer them on. I want to try this next year!

NOTE: I like showing students extreme videos like these because the journey to get there can be the focus of the discussion: yes, this is incredible, but how did he get to this point? Hard work, period. A real-life taste of the challenges of slacklining will drive home this point.

Slacklining

Slacklining is a popular sport and terrific way to improve one’s balance and core strength; even attempting a foot off the ground is admirable and a feat, to be sure. When you get into world record territory, however, I am no longer sure what to think. Please do NOT try this at home.

Nicaragua- Volcano Boarding

The Spanish Cave

NICARAGUA: Do you know what snowboarding is? Well, volcano boarding is just like that… except that you slide down the side of a volcano. Really! This is an extreme sport that began in Nicaragua fairly recently (2005). It is considered extreme due to the 40% gradient of the volcano–you are going straight down–but also because of the poisonous gases and the fact that the ash can cut your skin (you usually wear an orange suit to protect yourself).

Check out the video to see what it is like–and let me know if you find any VR apps to simulate the experience. This video at 0:25 is also awesome (see below), but the background music is a little weird (FYI). Note that Cerro Negro is the only active volcano in the world where you can do this. Eeek!

Volcano Burritos

“Volcanic rock is not as forgiving as snow or sand. I found this out the hard way. When I finally stopped rolling down the slope, I realized my bald head felt hot & wet. Was that blood running down my scalp? […]

At the bottom we walked back to the truck and ate Volcano Burritos that had been freshly cooked inside the volcano itself! A hole had been dug at the summit, and a metal box containing the food was buried there. The heat from the volcano had cooked the burritos.“

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