Volcanoes In Nicaragua And El Salvador

There are many volcanoes in Nicaragua. Several sites disagree on exactly how many volcanoes exist in Nicaragua, but it’s somewhere between 19 and 50. Volcano Discovery states “Nicaragua has 19 active volcanoes” (Pfeiffer). Cerro Negro is considered the youngest of those volcanoes, San Cristobal ranks the highest. While most people I have met fear volcanoes, Nicaragua finds that tourist are willing to vacation near them so they can tour and hike these giants, feeling the earth shake and tremble beneath their feet. Indigenous people called the Masaya volcano, the “mountain that burns”. They obviously feared these lava filled mountains with good reason. Volcanoes in Nicaragua sit on shifting plates. While shifting plates cause many of the volcanoes to become active again, some volcanoes erupt due to earthquakes or other undetermined reasons. They are unpredictable mountains of rock, ash and lava but also one of the world’s most amazing natural wonders. One of Nicaragua’s volcanoes, Momotombo, houses a geothermal plant at its base.

El Salvador is also home to many volcanoes, located along the same plate tectonics that feed Nicaragua’s volcanoes. Some dormant and others quite active, such as Chaparrastique, one of the most active volcanoes in the country. El Salvador, based on my research, has between 12-25 volcanoes spread across its small and densely populated land. Some now hold lakes in the craters left by their explosions, called maars. Anything can trigger an eruption but many present-day residents as well as past civilizations, take their chances and build near these massive mountains and craters, probably due to the limited land and increasing population. Generations can come and go without ever experiencing the explosive power of an awakened volcano, while others like the Mayan city of Joya de Cerén are destroyed by them. Despite the fact that both countries share many similarities, including the overabundance of volcanoes that dominate their landscapes. Nicaragua seems to be the only country cashing in on its volcanoes through tourism. Travel sites flood the Internet offering tours and trip planning services to experience Nicaragua’s volcanoes. A quick search on El Salvador’s travel industry, or volcano tours returns little to no results. History shows both countries have suffered substantial damage at the hands of these lava spewing giants. Why one country chose to rebuild and embrace their geological faults to boost its economy, energy production and tourism while the other didn’t, is as random as the erratic volcanoes themselves.