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After five days of being poorly and doing nothing much other than sleeping and reading we decided that the only thing to do would be to throw ourselves down the side of a volcano sitting on a small piece of plywood. Obviously.
The journey began when 24 of us climbed on to the back of a truck which had a bench down each side. Open to the air, the breeze was lovely which calmed the heat of the sun beating down on us for the 1 hr 20min journey. Once we turned off the highway and on to a country unmade lane, the open top thing did little to protect us from the whipping of the branches from the passing trees. Luckily one of the guys had a big machete to cut down any of the larger branches that would slap us about.
After a very bumpy journey passing some rural farms, cows, cowboys and a very old lady on a motorbike we arrived thinking that was the easiest part of the day! We were each handed a board made of plywood with a special go faster strip of plastic on the bottom and our overalls and goggles. The
hard work then started. We set off walking up the side of the volcano, easy to begin with but after each turn the slope got steeper and steeper. It was a tough climb, but we took plenty of stops. It was still a hard slog in the heat with the board. At one point the guide told us that the pathway we were taking was only a couple of weeks old so the ground wasn’t compact. Too right, scree was falling down the now quite steep volcano side. There was a twinge of worry that we’d go with it.
Well we made it to the top, a bit puffed but awed by the fabulous views. We could see all 8 volcanoes from up there, on top of Cerro Negro (the most active cinder cone volcano in the world!) and all the way to the Pacific Ocean. There were two craters, both of which were still smouldering and when you kicked in to the stones the ground was very hot, in fact you could’ve cooked a steak, no problem.
So, journey to volcano (tick), walk up steep volcano side to top (tick), views and crater seen (tick) ARGH had
forgotten that the only way down was on a piece of plywood. Eek.
After a brief tutorial of hold on, don’t let go, don’t put hands on gravel (will hurt), don’t open mouth to scream (will fill with stones) we waited for the first two brave people to go down. They seemed to make it and walk away at the bottom, therefore it must be safe. We went next, now or never as the saying goes.
It was a brilliant experience. Adrenaline filled you from ears to toes, trying not to fall off, trying not to scream or put hands out behind. Steve got down first but I clocked the higher speed. A pretty fair match some might say. If there had been a ski lift we definitely would’ve done it again right away.
The group was buzzing after, we had beers for the journey back and a line of mojitos on the bar as we arrived back at the hostel. Covered in dirt - in our ears, up our nose and down our pants!? We all celebrated with a few mojitos.
Last night we went out with a couple we met, Sarah and Tim. They
also like mojitos. Needless to say that we haven’t moved on this morning, as planned. Those damn mojitos. Tomorrow.. yes tomorrow.
Lots of love
S&S
xxx
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M&D
non-member comment
Brilliant!! You two are so brave and looking really good. I was choking on my coffee (in amusement) and holding my breath (in fear) all at the same time!! Great. lots of love. xxxxx