Yesterday I went on little hike up one of the few active volcanoes in the country. You have to go guides because, apparently, tourists have gotten mugged and worse on their way up to the lava flow. That's me sporting my post-farmer redneck look with the John Deere tshirt. The lava was flowing from the smaller cone to the right, which is where we hiked to. It took about 1 hour drive to get to the starting point and the hike was some good cardio, but not a really technical climb. The group was made up of 2 Italians, 1 Argentinian, 2 Germans, 3 Canadians, 3 Brits, 1 Aussie, the guide, myself and one hippie guy that refused to talk to anyone. He was in his mid twenties but I swear he was average teenage malcontent. I'm pretty sure he was American. We got to the lava flow (which was 500 feet below the top of the volcano) right as the sun was getting ready to set. We didnt get to see the flow at night, but its probably all the better because safety didn't really seem to be a concern to anyone. A nice Canadian couple that was on the hike made the comment that they saw a volcano in Hawaii, but only got within 100 yards of the lava flow. There were no such precautions on this volcano. Walking over the hardened lava you could feel random flashes of heat that were being released from the rock. you had the feeling that there were only a few yards of rock between you and the lava, but I'm not a Volcanologist so I don't know just how far down the molten rock was, I just know it was hot! Those hot waves, contrasted with the chilly evening breeze was pretty cool. So, we got to a small peak and 5 feet away was the lava. It really jumped up on you because you werent expecting it to be coming out of the side of the mountain, or at least I wasnt. You could get as close to the flow as you wanted, but the heat was unbearable within five feet. In this pic I'm laughing because I'm yelling at my newfound friend Clarence because he wasn't taking the picture fast enough and I was burning up. In fairness, it wasnt his fault because I was the one who chose to stand too close to melted rock. Lesson learned.
On the way down we got about 100 yards from the starting point when our guide took us on a detour through a forest. We kept on going for about 45 minutes, mostly downhill, until we met up with the little shuttle bus. We weren't sure why we had taken the detour until we rounded the corner and came upon a snack cart that was selling sodas, beers and chips. It made sense since any kind of tourist thing you do in developing countries always has about 20 people with different ideas on how they can get a few extra bucks out of you. My favorite was the 6 year old super cute girl that caught the post teenage malcontent in a moment of weakness. As we reached the tiny village of snack carts and shuttle buses that was our destination, the girl asked him if she could carry the malcontents flashlight for him the rest of the way down the mountain. he said ok, the girl walked 10 steps around the corner with him and put her hand out demanding the equilvelant to $1, as we were at the end of the hike. He was shocked and a bit angry at being duped, so he refused. The cute little girl turned into a tyrant and started poking him in the stomach demanding her wage. He had no chance and gave in quickly. Luckily he was walking right in front of me on the path so I had a front row seat to the show.
