Boring.
If I only had one word to describe this past Saturday I most certainly would NOT use the word 'boring'. The great days are never boring though, and as far as days go this was a pretty good one. The day began with a 4:30am wake up call as we were heading up to the Parque Nacional Volcán Nevado de Colima for a summit bid (this is the peak that I keep showing pictures of that overlooks the city). This was a fairly ambitious goal, not because the hike would be super strenuous as there is a road that goes pretty high up so we wouldn't have to be hiking the entire volcán, but because currently we are in the rainy season, making the weather patterns on top of a 4000+ meter peak quite unpredictable with the threat of rain always looming. We decided to take our chances anyway as there were 3 other Peace Corps volunteers visiting Ciudad Guzman from around the country who had come for the week to help out with a summer course for kids (more on that in a later post) so we decided it would be a good time to visit the park and take a hike. So 10 of us, the 6 volunteers who live here plus the 3 visitors and our guide, set our alarms and set off for an adventure.
After about an 1.5-2 hour drive we arrived at our drop off point, where we were greeted by a cloudy day (not the clear one we had hoped for). We began our trek upwards anyway, hoping the skies would clear up on our way and allow us to reach the summit. However, within about 20 minutes the rain began and shortly thereafter hail followed by thunder until eventually these were the conditions we were hiking in:
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Beautiful day for a hike! The white is hail, not snow.
I believe I'm on the far right |
After about an hour of walking in the rain and hail and an occasional thunder clap, we decided maybe we should head back down to the van and shelter. We were all pretty wet and cold, my decision to wear wool socks and hiking boots paid off as my feet stayed nice and toasty…fun fact about Mary, as long as my feet are not cold I can remain pretty comfortable in cold weather, but once the feet are cold it's no fun for me (just ask my brothers for verification on this as they had to put up with my cold feet often on ski trips). By the time we made it back down to the van the rain had stopped and the skies appeared to be clearing up a bit, always fun when that happens! This left us at a crossroads on whether or not to hike back up in the hopes that the skies would clear enough for us to get some nice views or continue down and warm up a bit. Three of us decided to try our luck and retrace our steps back up the mountain and the Volcán de Colima (or Fuego) was nice enough to reward us for our efforts by emitting some ash plumes or as I like to think of it a volcanic burp…granted this is not entirely surprising given that this particular volcano, which sits right behind Volcán Nevado de Colima and on a clear day can be seen from Cd. Guzman, has these 'burps' several times a day, a side effect of being one of the most active volcanoes (and possibly the most active) in Mexico.
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| Volcán de Colima in action, we are 5km away as the crow flies |
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| with Whitney, notice no ash rising from the volcán |
Here are some other pictures from the hike:
Walking on this sandy/ashy part of the volcano was quite fun. It reminded me of what walking on the moon might feel like (admittedly I have no first hand experience with moon walking, but in my imagination this comes close to what it would be like). You sink down a bit with each step, but you also bounce back up a bit so it kind of feels like you're hopping along. It is also quite fun to run down; digging in your heels and relying on the sandy mixture to slow you down enough that you won't fall, but not so much that you lose the thrill of running down a mountain.
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| John positioning himself for the perfect picture |
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| Looking back at the peak as we make our way down |
Later on we rejoined forces with the rest of the group, who had done their own hiking, and made our way back to "The Guz" (which is my name for Ciudad Guzman) where my apartment was to play host to a potluck dinner party which was serving as a final get together for the volunteers who had visited this week. I had a couple of hours to get things ready and then when people started coming over this 'little' spider shows up to the party entering through the front door…I guess he heard the food was going to be good and didn't want to miss out.
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| Our tarantula friend, we are pretty sure he was someone's escaped pet |
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| Happy after successfully capturing the spider (who is in the bag) |
After the spider interruption with continued on with our night. By the end of the night I had next to no energy after the early wake up call and the day's adventure. At 12:30 I my bed had never looked so good and I quickly fell asleep, having successfully completed and enjoyed my 20 hour day. Can't wait to see what next weekend brings!
*Tarantula update:
Eventually he was put in a box and ended up being a surprise for my landlord to find the next day (this was not my intention, but it was outside my door and their curious boys opened the box to find the spider). They were quite surprised, but the boys were fascinated and I was happy to provide them with some entertainment. They then assumed responsibility for the spider, much to the dismay of the mother, so I did not have to decide what to do with it. Who knows what it is up to at this point!
