Thursday, September 20, 2007
Volcan Concepcion
Early rise 5am. The alarm goes off but I´m awake. I have been for hours, cocks crowing and goats bleeting or what ever they do.
We`d packed out rucksacks the night before. Good job too, I`m really not in the mood for packing. We walk out to the reception to meet Rafael our guide for the day. He didn`t speak English and because of this we got a discount. Works for me. We set off on the button 6am. I thought that it would be quiet at this time in the morning but it turned out to be rush hour over here, with hurds of cows being taken to pasture, etc. We walk down to La Sabana where we leave the road and start heading up and the track turns into a path. We arrive at the park station. Well some wood posts and some banana leaves. We had to pay the park ranger 1$ or their rate in cordobas, ie more expensive. From here on the track got steeper, steamier and more overgrown. And more like a tropical rain forrest. Funny that. It wasn´t raining but we were wet, even my watch was steamed up which only happened once before in similar conditions. Short breaks and longer ones when there was room to have them. There´s brief views through the mist. We finally break through the forest, onto steeper ground. Lisa is looking really tired and is talking about quiting. I want here to carry on. I´ve got some history in this type of activity and I know how rewarding it is to get to the top. But I have to admit it, it is tough and she´s doing really well.
A few hundred meters further one and a strong wind starts. Strong wind. Good thing. It´s now a lot cooler. Bad thing Lisa wants to stay. Talking to the guide He wants Alice to stay as well. That´s what he called her. We head for el tope. No walking now, well not like a man more like a cat. The ground levels off and I can just see the crator. Visability is low about 10 feet. As I get near to the crator´s edge I can feel the coldwind on the back of my neck and hot fumes on my face and the smell of sulphur. We had a quick chat about when the last eruption was and head of back down to collect Lisa who was snug under her poncho. As we walk down the rain starts and I´m now feeling tired. We get back 10 minutes shy of 10 hours.
We`d packed out rucksacks the night before. Good job too, I`m really not in the mood for packing. We walk out to the reception to meet Rafael our guide for the day. He didn`t speak English and because of this we got a discount. Works for me. We set off on the button 6am. I thought that it would be quiet at this time in the morning but it turned out to be rush hour over here, with hurds of cows being taken to pasture, etc. We walk down to La Sabana where we leave the road and start heading up and the track turns into a path. We arrive at the park station. Well some wood posts and some banana leaves. We had to pay the park ranger 1$ or their rate in cordobas, ie more expensive. From here on the track got steeper, steamier and more overgrown. And more like a tropical rain forrest. Funny that. It wasn´t raining but we were wet, even my watch was steamed up which only happened once before in similar conditions. Short breaks and longer ones when there was room to have them. There´s brief views through the mist. We finally break through the forest, onto steeper ground. Lisa is looking really tired and is talking about quiting. I want here to carry on. I´ve got some history in this type of activity and I know how rewarding it is to get to the top. But I have to admit it, it is tough and she´s doing really well.
A few hundred meters further one and a strong wind starts. Strong wind. Good thing. It´s now a lot cooler. Bad thing Lisa wants to stay. Talking to the guide He wants Alice to stay as well. That´s what he called her. We head for el tope. No walking now, well not like a man more like a cat. The ground levels off and I can just see the crator. Visability is low about 10 feet. As I get near to the crator´s edge I can feel the coldwind on the back of my neck and hot fumes on my face and the smell of sulphur. We had a quick chat about when the last eruption was and head of back down to collect Lisa who was snug under her poncho. As we walk down the rain starts and I´m now feeling tired. We get back 10 minutes shy of 10 hours.
