El viaje

Having recharged all the batteries and the bellies with marisco soups Lu and i woke up healthy and full of new energy at 5am. We had some time to kill so we rearranged our bags a little, i went for a couple of phone calls and emails before we had breakfast at 7.

Quickfunfact: I sent Nalle and Santi a christmas parcel full of Lebkuchen, Stollen, Printen and other yummy German Christmas goodies in December. That parcel just returned to Munich today, after 6 longs months..Unzustellbar..

Having checked the weather i thought going to the volcano was more foolish than wise but try to convince a recovered and well rested Luisa. Brickwall. Volcano it was. The ~2 hour drive there was beautiful.

Thing is, the weather changing so quick here, i wanted to avoid standing in the middle of thunderstorm on top of the volcano at all cost. So when seeing these puppies , i did get slightly nervous.

Brickwall!

But rightfully so, because things can also turn the other way, and they did! As we approached , we could actually get a little glimpse of one of the volcanos

and the very nice lake just below it:

As you approach Santa Ana Volcano, you are being guided directly into a “nature park” which you have to pay for 7 dollars per person, 1 for parking. This is basically just a place where they tell you that you cant walk up alone , you need a guide , that once you have paid him, tells you to drive out of the park, 2km down the road again , because that is where the path to the volcano actually starts.

It gets better though. Once you have parked your car, for free, just by the side of the road on a little green patch, you walk up a path where they charge you 6 dollars each for entry to the volcano path. “But what about our 15 bucks from 5 minutes ago” we asked surprised. “Ahh just a tourist rip off scheme” our guide replied happily….

So quick advice. If you ever go to Volcano Santa Ana, which you should, park your car at the little entry BEFORE you enter the actual park. The place is called El Tibet. You can get a guide there, which in reality you do not really need, but park regulations , you know, but we are not in the park, ahh but you need a guide anyway.

But it is worth every dime. You start climbing in a very thick, very humid but very beautiful rainforest.

Of course the path is plastered with tons of the master recyclers:

But what was even more interesting this time was the way the plants twisted and twirled themselves over each other or themselves at times. I have never seen it such manner. It almost looks manmade. There is an undeniable aesthetic to it.

Once you come out of the thick jungle,the plants get smaller, you get a the first view of the surroundings and you can see a lot of these agave. The type is called Maguey agave. I have never seen these in Mexico. The “leaves” are much thicker than the ones of its little blue Tequila cousin. Thicker and more beautiful, we recon.

They also have nice patterns , each leaf on each plant a different one.

This is what they look like when they get ripe and are about to bloom. A stem grows out of the middle of them, about 5-10 times higher than the plant. Little fruits grow and eventually bloom. The plant uses all its energy and once the pollinated flowers fall, the entire plant dies, but its clones regrow from the fallen seeds. Some of these guys can become 60-70 years and older before they grow the stem and die.

What a plant!

After a couple of exceptional noises coming from Lus happy bouncy heart i joined and even though it was a steep climb, we were both blabbering constantly. It was good to see her back in action!

We quickly passed above the clouds.

And while we liked our guide, he basically did only talk to us when we asked and what he said was unsatisfactory. So we stopped asking. Did not matter though because the place was wonderful! Around 2200 meters up you start smelling the sulfur. Vegetation is almost all gone at this point.

And at ~2300 m you get to see its crater.

It is massive! The last big eruption was at 2005 and you can still see a big scar on its western side going all the way down to the valley. One can only imagine the titanic force necessary to create a crater this big. You could also hear the sulfur clouds ventilating out of several cravacess and the bubbling in the 90 degrees hot turquoise sulfuric brew.

Each of the colors inside represents a different eruption the guide told us.

Lu wanted to circle further but was quickly told off by the guide. We are not sure how right he was, i was happy though, because there was also a massive cloud that moved in super fast. I almost could not see here after 10 seconds or so…

So i was happy to have her back!

When staring down in the crater, and the crater staring back at you, you can see the sulfur clouds dancing and forming mysterious shapes in the wind before getting blown out. It is stinky and eery but mesmerizing.

Very happy volcanic campers we went down swiftly and decided to drive to Suchitoto.

But not before giving a shout out to Anna Willkomm! Because, you know, Santa Ana.

And not before having had the last look at the nice lake below us. ( with very nice curly twirl)

And not before having downed a liter of fresh coconut water.

Lu is back and healthy and alive ! And back in Brickwall mode..Haha . Bless all of dem gods ( and volcano titans) !

Suchitoto post tomorrow.