Monday and the last day of our tour program, saw Roger, Richard, Jessie, Katya, Manuela and Jorge heading off for their volcano adventure.

Rob & Sheralee had already done the tour on horseback and had said how treacherous it had been. The rain had made the paths very muddy and the horses had created big ruts, making it very difficult underfoot. So our troop had opted to hike up and leave the horses out of it.

I had offered to look after Molly and Emma so that Richard and Jessie could go (and do some adult thing, without the children for a change) we had quite a program set out for the day, writing stories, making ‘wish jars’, playing ‘lair, liar, pants on fire’ and finally, if they were good, watching 2 episodes of ‘Gillians Island’.

The trip was going to take roughly 7 to 8 hours (including the transportation up to the highlands). It was not the best day for it,  as the clouds were very low and looking quite menacing, but these things are always a risk. Still they all had their wet wether gear and a good pack up, so they were ok.

The adventure started sooner than they had expected. The roads were so wet and muddy, the truck they were travelling in got bogged down and they almost never made it up to the highlands. But after some guidance (a route which he marked out with fern leaves) Luis managed to get the truck free and they were on there way again.

Once they arrived at the foot of the volcano, they asked Luis ‘we won’t be going up the horse track will we?’ to which he replied ‘no’ and ,will we be coming down a different route from the one we went up?’ ‘yes’ was the reply. As it turned out they did go up the horse track, complete with undulating ruts and they just did a loop, coming down they way they went up.

It was not an easy track and the conditions were not helped by the steep drop offs at either side of the path on occasion, making it not only scarier, but certainly more dangerous.

Roger said later that I had made the right decision in not going, it would have been too dangerous for me to attempt.

The clouds were low and it was not long before they were enveloped in the mist.

They climbed Sierra Negra first. It is in the south part of the island and is the largest Volcano on the island.

This is the worlds second largest volcano caldera, some 10 miles across.

After the Sierra Negra, they visited the smaller Volcan Chico.

There the landscape was almost lunar.

It certainly gave a feel of what Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin must have encountered when they walked on the moon. Apparently, it was awesome.

Meanwhile back on board Elcie the girls had been pretty good, so we had 3 episodes of Gilligans Island. Most of the other children in the anchorage had gone ashore to compete in the tri-athalon. Ryan got himself a medal (still not sure how?) .

I think Emma was missing the company of the other children, but Molly was more than content illustrating her book (we are eagerly awaiting the first print run as I type this entry).

Back on the Volcano, Manuela had decided she was not comfortable going on as it was getting more difficult, so she and Jorge waited while the others continued and walked part way around the rim of the caldera.

Luis then disappeared, leaving Jessie, Richard, Katya and Roger on the rim. He had gone back to Manuela and Jorge, to start the decent with them, but had neglected to tell the others. By this time they weren’t just in fog/cloud, but it was raining quite heavily. Luckily it was pretty straight forward finding the route back.

It was just after 4pm when they arrived back aboard Elcie.

As they were sitting on the after deck, a sea lion pup climbed on board for a little rest and relaxation.

Luckily, Moonlight, the ships cat, didn’t bother the pup, but he did keep a watchful eye on it.

Everyone was very tired (me included, I had forgotten how exhausting children can be) but they had all earned a good nights sleep. I was pleased that Roger had been able to go on the trip, especially with people whose company he enjoyed.