Up, Up and More Up

Gradually we're learning more about the fiery devil above us. This morning we rented a Jeep to drive up the mountain to Los Ojos de Volcan -The Volcano's Eyes.

It's as though we're on another planet here. Even driving in this little car on a single lane road with switchbacks and two way traffic is an experience. I found myself hanging on tight -- as if I'd fall out and roll down the mountainside! All my old fears come back here -- heights, bridges, narrow roads with two way traffic. But most fears are stuff and nonsense -- as I've painfully discovered.

The Jeep had no doors. You enter through the window. Bob wanted this photo. He was actually driving.

The clouds rolled in as we arrived. This is the lower part of the volcano.

The owner of the refuge took this photo of the eruption two months ago. I asked him if he was afraid. "Not from big rocks," he said. "But the ash is a problem. I thought of Pompeii. It was the hot gases and   ash that killed everyone. Everyone thought that Vesuvius was a mountain until it erupted. So mountains can be deceptive apparently.

Cleaning up after an eruption.

The 1999 eruption.

The diagonal horizontal line of grey in the middle is lava. Banos has a posted evacuation plan for residents and tourists now. Sirens signal the evacuation. All buses line up on one of the town's main streets. I suppose people are always prepared. I would be for sure. The buses drive five kilometres out of town to safety.

Our Jeep.

Rogelio, the owner of the refuge found this Incan vessel in his garden the other day.

We met htis couple at the top. They are Swiss, he an urban planner, she a pediatrician. They saved and planned their five month trip to South America for a year, bought this Land Rover in Bogata, Columbia, drove here and here they are.

They are camping here overnight for a better view of the volcano in the morning.

Transporting a generator by horse back.

Hasta manana.