Volcano Boarding

Up about 7:00am, had breakfast and got picked up at 8:00 for our volcano boarding trip. It was about an hour drive on a dry river bed to a volcano called Cerro Negro, so called because it's all black rock and ash and really stands out amidst the countryside. It's a protected area, so we needed to sign in at the park station, then started the hour or so hike to the top.

Cerro Negro is a very new volcano, first appearing in 1850 and is one of the most active, having erupted at least 23 times since 1850. The last eruption was in 1999.

Alexandra, the Dutch girl, was undecided about going, but decided to do it. She's not in the best of shape and she was struggling a lot. When she got to the halfway point, she had a breakdown and started crying, saying it was too hard. Anyway, our guide, Miguel, who was the same guide we had for the Telica Twilight tour, said that the first half was the hardest part and the second half was much easier, so she continued. The colours were amazing in the crater, yellow sulfer, red iron, white magnesium all contrasting with the black rock.

We reached the summit and walked to the edge of one of the craters, where the soil was hot, hot, hot from the heat underneath! It's still active.

We suited up and I was first to go, as everybody else were scaredy cats. I had dad's camera head mount he made with my camera attached, so turned it on to take video of my ride, but the battery was almost dead! BAH! I had just charged it two days before and didn't use it. WTF! When we were in the hot springs in Copan, it got a bit wet and has been acting weird ever since (the flash doesn't work at all, and if you try to use the flash, the camera locks up and has to be turned off). So, all I got it was about 20 seconds of me getting ready and yelling at dad asking him if he's ready....

Anyway, dad walked part way down the volcano to take pictures as we passed.

I went fast! It was a blast! Black rock and sand flying all over my face, I could barely see most of the time. To get an idea of what it was like for me, see this, starting at the 15 second mark. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_JobPvfxWY) Just lots of rocks flying all over! Everyone else didn't go nearly as fast as me. One guy, from New Zealand tried "snow boarding" style, standing up on a snow board, but he struggled, wished he'd done the sitting down one. Anyway, it was a blast.

Back to the hostel, went to lunch, then back to the hostel to wait for our pickup for the Flor de Cana rum tour, which wasn't that great, actually. It was more talking about how awesome they are, all their awards, how socially and environmentally responsible they claim to be and stuff like that, then the gift shop, then the gift shop, where I bought two t-shirt because they were cheap, 2 for $23, one for me, one for Tracy.

Back to the hostal around 6:00am and went to Carnivoro for supper with Alexandra, but it was closed, so ended up going to Barbaro again. Very quiet in town tonight.

I tried to wash my clothes the "Ralph" way today, but it was a miserable failure. I must not have the technique down, but it's hard to try and soap up clothes when you're wearing them and everything came out still stinky and dirty. Oh well, I only have a week left.