izalco

Yesterday Justin, his dad and I visited Cerro Verde National Park and scaled Volcano Izalco (I swear, I work. I just don't blog about it because it would make for a rather boring post). According to Wikipedia (the most accurate source for all research topics), Izalco was formed in 1770 and erupted almost continuously from 1770 to 1958. It has been dormant since its most recent eruption in 1966.

our guides

from the bottom looking up

We have to go this way!

And so we went up...

and up...

and up...

and up some more...

I am not in perfect shape, but I do exercise regularly. Even so, I found climbing Izalco challenging. Halfway up, my thighs were burning, my breathing heavy and my pulse beating rapidly. Slow down, Nelly. I started taking short rests and breathing deeper as the atmosphere became thinner.

Thankfully, it was a cloudy, balmy day.

When we reached the top, it was shrouded in fog...

and then it cleared up.

 

I celebrated our summit arrival by eating PB&J and an apple.

See the man walking? Our guide said takes about 15 minutes to walk the perimeter.

Check out the fumaroles!

A fumarole is an opening, crack or fissure, that emits steam and gases, like carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrochloric acid and carbon dioxide. On Izalco, the steam is created from rainwater seeping into the cracks and contacting the hot rocks under the surface.

Fifteen minutes after reaching the summit, we were forced to begin our trek down sooner than we anticipated because - crash, boom, boom - the heavens opened and a marvelous thunderstorm commenced. Wow, I thought, this is cool. It also crossed my mind that we were flirting with danger, but my awe outweighed any fear.

Climbing down a volcano is difficult enough, but now we had slick rocks to contend with. Although, slipping and sliding was unavoidable, I managed to avoid injury. By the time we reached the bottom, we were drenched. Only the top of my head was dry, thanks to my Ohio Wesleyan University baseball cap (thanks BW, RW, CM).

Unfortunately, the bottom of the volcano was not our final destination, as we had begun our journey by going down the side of the neighboring mountain. All in all, we actually scaled two mountains because we went down, up, down, up. The final leg of the journey was the worst. As we walked up muddy stairs carved into the mountainside, my wet clothes, especially my jeans, weighed me down. My thighs felt like lead, my skin damp and cold, and with every step I had to tell myself, You can do this. Keep going. That last uphill was the longest walk of my life.

When we finally finished, we had been hiking three and a half hours. Unfortunately, I hadn't thought to bring an extra set of clothes, so the drive home was soggy and uncomfortable. All I could think about was taking a hot shower and changing into dry clothes! While getting caught in a rainstorm wasn't my favorite, I am happy we climbed Izalco, and chalk it up to another great adventure in El Salvador.