Volcano Party Bus

So much can happen when you open your eyes and say yes to the possibility of doing something exciting.

After I had sent off a few emails and was typing up some more blog entries and mails when W from Holland came in and said that we was goig to get something to eat, and quickly asked if he didnt mind me joining in, which he didnt.

We went out with F who was Canadian I think, and together we all wandered down to what was a lovely cheap restaurant just down the road, and right next to the bus stop.

The food and drink was acceptable, even though the waiter was a bit of a loon and kept making animal noises all the time, but I guess you have to do what you can do get by when the rain drives you mad, lol.

After the meal we walked back and I joked that the clouds had cleared enough to see the volcano, only when we looked up the joke was on me as they had.

All thre of us had tried to visit the volcano last night, and none of us wanted to pay another 10 bucks to see it again, but then neither did we want to miss it, as this was all our last night here as well.

We managed to show some interest for the tour, but not too much and in the end all walked away from the tour operator-receptionist saying that we would need a discount before we would agree to go again, and once we got back to our dorm room he realised we were serious and then came round with a reduced fare of 7 for us three only, which we finally agreed to.

W has a nice camera, but was short of memory so I offered to burn his photos onto a disk in order for him to free up some space, which made his night.

When we went out to the bus we were in a group of ten, along with some other Dutch, Canadian, American and Swedish tourists that had all just been kicked out of their hostel for accepting the tour with us for less than half of the cost that their own hostel was trying to charge.

In the bus it was a real party atmosphere, as we were all hyper with anicipation, most were still high from their earlier activities and someone had switched wine for water in their water bottle, so we were all kicking it large.

However, the real party animal was the young lady who was part Irish, Welsh, Swedish and Canadian - I think, I get all confused - but she had enough excitment and charisma to get a rio going in a library, and so for us bunch of lunatics it was almost a formality.

Once we got up to the Volcano viewing spot we were not dissapointed, and the view with the naked eye was great, just not so good for anyone with a normal camera. One good turn deserves another, and W managed to get a superb shot with his camera and instantly agreed to send a copy to me, which meant that I would have a great shot to use for my blog later on too - thank you W.

We must have stayed out there for half an hour, watching the bats and the fire flies dance in the sky as the volcano slowly and steadily pumped red hot lava out of its peak, only for it to slowly trickle down its side in a continuous river of heat.

There was also smoke rising out from the peak which when illuminated by the lava was like a red speach bubble always overhanging the volcano.

Occasionally there would be enough visibiliy to see the trail of glimmering red lava from the top right the way down, whereas as other times you could just see a pinpoint of light or two.

After about half an hour the clouds came again and that signalled a return to the bus and to our hostel, where we all ordered strange drinks like Panama Punch or Banana Daquari to celebrate before we swapped email details, said farewell and then headed on back to our bunks for an early nights sleep.

If the photo from W comes out well then the whole trip to La Fortuna would have been worth it alone, and the fact that next time I will have enough money to go white water rafting, etc, make it all the better.