October 23rd

I awoke today at 07, for whatever reason I did not sleep well. Jeff slept better than me and had been awake since 06. Anyway, we got around and to breakfast by 08. Claude served us two kinds of toasted breads, coffee/tea, juice, and bananas. Jeff has eaten more bananas this past month… than since I can remember, they are just so much more flavorful than back home!

Anyway, we headed out. The day is gorgeous so we want to do the hike down into the crater and around it a bit. We did stop – needed some lunch stuff and car needed gas. We drove up little roads to the Vulcan road. Along the Vulcan road is the Commersion Center and the highest elevation point. It is 2310 meters or 7580 feet up, pretty impressive sweeping views. We drove again to the the end of the road; unloaded; and hiked to the start of the trail down into the crater. The winding steps down into the crater have been built for ease, but it is seemingly unrelentless down (which means unrelentlessly going up to get out). It's supposed to take 15 minutes, but we took our time and stopped for people coming up/leaving. It took us 25 minutes. When we started, clouds rolled in and helped keep it cool, a nice benefit. At the expansive crater bottom we followed the painted white dotted line along the various lava flows, which created that huge moonscape area. Plants are trying to make a come back, but not succeeding as yet. A little lava cone developed in a 1753 eruption and is situated in the middle of the crater moonscape. It seems really new, but just shows how unforgiving lava ground can be.

We walked around the 'moonscape' some, watching the interplay of clouds with the sun. Then noticed how cloudy it was (and we were ready to head out for lunch), we followed the dotted white line like everyone else back. The dotted line was helpful because the clouds were so socked at times we could not see the little cone. We passed around the cone and started the ascent up the built in winding stairs. Again we took our time, but mostly to stop and catch our wind. Finally, back at the top, we trekked back to the bathrooms and our car. That was a great hike! But the clouds were very thick, cool to cold, and misty, we had to put on our jackets. We drove til we found a picnic table and had a red pepper chorizo we sliced on a baguette, rest of our chips, rest of our trail mix, an apple and clementine.

Finished we drove back to our Airbnb, arriving around 4 pm. We showered and napped. Our hosts left around five with their granddaughter to go to the beach. We updated our blog. About 7, the hosts daughter, Julie arrived and we all talked as Claude and Alan made us supper. At 730 we ate: pork steaks, french fries, green beans with mushrooms, and a tomato salad. It was nice meal and visit. Their granddaughter, Claire is six and was shy around us – she is cute, and opened to us a bit. Julie said we left an impression on Claire because we spoke English.

We finished and excused ourselves around 930. It has been another good/great day.