As you know, we live on a small volcanic island. And although our island may be small, the volcano is large and impressive. It rises high above the city in the west, often wreathed in clouds. It is an imposing edifice. This past weekend, we dared to climb it.
Jonny, our short term team member leaves us tomorrow, but before he organized a trip to climb the mountain. Eleven men (including me, Tom) were to hike together. It was a two hour drive to the trailhead, plus we had a mix up finding a guide, so we didn’t begin our ascent until nearly 11:00am. With a four to six hour hike ahead of us, this meant we hoped to arrive at the summit around 4 or 5 pm, giving us about an hour of daylight to explore the top before pitching our tents, making dinner, etc. So we hefted our heavy packs and started the long climb.
The trail was moderately difficult, many long steep stretches that felt like climbing thousands of stairs, but we were all doing pretty well. Along the way we saw some interesting wildlife—black parrots, beautiful flowers, even a spider web city (an area about the size of a living room filled with spider webs). We stopped for lunch in high spirits, and continued to climb. The day had been foggy, but cool, so we were happy to have such fine hiking weather. About three hours into the hike we took a break at a place that would have had a nice view if it hadn’t been so cloudy. Sergio commented, “At least it’s not raining.” Within seconds of his saying this it began to rain. Then it began to pour. Our pace slowed. And the hike became drudgery.
As the day wore on we climbed slowly. I became wetter and wetter and realized my rain-jacket was water resistant, not water proof. The higher we climbed the colder it became until it was absolutely miserable. I stopped talking and saw only the feet in front of me. We climbed and climbed as the sun fell and the day grew cold. Finally we realized the rain had vanquished us and that we would not reach the top that day. We decided to set up camp. By now I was beginning to worry about hypothermia. I looked around as we were setting up tents. Everyone was shaking violently, and our actions seemed sluggish and labored. We were tired and cold and miserable. At long last, we got into our tents and out of the rain. Everything was wet. Everything in my pack was wet. The bottom of the tent was wet. I took off wet clothes, but had no dry clothes to replace them (next time I will pack better). I shivered and trembled and tried to gain warmth, but it was slow coming.
Praise God, the rain stopped and those who felt a bit warmer were able to find wood and start a fire. I was too cold to help and only provided aid by way of my lighter. As the night wore on we got a strong but smoky fire blazing. All eleven of us huddled around it, our eyes smarting and noses running from the smoke, but no one dared step far from its warmth. The food and fire did us much good—grilled meat and hot tea never tasted so good. We all went to bed and managed to suffer through an uncomfortable cold evening in wet clothes, wet tents and wet sleeping bags.
The morning brought a change in our fortunes as the skies cleared and we found that we had camped in a beautiful spot only 20 minutes from the summit. After a quick breakfast we finished what we had set out to do and stepped into the mouth of the volcano. Our island boasts the largest active volcanic crater in the world. It consists of three levels. The final crater is deep and unmanageable, but the outer craters are easily accessible. Climbing into the crater was like stepping onto the moon. The ground is covered with sand, shale and brimstone. It crunches under your feet. There is little life except for the remains of dead trees now covered with an eerie green lichen. Farther in, the crater became a desert of black sand—an alien place. We walked to the main crater but it was covered in mist. Still there was a lot to see.
The trek down the mountain was long and wet. Two days later my legs were still burning, and I still have many reminders of the hardship by way of the large blisters on my feet. But now I can say I’ve done it. I’ve conquered the volcano. Next time, it’s Megan’s turn!
PRAYERS ANSWERED
We hiked the volcano and lived to tell the tale. Praise the Lord. Water has come back on in many areas of the city including our home, but some of our teammates continue to go without water. Pray that the problem would soon be fixed. Our visitors are all doing well. Many will leave us at the end of this week.
PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for our visitors’ safe journey home. Pray for Jonny’s safe journey and transition back to England. Pray for our team as we are going to miss Jonny very dearly. Tom will be starting some new English classes that are going to make his life busy for a while. Pray that the classes go well and that he still has time for language study, relationships, family, etc. One of the islanders who hiked the volcano lost his father in a car accident the very next day. Pray for this brother of ours in his time of mourning and that we would know how to support him.
