Laguna Volcanes Tour

24th June

I did a trek today to Laguna Volcanes. There are no volcanoes there, but the mountains are cones shaped, and look like volcanoes.

Eight of us went: 4 men from Spain, 2 American girls who are staying in the hostel, Southern gentleman Jonathan, and myself. We went with Carmelo, the same guy who lent us his motorbike.

We drove an hour and a half to a really posh golf resort where we started our tour. On the way there we drove past the skeleton of a horse by the side of the road, there were about 10 vultures surrounding it picking off the remains of its meat. It had only died two days previous yet there was next to nothing left of it. Ive never seen anything like that before.

We began our trek, in the pouring rain, walking to the far side of the golf course and then off the track into the woods where Carmelo pointed out different and interesting plants. There was one that burned your skin if you touched it, and another whose leaves closed up as protection.

We walked up a really steep hill to get a panoramic view of the mountains, the rivers and the village down below, however there was so much cloud you couldnt really see much, just the tip of a mountain or the occasional flash of greenery when the cloud momentarily cleared. It was quite mystical looking. We walked along narrow path across the crest of the mountains before eventually heading down towards the jungle.

Luckily, just as we stopped for lunch, the cloud cleared enough for us to get a good view of the mountains. It was very beautiful and majestic, and they really do look like volcanoes.

The walk down was steep and the vegetation gradually got thicker and thicker until we arrived at the jungle floor. We walked through the jungle some, which was very challenging, the floor was wet and slippy and there was no path, just Carmelo infront of us hacking away with his machete! At one point I stood on a log to cross the river and it was totally decayed, it disintegrated under my weight and I got a wet foot! We also saw a family of monkies jumping through the trees, that was really awesome, Id never seen wild monkies before.

After pulling some Tarzan moves we emerged at the edge of the jungle at a river. We were to cross the river 10 times so we took our shoes and socks off and rolled up our pants. Walking in the river was nice, but the track along the side of the river wasnt so great; it was super slippery because of the rain and it was all ups and downs, meaning we slid about loads and were falling over every ten minutes. Plus the path was covered with little stones and twigs and stuff, so I didnt much enjoy that part of the walk. We had to climb over some pretty huge rocks too and it was really difficult, I fell a couple of times and had to get a hand up from Carmelo (who mysteriously didnt fall once!)

It was a very wet, muddy tour but enjoyable nonetheless. Going into the jungle and seeing the monkies was the best bit.