This past Friday, I was invited to go with a group that would be climbing the nearby volcano. Excited by the prospect, but not sure that was what I wanted to do that week. Going back and forth, unable to decided, I hung out with friends till two-thirty in the morning. Set my alarm and decided at six the next morning to join them. Sleep? Sleep? Oh, three and a half hours is plenty!
First we had our nice walk down the dock and to the bus station, which was about a fourty, fifty minute walk or so. We caught the bus, rode for an hour, caught the next bus and rode for another two hours. Finally, we reached the point we were going to start hiking from.
As many of you know, I'm from New Hampshire. You say 'mountian' I think 'green', 'trees', 'streams' and an occasional boulder. This, on the other hand, is a volcano in Tenerife. The barren landscape that surrounded us seemed at sometimes to resemble the sand-swept Tattoine of Star Wars and at others, the desolate planet of Mars. Hills and valleys made entierlly of rocks with the texture and firmness of hardened styrofome.
As we got higher, we could see the ocean and the city, so far away. The buildings looked to be no more than white pebbles spread across the ground.
The hike was hard. At first a long up hill walk, which then turned steeper, switch backs up the hill. Despite the look of the area, like on of a desert, it was cold. I wore my sweatshirt and a scarf wrapped around my face, to much amusment of my traveling companions.
The more we continued, the more I fell behind. Deteminded to reach the top, or should I say, what we could reach. In order to reach the very top, you must have a permit, which we did not. We were allowed very near the top, but not the tip. Soon I reached a point where I was the very back. Never out of sight, but the footfalls of my companions could no longer reach me. I stopped and turned to look back. As I looked out, across the sand and rocks and ocean, I was struck by not only the beauty of the land, but also the silence. No cars, planes, trains, voices, music, birds, nothing. I have never heard such a quiet as that. It was the sense of peace, of beauty. After a moment's reflections, the quiet was interupted by the calling voice of Johan, encouraging me to continue on and not give up.
I did make it to the top, or where we were allowed, and back, in time for the bus. When I finally made it back to the ship, hours later, I was greeted in the mirror by my sunburn. If you had placed me next to a fire engine, I would have blended in perfectly. I am happy to report that it is gone and my skin is now back to it's normal paper white.
