Darling's Days: The One When I Climbed the Volcano

“Today we are going to climb a volcano.”

Those were the words I heard when I woke up this past Saturday. The next thing I knew, I was on my way to the Irazu volcano in Costa Rica with my host mom, brother, cousin, and a full thermos of that famous CR java!

The drive took over an hour, but let me tell you that I was literally drinking in the sights. I couldn't stop taking pictures out the car window – it was so beautiful it almost hurt. All the way up the mountain I caught glimpses of the valley below, jam-packed with colorful houses and surrounded by open green fields. Above, the volcano was covered with jungle-like forests and rich farm lands.

About halfway up, we parked and leaned against a small fence to soak in this view. While eating fresh baked bread and drinking fresh coffee – none of us said a word for a long moment, and simply tried to take in this breath-taking view.

Before we started my CR brother, David, gave me this comforting warning: “It's hard to breathe up here, so if you get dizzy...scream.” Righto.

So, in my yoga pants and tennies (the very ones that got me through The Amazon and beyond) we were off! The trail was steep and windy – but scattered with beautiful wildlife that grew from the rich ashy soil. We climbed and climbed, came across an old native structure, stopped a time or two to catch our breath, but eventually came to a clearing above.

The entire time, everyone was raddling off in Spanish (much faster and more complicated than I could understand) so I literally had no idea how long this entire venture would take. Or if we were anywhere close. Or if we were climbing all the way to the lava. Or if we were going to set up camp for a few days. All I could do was put one foot in front of the other and enjoy God's creation around me.

Once we made it to the clearing, we weren't at the top, but high enough for clouds to start surrounding our area. The air was chilly but refreshingly clean, and after breathing it in for a few minutes, we were on our way back down (thankfully:).

Back at the car, we enjoyed apples and I made everyone take a few pictures together. We were all tired, but so invigorated by all the beauty we had just seen.

I enjoyed snapping even more pictures on our drive back down the volcano, and (to my delight) we ended up at a mall for dinner!

As the subway jingle “Eat Fresh” came to mind, I couldn't help but think, “Well, Subway, don't mind if I do.” And for the first time in about a week I enjoyed some pure American cuisine :)