We rode into town and visited the market, and picked up our chartered truck ($200 for a truck and driver to take us anywhere all day. Because of the road conditions, it is more expensive to rent out just the truck!), some visiting peace corps (and ones mom), and a few Nevans (locals) at the hospital that was described as “really cute and interesting unless you need medical care- it kinda looks like an insane asylum”.
Fully loaded in the bed of the truck we began our 2 hour journey to the Blue Caves that made the Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland look like a snooze. It was extremely steep and washed out. We crossed 2 rivers. The other peace corps admitted the road was bad, but “you should see the rainy season”.
Our driver let us out at a picturesque spot and we descended some very cleverly made stick steps that would have scared us if we hadn’t just survived a rollercoaster with no seatbelt.
We arrived at the ocean entrance and found it full of steep rocks and clear blue water with large waves.
We found a ladder and after some quick repairs with rebar we jumped or climbed in. Then came the hard part. To enter the cave, you had to time the wave and swim through a short underwater cave before bursting through into the large open cavern. It was scary to blindly fight the tide and avoid the big rocks. But we were assured the view on the other side was worth it. Even the Neevans were nervous about it (never a good sign). We climbed in and it was very difficult to avoid having our head bashed into the rough rock. We watched the opening disappear and reappear, and then went for it. The water swelled up again and we crawled upside down on the rock ceiling before emerging into a silent cavern. A stream of light came from the open ceiling with stately rocks. The names of previous Neevans who had visited were scrawled all over the walls. It was quite peaceful once you got out of the waves.
When it came time to leave, Sasha was the last to dive through and lost contact with the wall. It was quite easy to get disoriented with the pounding waves, and Sasha was quite glad when jacob grabbed her arm to pull her to safety.
After another 2 hour bumpy ride back (listening to some local Neevan songs) we stopped for smoothies and chips before heading to the volcano. The road this time was very Jurassic park, and once we got close it was a long and beautiful stretch of only black sand. The area around the volcano happens to be called”white sands” probably by the same sarcastic genius that named the only place with red clay “green hill” on an island of green hills.
There was a distinct border between the black volcano and surrounding hills covered in greenery. We drove up and were glad to see some tourists (that means good roads). As we climbed the black hill we could hear roars and once we came to the crest of the volcano, we could see lava spurt from the smoke. It would rumble and explode lava every few minutes. Ryan and Jake ventured over to the tallest part of the rim which had the added bonus of being able to see into the fiery heart of the volcano, but also had the unfortunate downsides of near constant sulfur smoke high winds and no handrails.
When we headed back
down and drove away, we could still see the orange glow and the smoke against the stars.
It started raining so our driver pulled under some trees to stop and wait for it to stop, with a line of tourists behind us. We urged him to keep going and got very cold and wet.
After shivering through another bumpy ride, we arrive at the dispensary. Another Peace Corps, Lance, is stationed here. The dispensary is just a step down from a hospital- a place to get vaccines and give birth, as well as get medication from a trained nurse. The nurse is almost never here, and we took the bed as well as each of the empty patient beds there.
We boiled some water in a kettle for a shower. The shower is you rinse the yourself in the cold water that flows about half the time, then scrub the warm water on at the end.
We also learned someone called their child “cowboi”.
Ticket to Anywhere 