Weeeeeeeell. So... got up early yesterday and went off for my hike around the crater of nearby volcan... and down to the lake. The couple staying in the room next door to me decided to join me. I`d already booked the guide, a young local guy called Walter, so went to meet him and started along the trail. The town is situated only a couple of kilometers from the summit so it wasn`t long before we were at the ridge. The walk took us through fairly thick woodland and Walter was quite an expert on the native fauna. Alegria is a flower growing town so I suppose it`s a natural thing for him to be interested in that sort of thing. His speciality was orchids and he showed us a few varieties of wild orchids along the path... hmm I say path. There were only short periods where it felt as if we were really on a path. The rest of the time Walter had his machette out clearing the way for us. We also had to scale up and down craggy drops with the help of some sturdy rope... it seemed like this wasn`t a well trodden trail so I asked what Walter did for a living when he wasn`t running tours... which I guessed was most of the time. Turns out he makes artesania... furniture to be precise. All the nice chairs and benches in my hotel made from random bits and bobs of wood were his creations I believe. Anyway we had a challenging but doable hike for about 3 hours. Then it was time to descend to the lake. My neighbours were not so keen on the idea of more roughing it down the crater, hanging on to bits of rope and getting grubby so they parted ways with us and made their way back to the village. Getting scratched up and grubby was right up my street and I was looking forward to being rewarded by some crystal clear volcanic waters. So I took the....

tbc