4/2/10 - day 57.

up at 7 to get the 8am bus to parque nacional los volcanos where there are 3 volcanoes, 2 of which you can climb. we were going to climb volcan santa ana which is the taller of the 2 at 2300 metres. me and 3 other swiss people from the hostel all went together and for the hike you had to have a mandatory guide and 2 policemen as assault apparently used to be a problem so you can no longer go alone. the hike started at 11am and took just over 3 hours there and back including about 30 mins at the summit.

this volcano last erupted in 2005, before which they thought it was dormant, and although i didnt exactly find it an easy climb on the heat, the view of the crater was amazing - best ive seen. also the views of the surrounding volcanoes and lago coatepeque were awesome. i wasnt the quickest at walking up, but made to look not nearly as bad by a slightly rotund french woman (with a hint a scottish accent which was funny to listen to) who said she had a hangover so couldnt go quickly. also, the swiss couple both smoked like chimneys but they found it no problem whatsoever. guess this means im incredibly unfit!

after we had descended back down we had an hour and a half wait for the bus back to santa ana but there was a comedor in the carpark there so had lunch. got the bus back at 4ish to a little town called el congo where we had to change as there was no direct bus back. by the time we were back at the hostel at about 6pm i was exhausted. had a cool shower and a bit of a lie down before going out with one of the swiss guys for quesadillas.

javier donated me a beer that night foir some reason, which was nice of him, and had a chat with a (hilarious - they do exist!) german girl in the dorm who'd been living and working in guatemala so told me heaps of stuff about my next country.

went to bed about 11pm.