Commodore
February 21, 2023

Tuesday 21 February – a soggy climb up the volcano

Hello here from Megan; making a guest appearance for the Pacific crossing! Han and I convinced Jenny that blog writing is part of our dues, and I am fortunate enough to land the day we hiked up the volcano: the Sierra Negra.

The day started clear and calm, with views of Isabella island and the volcanoes dreamy in the distance from the deck of PolePole. We had an early start to our volcano tour as we wanted to be up the mountain before the heat, and the inevitable afternoon storm. We had the usual rush when the taxi aquatica arrived, the 6 of us scrambling to get bags and shoes and pile between boats in minimal time. We met our guide at the docks, found Widge and Edmund, and our lunches, and had a scenic drive up to 850m where our ramble began. We passed wonderful huge rainforestesque trees on the way up, the biggest we had seen on the islands so far. We met the rest of our group, an American man with his Ecuadorian wife and a couple of German lawyers, the husband being called Norbert. Our guide for the day, Alfredo, was all smiles and good humour as we began our ascent. He regaled Dani, Phoebe and I with tales of his youth; a pro footballer from mainland Ecuador turned tour guide in the Galapagos after a fateful first guiding experience with 5 naked KLM flight attendants and a tray of cocktails. He was actually really good, and knew a plethora of information regarding the fauna of the island. Our walk up was punctured with Norbert gleefully collecting and distributing ripe guavas from the prolific invasive species that lined the path.

Our first view of the caldera was breath-taking. Measuring almost 10km across its axis, this volcano is one of the largest in the Galapagos. We learned that the caldera is in fact the bottom of the volcano, and this one was exposed as the rest of the volcano was blasted away during a previous eruption. The active bit of this shield volcano was far on the other side of the caldera; that is where the magic happens and the source of the lava fields we were soon to explore. The bottom of the caldera was full of solidified lava (there were names for the different types but all I remember is the ah-ah! lava), and cracks where the empty magma chamber had collapsed and the lava field dropped. The Galapagos is formed as the Nazcar tectonic plate moves eastwards over a mantle plume, so the islands in the west are younger and taller, while the ones in the east are older and flatter.

After admiring the view and making Alfredo recount his life story to the rest of the group, we had a quick lunch and headed to Volcan Chico. As we descended down outside the caldera, the rain descended on us. We all dutifully geared up for the expected wet weather, but Han’s biodegradable poncho unexpectedly biodegraded sooner than required. Honestly, the lava fields are a bit of a damp blur and I couldn’t really hear anything Alfredo was saying over the rain, but it was spectacular. The lava. Tidal waves of lava, tsunami waves, caves and rivers; all lava. Jagged and smooth, rippled and cracked. Orange, purple, black. Lava as far as the eye could see (which was admittedly not that far due to the heavy rain, but still. Very atmospheric). I had a great time. I think we all did, except poor old Norb who threw a bit of a wobbly at getting so wet and then refused to go back alone for fear of getting lost on a demarcated path. He wanted the whole group to turn back, but a few quiet words from Rowan made him reconsider. We trudged along the path in single file, admiring the views and squinting at the rain. Norbert was lagging behind, Rowan took pity on Han and gave up his poncho, and Dani took all the photos with his waterproof phone.

The rain started clearing as we made our way back to the top of the caldera, and our walk back down to the carpark was pleasant and uneventful. Alfredo did do an amazing whistle trick with the caldera, demonstrating how the echo changes depending on which direction you whistle; either going across and back in 1s or all the way around the circumference in 2s.

Once we got back to town, we spent the rest of the day by the beach, some of us booking the tours for the next few days (Han and Jenny), some of us drinking passion fruit juice (sorry Han), and some of us surfing (Dani). That evening we met with Widge and Edmund again, and Janie and Johnny for a Shawarma. It was a lovely evening that ended with some sad news from home. Gordon, much loved by the Gormleys’, had been in a serious accident. I don’t know Gordon, but he meant a lot to the entire family. We returned back to Pole Pole in a sombre mood, only lightened by stories of happy memories about Gordon over the 28 years he had been with the family.