United we stand...

...divided we have fun as well...

So, we spent a day apart - our first in 6 weeks. Did we cope? Was it out of sight, out of mind, or did absence make the heart grow fonder...was it coincidence that Martin found himself in a group with 9 20 year old Scottish girls? Read on...

Martin's day (Weds 11 Nov)
So basically, I climbed an active, snow capped volcano using an ice axe, admired the view from the top, stared into the cauldron, then sledged back down. This is the sort of thing I used to dream about as a 7 year old until I was told there were no active volcanoes in Britain, not much snow, and my parents had no holiday plans to such a destination. So you see guys, dreams can come true...

The climb involved the following:

• ascent from 1200m to 2800m - that's a lot of climbing
• walking in anywhere between 1 and 4 foot of snow
• carrying cramp-ons the whole way to not use them once, even when walking over ice
• breathing in sulphuric fumes from the very active volcano
• admiring the pulchritudinous views
• sledging on little collapsible sledges you strap onto yourself (think Teflon style nappies)

Various nationalities reverting to stereotypes when tired:

• The English and Scots whined a lot about being tired (except me, obviously!)
• The English drank all the free beer on offer (mostly me this time)
• The Germans and Swiss discussed the most efficient way of climbing the moutain and issued lots of orders - "1-2 1-2, keep walking, ja" - I am NOT kidding!!!
• The Brazilians were very laid back
• The French looked beautiful wearing Dolce & Gabana jeans with Calvin Klein and smoked cigarettes at the top in iconic poses (still not kidding!!).

All in all, a fantastic day, with only a minimal risk of death.

Kara's Day

Woke up. Looked wistfully at smoking volcano and pined.

Took Ellie and Jamie (UK couple we hung around with) on their offer to join them for the day. Did 37km bike ride through lush green meadows, past little rivers, looked at volcano - pined. Past cows, hens, sheep, birds of prey, the odd villager, and not much else. Clear blue skies, sunny, great view of active volcano (pined).

Really relieved I didn't do the death hike. Had great day but very different to "Action Man Stanford".

Martin would like to point at at this point that he was pining all day too but in a stoic and manly way.