aimless erin: Volcan Barva

I'm back home after almost 2 weeks of vacation and visiting with friends. its been a crazy month. and by home i mean back in la selva.

last month i got to go with a group of people to volcan barva. it was an awesome trip. alex, one of phil's grad students had some gradens and data loggers to check on and let us tag along. its about a 3-4 hour drive to volcan barva. so bright and early, alex, susan, veronica, andrew and i piled into the 4WD with manuel and headed out for a long day. we stopped by the La Paz waterfall along the way, and had one of the most entertaining car rides i've had in a long time. the last part of the road to barva is unpaved and in pretty bad shape. as we started up, the 4WD couldnt make it up the road, so we had to back down to relatively flat spot to up the mud chains on. but as we started reversing, the right back tire went into huge hole, and the car ened up teetering. so, we pile out (except for manuel) and all got on the front bumber of the opposite side to try and even out the weight as manuel tired to make it out of the ditch without geting the front stuck as well. all the while bad US 80's pop songs were playing (but in spanish) on the radio. picture putting the mud chains on to total eclipse of the heart in spanish. yes, thats right. it was awesome.

The rest of the trip went without a hitch. we made it to the park, just in time to get caught in a down pour. barva is high elevation, 2906 meters. so a nice refreshing cold for us lowland tropics kids. we got to hike to the crater lake, then a bit farther to a lookout near the summit. the weather cleared just as we reached the final lookout.

the hike back involved some naked gunnera pictures. these plants have HUGE leaves. you could stand behind them, wearing nothing, and nobody would be able to tell. you'd be totally covered. assuming no strategically placed herbivory. hypothetically speaking. i of course wouldnt do something like that. back at the gaurd station/entrance the boys had found a baby armidillo which they showed to us before we all piled back in the car for the ride home.

so here are some pictures, enjoy!
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La Paz Waterfall