The Volcano

(Aug 14-17)

In our meeting this last Thursday, August 14, we had an update from our Managing Director (MD).  The International Management Team (IMT) continues to evaluate the Ebola situation.  All the higher-ups continue to work on contingency plans for various possibilities.  While we were given some details, we hope that this coming week will give us a clear picture of when we should be leaving for Benin.  The blood results for the patients in Benin came back negative for Ebola.  This is good news, for not only us as a ship but also for those patients.

The real update, though, is that we have a broken propeller.  We have several propellers on ship, and there is one that is not working right.  We are able to sail, but it is not ideal to sail without getting it fixed.  We have time here in Spain now that we are waiting.  It is good that these two delays overlap rather than occurring separately.  A specialist will be coming in on Monday to assist with the repair, and we will know more then.

In the meantime, we moved locations within this marina - which we did on Friday morning, all of less than one mile (by sea) from our original destination.  Basically, we are now at the end of the marina, about 4.5km from the entrance to town.  This is a little far to walk, so the ship arranged for shuttles from the ship to town.  Joe had signed up for a two hour shift for Friday.  However, the two hours turned into four hours.  The ship has TVs mounted in common areas that play announcements 24/7.  The announcement on the TV said that shuttles would continue through 1am, but the drivers' sign-up list only asked for drivers through 11pm.  Joe was the last scheduled shuttle driver of the night (9pm-11pm).

When he returned to the ship, the ship's security guard said that over 20 people were still in town and then Joe discovered the discrepancy.  Being the upstanding man that he is, he volunteered to drive for the next two hours as well.  It was a long night for him!


DISCLAIMER:  The following story has many, many photos attached to it.  I simply could not chose any fewer.


Saturday was a brilliant day for us.  We arranged for a group of people to go up the volcano; fourteen of us in all.  We took two vehicles.  By the way, these Land Rovers can hold nine people!!  It was about a two hour drive to the volcano, and we stopped for a leisurely lunch just before we reached the volcano.

The volcano itself was gorgeous.  We rode up a long lift to the top.

Notice the view of the cables from the top…and how they drop off sharply like a roller coaster ride!

The views on the way up were so stunning…I could not wait until we were actually at the summit.  You can see the path of the lava (look for the blackened areas):

At the top, there was a number of paths and lookout points.  And the views all around us…so beautiful.    In the first photo, notice one of the other islands, which looks like it is floating amid the clouds and not grounded in water:

I picked one of the paths and wandered down it for a ways.  The path was rocky.  And twisty.

The view at the trail's end was no less grand than the view from the top:

The climb back up the path was strenuous, both due to the angle of ascent and the altitude.  I had to stop several times.  During these stops, I attempted my first selfies!

I have to admit, the climb took a lot out of me, and I ended up falling asleep on the drive back.  But I still managed to get a few photos of the drive back down.  The road was just as twisty as the hiking path, but not rocky in the least:

There were some great views here as well:

Wow!  Such grandeur that God has created!


And to recover from such grandeur, we rested all of Sunday.  The sun and the altitude sapped all our strength.  Not to mention, I got sunburned.  I was uncomfortable most of the day.  But it was worth it!