West Chester students at o'dark thirty!!
Today we had a free day and one of the host families offered to arrange an extra trip to a volcano. We had to meet at the dawn hour of 4:30 as it was a long drive. Our driver NEVER went above about 40 mph (I'm just guessing here as his odometer was broken, not kidding), cars kept flasing thier headlights as we passed them and sure enough next thing we would pass a highway patrolman . It was a blessing that so many could sleep, I, dear readers, was wide, wide awake.
The Ticans have put a geothermal power plant in the Miravalles area and capped a half dozen fumeroles to feed the plant. Our host had arranged a tour, knowing that Chuck had lectured on this and would be very interested in showing it to his students, It was a neat plant, plenty of big pipe, giant turbines and tanks. The view out the window of the power station has Miravalles volcano as the back drop.
As if a big geothermal power plant wasn't enough, next thing you know our driver pulls onto this tiny, gravel road and stops at a break in the fence line. Off we go strolling through the rain forest, along a steaming, hot stream...next stop, boiling mud pots. Can life get anymore interesting?
I had to take the below photo, this man and his son are herding cows with a motorcycle. Life, not fiction!
After finishing our walk we headed to Thermo Mania, a hot springs water park. It has about 6 naturally hot pools where we spent the rest of the afternoon, soaking up all the hot water and ignoring the rain. Please note, that's Miravalles again, in the background!
--P
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