Stranded!!

I thought Mexico is supposed to be hot! Baltic doesn’t even get close to how cold it was today!

I woke up with a monster headache. One of those ones where the pressure in your head is so much that you consider bashing your head on a rock to split your skull to release the pressure!I’d forgotten how bad headaches from altitude are. I went to do my teeth, and ended up outside on my knees hurling! Oh god, can we please leave soon?!?!

On the up side, the views were stunning. The volcano in the morning light was amazing, and looking down on the hills below was beautiful. It was so cold though, that after taking a couple of photos my fingers were painful. The inside of the window in the room we slept in was frozen!

We had to wait for a while because no-one was on the gate below so tourists started driving their cars up to the top. The road is seriously dodgy! The guys had to sort that out before we could head down – more traffic jams!!!

At about 10, we piled into the truck ready to go down (at last!). The truck spluttered a bit but wouldn’t start. After a few attempts the guys were all under the bonnet tweaking things but it still wouldn’t start. After a good 20 minutes of trying, they gave up. By then the wind had picked up and the clouds had engulfed us. It was freezing! We went back into the hut, and radioed to the observatory that we were stuck and could they send a mechanic up. We hung around all day waiting for something to happen.

We were inside the hut, but it was so cold. More and more tourists kept coming up, wearing jeans and hoodies! I had on thermal trousers, trousers, waterproof trousers, 2 pairs of socks, my walking boots, a thermal top, a shirt, a thin fleece, a thick fleece, my ski jacket, a scarf, a hat and a pair of gloves, and I was frozen! I swear I could never climb Everest - I'd die! I can’t imagine how cold they must have been! Some of them brought young children with them, and babies. There was a couple that had their small son with them; he must have been 2 or 3. They had him wrapped in a blanket but the poor kid was frozen. It was -5 plus wind chill. We let them in the hut to warm the kid, and I really wanted to yell at them for being so stupid. These people are used to hot temperatures and they come up the mountain thinking it’ll be warm. Hello! It’s 4000m above sea level.

From this............ to this!

Carlos was getting more and more annoyed throughout the day. He said he was now made aware of the irresponsibility of the authorities of Mexico. They let so many people on the volcano (5000 last weekend), without educating them on the dangers involved. They don’t control it at all. They charge 25 pesos per person, so make a fortune. He said it made him angry how it’s all about money, with no regard to safety. I’ve spent enough time in Latin America that it didn’t surprise me that they are more interested in money, but I felt for Carlos as he was faced with the reality of it. So much for me filling out the health and safety forms, and Leeds Uni not being very happy me coming here – any Tom, Dick and Harry can come!

At 6pm, the weather still hadn’t let up, and the truck was frozen – literally….

We had to abandon the truck so the Jalisco Civil Protection guys gave us a lift down to the bottom where we were met by another Civil Protection guy, who drove us closer to Colima, where we were met by the director of the Volcano Observatory – a mission!

I can’t tell you how good it was to get a hot shower and curl up in a warm comfy bed!