While I was watching the news about the Costa Concordia Cruise Ship disaster unfold recently, it brought back some, not so wonderful vacation memories of my own! This event was even documented on "When Vacations Attack." It's been 11 years ago this April but still holds it's place in my brain as one of my most vivid memories. It happened just a few months after another vivid memory that is implanted in most American's brains, September 11, 2001.
We had flown to CostaRica to get on a cruise ship and cruise through the Panama Canal. Our first stop was Nicaragua. We had booked a tour to the Masaya Volcano but had first stopped at a museum in the little town of Masaya, 17 miles south of Managua with lots of artifacts and interesting history on Nicaragua. The one thing I remember most is a painting, depicting the last time the Volcano had errupted. It showed hands sort of melting down the side of the volcano under lava. They told us most of the people died from the highly toxic gasses before they got swept away in the lava flow. Next we headed up the hill to see the crater. Several busloads of people where unloaded and made their way to the Santiago Crater. Our tour guide talked to us a bit more about the history of the volcano and how the Conquistadors had named it the mouth of Hell and put a big cross on the top begging for the eruptions to stop, back in the 1700's....He had also told us the last time it erupted was 200 years ago, ya right!
We walked about two hundred steps to the top, near the cross, for the best view. We hadn't been there long when a huge swarm of birds came flying out of the caldera. This seemed strange to me at the time. The smell of sulphur was almost overwhelming when suddenly I heard what sounded like a 747 flying very low over my head. This gave me an eerie feeling because of the recent 911 events. I looked up and saw nothing but what I saw when I looked back down made me run like a crazy woman, down a VERY steep hill full of crumbly shale and sharp volcanic rock while wearing shorts. Not a very good idea but better than what I saw as the alternative, being overcome by the gasses and carried down the hill by lava like those poor souls in the painting!
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| Painting in the museum depicting bodies sliding down the mountain under lava. |
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| Looking into the caldera before it blew |
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| After thinking I heard a jet flying directly over my head, looked down to see this! |
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| Stood there for just a minute, thinking, Holy Cow, this thing is blowing up! |
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| This is when I decided to run! My husband is here yelling at me to come back with him to the bus. You want me to come back up that hill, Really???? |
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| Chaos and screaming as people realized it wasn't letting up. I was probably half way down the hill by now but my legs where cut to shreds from sliding and falling on the rock. |
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| Parking lot where our buses were parked and where we stood just minutes before. Thankfully we had moved up the hill to safer ground. |
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| Bus with hole blown in roof, eventually starting on fire. |
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| More bus damage |
After we all crammed back into the buses that were still drivable, we returned to the ship. I spent the next few hours in the infirmary where they gave me antibiotics to quell the possible staff infection from the cuts and nasty germs that were on the volcanic rock from monkey and skunk dung! They also gave me a scrub brush and antiseptic that I was to take back to the room, sit in the tub and try to scrub the excess rock out of my leg....OUCH, this was painful.
The cruise line flew in counselors to help people deal with the trauma. I didn't go visit with them but looking back, maybe I should have. This bothered me for quite a few years. In fact, a few years ago I was on the Big Island of Hawaii with my parents and kids. We decided to take them up to see Kilauea Volcano. When we got there and started walking closer, I began to smell the sulphur and felt really uneasy to the point I got tears in my eyes and wanted to leave. A year after that I was back on that same island a LONG ways from the volcano, taking a leisurely drive with my husband when we were suddenly enveloped in a VOG. (volcanic fog) Couldn't see 5' in front of you and there is that all to familiar sulphur smell again. This sent my heart racing and I almost felt like I was going to have a panic attack.
As I am writing this I am wondering why I have decided to go on two more trips to countries with active volcano's coming up in the next few months! One of which is a Fam trip with a group of fellow travel agents to Costa Rica. With a planned tour of Arenal volcano and a boat ride on Arenal lake at the base of the volcano.
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