Sulphuric Mud Bath

Hey all, this morning started bright and early with a 7am Roman Catholic service at a local church with the volunteer coordinator and Jeff.  It was a lovely Christmas service celebrating the Epiphany, the arrival of the magi.  It was truly a treat to be singing all Christmas songs in summer attire with a perfectly warm breeze flowing through the open back doors.  Each song had a Caribbean backbeat going with it to truly top off the atmosphere for us.  The church was decorated with Christmas trees, a nativity, and attended by many children that were very well behaved.  We were welcomed warmly by many.  At the end of the service, the priest sprinkled all children returning to school tomorrow with a utility spray bottle full of ‘holy water’ because there were so many.  The priest commented that their “guests” (i.e.-us) were pleasantly surprised by their methods, as we smiled.  We were expecting a mist, but it was most definitely on the jet stream option and Becca even got a bit…apparently she must be going back to school tomorrow, haha.  

Smoke & bubbles from the drive-through volcano

We then headed up the coast in our rent-a-car with our first stop being a drive in volcano and local mud bathing as an exfoliating spa!  The volcano has been dormant for about 200 years and “caved” in a number of years back to create a crater large enough to drive and walk through (called a caldera for any geological nuts).  We were appropriately educated before entering that volcanic activity is closely monitored and that as long as things are still smoking and bubbling it means that we are safe.  Apparently when it’s NOT bubbling and smoking it is the most dangerous, haha.  As our tour guide put it…”If you don’t see smoke, bubbles, or sense the smell, you better run like hell.”   

We drove straight through it then walked down to a tiny waterfall and saw a small community of folks inhabited there.  The whole area reeked strongly of sulphur, but the guide book was right—we got used to it.  Next, we headed up to the bottom where we all took a lil…err huge...dip in warm volcanic water then, went up stream a bit, collected the sulphur mud, and caked ourselves and each other.  We were advised not to drink the iron infested water as it would cause constipation!  The locals giving tours to others kept announcing…”Everyone’s going back to black!”  It was a very fun environment laughing and joking about our new looks and spots we did or didn’t miss.  It is apparently supposed to be an excellent exfoliate and make you look 10 years younger.  We admit our skin was smoother after washing it off, but are not sure we suddenly looked 15 again…or 25 in Barb’s case ;-)

Some professor lovin ;-)

 

We asked our tour guide about a good place for local eats and Ruthie recommended a wonderful place tucked away right on the water in town where we dove into some delicious  local stews.  Some of the stew contents included fried/stewed chicken, bread fruit, pinto beans, rice, sweet potato, mac & cheese, banana salad, a chest-nutty substance, veggies, and a local coleslaw without mayonnaise.  It was all very delicious!  Next up we drove to a botanical gardens that led up to the Diamond Waterfalls.  The flowers, orchids, and jungle-like surroundings were perfect scenery to the falls.  (Chrissy you would have LOVED it…we even saw “Moses”)

"Moses" for Chrissy

After we dropped off our rental car we hiked to the beach for relaxing evening in the water.  We tried to scrub off remaining sulphur mud that apparently needed to stay on a little longer to truly make us younger.  We relaxed on the beach, took a swim, watched the kite surfers, and enjoyed dinner on the water.  

 We are now ready to get a good night’s rest and be ready for our first day at the clinic tomorrow!!

(Sorry, we had some technical difficulties and couldn't post yesterday's blog till now)