Pico is Hard to Climb

There has been quite a few events and adventures since the last post. On July 27th, Michelle had her 11th birthday. We left in the morning and hiked to Caldeira do Santo Cristo from the serra this time. Our cousin who is getting married today gave Nick and I a ride to the beginning of the trail. The hike on the way down was really beautiful. When we got there we ate at the restuarant with everyone that came with us (Uncle John, Angela, Sonia, Georgina, Breanna, Clara, Carla, Jordan, and our family). Michelle went swimming in the lake and went around collecting clam shells. After our journey back home we had some cake and ice cream and sang happy birthday to Michelle. It seemed like Michelle was bummed out earlier in the day but ended up really having a good time on her birthday. It is definitely a birthday that she will remember. She even got to frost her own birthday cake.

On July 29th we were ready to go to Velas to take the boat for Pico at 10:10am and we got there and realized that the boat acually left at 8:45. My mom accidently misunderstood on the phone about the only day of the week in which the boat left early. Since we missed that boat we had to wait in Velas all day till 8:30. We wasted our time various ways but ended up getting pretty bored torwards the end of the day. When we got to Pico we got off the boat and asked a random guy directions to our hostel we were staying at. We ended up getting a ride in the back of this guys work truck with alfalfa in it to our hostel. As the guy drove away from the port with us in the back we saw a taxi driver cursing at our driver. It was quite an experience; all of us not really knowing where we were going and laughing at the situation. When we got to the hostel all our driver wanted in return was a beer at the bar next to our hostel. We abliged him and he was on his way. We found our way to our rooms and the night was done.

The next day we woke up and saw that it was a nice bright sunshiny day so we decided we would try to climb Pico. We got a taxi to take all of us(Mom, Dad, Nick, Michelle, Sonia and I) over to the base of the volcano. We checked in at the ranger station and started our trek up the mountain (volcano). Nick didn't have any hiking shoes and ended up wearing his chuck taylors (Converse Allstars). The whole day you could hear his shouts of pain shooting up and down the mountain. The hike was a lot longer than any of us thought it would be, especially my parents. Alot of the trip to the top of the volcano was rock climbing more than walking. I was very surprised that my parents and Michelle forced themselves to climb all the way to the top. Once we made it to the cadeira (the cone) of the volcano everyone got a burst of energy to finish the climb to the top of the cone which was pretty dangerous. There was a ridicious amount of wind when climb up to the top of the lava cone. As we climbed up the cone there was steam coming out of the mountain and the smell of sulfur swept across our noses. At the top of the volcano we were at the highest point in all of Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean. We spent about 15 minutes at the top of the world and took in the scenery. Then came the dreaded climb back down to the bottom. On the way back down there were more than one bloody knees. I think everyone fell at least once. Nick fell and hit his hip pretty hard. Michelle hurt herself more than anyone else and then we had a period of dragging her down the rock cliffs as she was whining to stop. About halfway into our decent from the volcano the clouds and fog rolled in and made it hard to see the markers. When we finally made it down to the bottom we were all pretty broken, beaten, and scarred(not really scarred) but I think we all felt pretty accomplished. Uncle John was waiting for us at the bottom of the mountain with his relatives to give us a ride. We all made our way back to the hostel, ate dinner, and collapsed into our beds. Michelle really pushed herself to her limits but woke up in the morning feeling better than us I think.

Today is Claudia's wedding so I am guessing there will be many pictures so stay tuned for the next blog.

Here are the pictures from our trips to the places: