Remember Whensday: In the Clouds

Philip and The Becka in the clouds at the top of the Ceboruco Volcano

I last visited Mexico in 2006 and started blogging the next month. One of my first posts was about our climb toward the crater of the Ceboruco Volcano near Tepic, Nayarit. My brother Philip has a knack for selecting a very isolated beach or mountain for exploration. We spent several hours here and did not see anyone else on the trail.

We are still hearing daily reports about the earthquake in Haiti and this has made me think of places I have been where the earth's crust is unstable. I was in Mexico City four years before the magnitude 8.1 earthquake which hit in September 1985 and caused great devastation. We stayed in a high rise apartment for two nights with friends of my parents and I wonder if that building survived the quake.

The Ceboruco Volcano last erupted between 1870 and 1875 and the volcanic rock fields are still visible. We climbed past steam vents which were hot enough that campers could cook food in them. When we neared the crater, the clouds descended on the mountain top obscuring the way and making it difficult to reach the goal. We had to turn back which was fine with me.

I am following my brother past a steam vent

Finding yourself lost in the clouds on a mountain top is alarming. We had to trust my brother's knowledge of the path as we descended the trail again. I was not afraid that the mountain would erupt but the raw power potential beneath the ground was very evident. The shrouded path is a metaphor of times in our lives when the way is not clear. Sometimes it seems that things will crumble beneath our feet. We need a guide, or can be that guide for someone else in a difficult situation.

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