Finding My Pace: Swimming in an Active Volcano

The Shark and I love hiking. We have hiked in New Mexico, Colorado, Michigan, Virginia, Rwanda, Uganda, Ghana, Mali, Uganda, Indonesia, pretty much everywhere we have lived and traveled. But the introduction of Toto has put a halt on hiking since she prefers to be carried in our arms to being carried in a carrier. Although, she was a trooper during some hikes in Michigan and Indonesia. So on another Philippine holiday (how I love all these holidays), we headed out to hike Mt. Pinatubo.

We used the Filipino Travel Center, and for about $75/person, we had a car, driver, 4x4 jeep, and local guide. The van arrived at 4am, which was sadly way before Starbucks opened and even more sad was that there were no Starbucks anywhere near the start of the hike. At the registration "center" we hopped on a 4x4 jeep for a 1-hour bumpy, at times terrifying, ride across Crow Canyon. The 7km hike through the desolate, dusty wasteland created by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo was rewarded when we got to the crater lake.

Luckily they sold cold water and gatorade at the top, despite the fact that it was double the normal price. Kind of like a beer at a baseball game, but I digress. We got in our swimsuits behind a bush and jumped into the surprisingly frigid water. Even though the sun was out, the breeze was cold and dry. We could see smoke rising off a hot area of the volcano and that freaked me out a bit.

The hike back and subsequent jeep ride seemed to take an eternity and my calves got burned, but overall it was a great experience. I recommend you bring lots of snacks, a big lunch, change of clothes and socks, a towel, lots of sunscreen, and a big hat.

Want to know more about the devastating eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991? Great wikipedia article here. Yaya told us that she thought "the world was ending" that day and rushed her 5-month old baby to the capitol city to stay with her father for 3 months. She said it was pitch black for over 24 hours after the eruption.