I got up at eight and it's an absolutely gorgeous day, still chilly but very sunny. I went down for breakfast and there, all of a sudden, it was, peeping from behind the corner...

A huge cone, slightly smoking at the top (it's not active but apparently they still do that) covered in snow. I wish I could tell stories about climbing it, crampons and all, and then sliding down it getting a frozen and very sore bum, but as I have been sitting on a beach or sipping Cuba Libres most of last month, I figured that was too much to ask for my first real walk.

So I went for a walk in the woods instead, with great views of said volcano. I'm not sure if it was that much easier though, because our tour guid Monica told us it had snowed on Sunday and the whole trail was inches of mud. My poor boots have lost their original colour... We passed a number of beautiful lakes, and at Laguna Verde had our lunch (banana and coconut cookies in my case).

In the evening, our muddy track tales were of course no match for the ones from the people who went on the volcano. There also seems to be a volcanology convention in town, with about 900 volcanologists. James was saying he didn't understand people dedicating their life to collecting gases from volcanoes and then still not really knowing anything about them. Fair point, but it does get you to Chile...

The restaurant was called El Bosque and for some reason Duncan said the waiter spoke English (he didn't) which caused a lot of confusion. Said waiter was also the only one there, serving twenty hungry English and loads of other people, so things didn't always run smoothly. I felt very sorry for him. I ended up translating again, which is getting a bit old. I should ask for a tip at the end as well as I seem to be doing Duncan's job half the time.

I had a Cuba Libre (as in just one), which was very strong so I got pleasantly fuzzy. But then James (who looks very much like Captain Jean-Luc Picard -actor Patrick Stewart- from Star Trek the Next Generation according to Nipa and me) started talking to Rachel about why she does not drink alcohol and Kirsty was uttering complete nonsense about reading the Bible once and I realised I was surrounded by some very drunk English.

Which was my cue to go, so I went to the hotel and off to bed. The rest still went on to the bar opposite, schmoozing with more bearded volcanologists.