By Delphine
Another epic day on Isabela. Arranged a day tour with our guide Claudia to visit the Sierra Negra volcano. Claudia is a bubbly, gregarious and energetic Argentinian lady who’s been living here for 30 years. She is awesome.
Starting our ascent at 850m, we each had a horse to ride to the top of the crater at about 1100m. It was misty and cloudy in the beginning, but we emerged above the clouds slowly as we ascended and it was all blue sky and bright sun at the top. We had the whole volcano to ourselves and didn’t see another soul. Trotting on a horse along the ridge of the massive caldera is definitely one of the most surreal and magnificent experiences ever. We really could feel the immense power, beauty and force of nature. Sierra Negra volcano is 700,000 years old and is still very much alive and active. The most recent eruptions occurred in 1979, 2005 and 2018. One could tell the age of the cooled magma by the color, with the most recent being the darkest in color, while the oldest are areas that are covered with green ferns and cacti.
Aside from feeling completely immersed in nature, the horses also enhanced the sense of mystique and spirit of the place. Arabella used to ride horses in naked Stables and it’s been several years since she rode on one. She was beaming with such joy and happiness from the beginning to the end, and she’s begging for horse riding lessons as soon as she got off her horse. Claudia gave her riding tips and Arabella was cantering at pretty high speed. She was ecstatic and she looked like Mulan riding on a horse! Alex also loved her horse and trotted along the paths. Azania rode with Grant on the way up and with me on the way down. It was her first time on the horse and she loved it as well.