Day 3: Pico do Fogo 2,829m (01/13/2020)

Ascension to the volcano

We get up at 5 in the morning. Let's have breakfast! Cecilio makes us a spectacular breakfast where we lack absolutely nothing. At approximately 06:20 and still at night we began to walk, it is a very comfortable black track path to do, but little by little the thing begins to steep until it is quite a considerable climb. The sunrise is spectacular. The sun casts a reddish color on the mountains, in addition to casting the shadow of the volcano. Watching this is a magical moment.

RECOMMEND: Start the route early, leaving at night, to avoid going up when the sun beats down, since the sun and the type of terrain will project us a great sensation of heat. Also watch the sunrise from the skirt of the spectacular volcano.

We have left early and are going at a comfortable pace, stopping to take pictures. Without a doubt, the path and the black lava slope is spectacular, very different and peculiar to other landscapes that we have been able to observe before.

Finally we reach the top, the crater, we see it from above. As soon as it arrives, it makes a very characteristic and strong smell of sulfur. Inside the crater we can see how it is smoking without stopping. That last! Best of all are the views of the island. The island is the circle of the volcano and despite being at approximately 2900 meters you can see the coast and the sea. Giving the sensation that the water is right there.

At the top we eat a little and we see that there is a higher point, we decide to go up there, to get there there is a fixed handrail very well installed, type via ferrata, and at the top the views are even more spectacular.

Decline

It is time to descend, the first section is a bit heavy since we have to descend with a lot of loose stone and at some point it can be dangerous. We immediately leave this type of terrain behind and get into the lava tongue. It is made up of very tiny volcanic stones, a large tongue that reaches down! When you step you sink to the ankles and it is a very very soft terrain. So we ran down it. Without a doubt, it is a spectacular sensation, very fun and that makes us descend the entire height of the volcano in a moment. We took the opportunity to record some videos and take some photos, I think that a descent like this can only be done in a volcano like this!

When we reached the bottom of the lava tongue, we stopped for a moment to remove all the pebbles that have entered our boots (which are not few) and now we continue walking towards Chã das Caldeiras.

Here is the track that we were able to record with our GPS while we relazamos the ascent to the Pico do Fogo

Arriving at the town, Pako receives a call from Gaby, our contact on the island! It seems that he has been able to change the flights, we can fly on the 14th! Paying a small supplement! This is good news since we can plan the dive and in any case advance it one day too to be able to do it!

Chã Wine Tour and Tasting das Caldeiras

Afternoon to rest a bit and take a walk around the town. As we walk, we are very struck by the sight of children running and playing barefoot in this terrain of lava rivers.

Later we take advantage and we are going to do a wine tasting at the Chãs das caldeiras cooperative.

Once there we enter and they welcome us to their home, it is a cooperative of all the farmers of the Chas de Caldeiras vineyards, it is Casa Ramiro. Here he explains their production, how the 2014 volcano eruption affected them and the projects they currently have to continue improving the quality of the product and expand a little more.

Ramiro explains the unique characteristics of the land and how they affect the final product, the Chã wine. Very curious to see how the lava literally enters the dining room of two adjoining rooms.

As expected, he offers us to buy some of his wines, but due to the flights we cannot buy, although we would like to, since we liked it a lot in the tasting. So the group decided to buy two bottles, to drink that same night. We proposed the option of buying on the way back at the airport, but between the rush and the airport, which is small, we did not see this option. It should also be mentioned that with the flight stopover in Lisbon and entering the EU they made us go through all the airport controls again, so we consider that without checking in, the option of buying a bottle of wine to bring it to Spain is quite difficult.