La Bomba Volcanica Gigantesca

Volanic bomb on a sea of ash
Fellow passenger observing a rock
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—”Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

 

On Island Lanzarote, the easternmost island of the Canaries. The cinder cone in the background cleared its throat, and La Bomba was born, a shattered visage on the sand.

Lanzarote is entirely composed of wind-blown flat expanses of volcanic ash and lava flows, dotted with low cinder cones. We took a four-mile hike that started over difficult ‘A’a clinkers. One person fell and rose with bloody hands, and a couple decided to turn back.

Volcanic landscape with A'a lava flows
Slightly weathered A’a lava flows

But by the time we reached La Bomba, the trail turned into a wide, level walking path over fine cinders. Effortless.

The hike’s highlight was ‘La Caldera de los Cuervos’ — ‘Cauldron of the Ravens’. It’s a small cinder cone that was home to a colony of ravens; there is a notch blown out of the side so you can walk in.

La Caldera de los Cuervos
La Caldera de los Cuervos. The notch is on the right side.
Entrance to the crater
The notch. A nice trail.
Inside the crater
Looking down into the crater
Bottom of the crater
Inside the crater
Lavascape
Outside
Walking back to the bus
Back to the bus, through the vineyards
Vinyards in the cinders
Vineyards in the cinder fields.

The vines are grown in pits; the pits are protection from the constant trade winds. There is no irrigation; the vines get enough water naturally. Lots of hand labor picking the grapes. We didn’t have time to try the wine.

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