The Montañas del Fuego (Mountains of Fire), at the heart of this eerie 51-sq-km park, are appropriately named. When you reach the lookout at a rise known as the Islote de Hilario, grab some pebbles and see just how long you can hold them in your hands. At a depth of a few centimetres, the temperature is already 100°C; by 10m it’s up to 600°C. The cause of this phenomenon is a broiling magma chamber 4km below the surface.
Some robust scraps of vegetation, including 200 species of lichen, have reclaimed the earth in a few stretches of the otherwise moribund landscape of fantastic forms in shades of black, grey, maroon and red. Fine copper-hued soil slithers down volcanic cones, until it’s arrested by twisted, swirling and folded mounds of solidified lava – this is one place where you really must remember to bring your camera.
The people running the show at Islote de Hilario, near the restaurant, gift shop and car park, have a series of endearing tricks. In one, they shove a clump of brushwood into a hole in the ground and within seconds it’s converted by the subterranean furnace into a burning bush. A pot of water poured down another hole promptly gushes back up in explosive geyser fashion; you have exactly three seconds to take that impressive snap.
Included in the admission price of the national park is a trip in tan-coloured buses that take you along the exciting 14km Ruta de los Volcánes, an excursion through some of the most spectacular volcanic country you are ever likely to see. The trilingual taped commentary has a fascinating eyewitness account by local priest Don Agustín Cabrera.
