We also stopped at a lake called Camécuaro in Zamora, Michoacán. It was simply beautiful. The water was really clear and surrounded with very majestic Cypress trees. There was a platform that was maybe 10 feet up and we all jumped into the lake from it. Right beside the platform was a tree with a rope tied to one of the branches. Some of the kids had really funny jumps with the rope. By the way the water was freezing. After we ate tacos there, we rented 3 very big "row boats" and I was in charge of one of them. We obviously tried to race each other but the kids in my boat didn't really know how to row that well so we ended up doing a few circles before actually going anywhere. It kind of worked out though because we weren't so far away from where we began when it started to rain hahah.
That night, we arrived at the cabin where we could see the volcano in the distance. The altitude there is much higher than Guadalajara and so it was cold. It was nice to curl up in my blankets instead of sweating while trying to go to sleep.
At the beginning of the trip, I was a little worried that we would have a lot of behavior problems with the 5th graders because they are the worse when it comes to getting their attention. But, they were actually very well behaved and unlike the other grades, I was able to have conversations with a lot of them which was nice. I also brought some of my metal disentanglement puzzles and we had a good time trying to figure them out.
The next day we went to the volcano and hiked for a good hour to reach the top. The mountain is made completely of volcanic rock that gets smaller and smaller as you ascend. It also fells like it gets steeper as you got higher, but I don't know if that was just because it is so tiring. Regardless, it is much harder to go up the higher you get.
At the top, you can see for miles and miles. The view is very impressive. Reminded me a lot of Lion King. There was one part that looked a lot like the Elephant Graveyard. You also look down into the crater which is several hundred feet down. (If you look at the pictures from this trip, make sure to click on the landscape ones so you can see the people and get a sense of scale.) There is steam coming from the ground and if you take a rock out of the ground, it is very hot. I was hoping that we would see lava but there wasn't any above ground at least.
A few of us went down into the crater. I felt like I was skiing because the incline was so steep. I guess a lot of people go down into the crater and leave their trash and so the guides suggested that we each take two bottles down the mountain to put in the trash. What a cool thing to teach 5th graders! So we had to hike up the crater and then go down the mountain. We didn't go back the way we came though. Instead we hiked to the other side where there was a path that went straight down. No matter how much you try to walk, you are running. So why not run really fast or "snowboard" (maybe the proper name should be "rockshoe" since there was no snow nor board haha)? So I was jumping this way and that avoiding students with style. I would have done some flips if I wasn't guarding my camera haha. At the bottom of the mountain, we all emptied our shoes and tried to get all the dirt off of us. Incredible.
Next, we went to some ruins of a church that resulted from the volcano. When we returned to the cabin, we were all very tired but energetic at the same time. So we played capture the flag and cops and robbers. And that night we had a camp fire and played other games. I slept quite well.
The final day we headed to the waterfalls of Zararacua and Zararacuita. To get to the first waterfall, we descended 545 steps (I counted haha). And then we traversed the rest of the mountain for 30 minutes to get to the next waterfall. There was an open-air shelter halfway to the 2nd waterfall where we stopped for a break. Aníbal (the leader of the trip) lectured the students about conserving the environment and then talked about the importance of exercise. At the end he asked who could do the most pull-ups on one of the beams of the shelter. A bunch of the boys tried and the best one did 6. None of the girls had tried and so Aníbal asked who of the girls could do the most. Everyone started cheering for Jackie, who is like 4 feet tall and very thin. She did 7! Haha! (I asked her afterward and found out that she does gymnastics.) Then they started cheering for me. All I was thinking was that I had to do more that 7 hahah. I ended up doing 2... just kidding. I did 13. Aníbal went after me and he is like 65 years old and he did 13 as well. I guess I should start working out more =D.
In the 2nd water fall, we got in. It was cool because it has just rained and so part of the waterfall was muddy and the other part was clear. I took an awesome picture of one of my students and was hoping to get a similar picture with me in it, but oh well.
Anyway, of the 3 trips that I've been on with the different grades, this was definitely the best. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to go on the trip with the 2nd grade to Mazamitla so I can't compare these trips with that one. However, my boss promised me that next year, I'd be allowed to go on that one!!
By the way, I made a panoramic photo of the volcano. Make sure to click on it as it is ridiculously good looking. The white dots on the left side of the picture are people.
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