When you go to Reunion, there is a long list of things you have to do, see, experience, eat....If I were to write a list of the absolute "must see" top 10, it would probably be something like this (in no particular or meaningful order):
1: surf at Trois Bassins, my favorite surfer spot
2: Spend the night in a gite at Cilaos, the most beautiful mountain on the island I've seen yet
3: An around the island tour, stopping at all of the cool places along the way, including a lunch near the lava floes to eat rougail saucisse
4: have a bonfire and camp out on the beach at Grande Anse, the best beach to camp out on ever
5: Go paragliding in St Leu, over the ocean and the biggest/best waves on the island
6: Go snorkeling at Hermitage to see all of the colorful fish and coral reefs
7: Walk along the peaceful and mostly deserted stretch of beach from St Gilles to Boucan Canot to check out all of the pretty houses along the way
8: Go to Coco Beach on Sunday night to watch the sun set and then salsa dance outdoors (well I had to put in some sort of salsa event, sorry!)
9: Explore the 3 Bassins/ Cormorants waterfalls and go for a refreshingly chilly swim
And finally, we get to the point of this list: #10, and an absolute must must must, is the hike directly to the center of the volcano: Le Piton de la Fournaise.
My friend Ben and I have started our official Tuesday adventure club, where we are the only members, since everyone else has to work. Every Tuesday our new goal is to see or experience something new, before our time on this island is up. This week was the volcano, and we couldn't have picked a better moment to do it.
First, it was raining so hard. While we got out of the car Ben teased me relentlessly since after all my bragging of being a pretty tough hiker and backpacker, growing up out of a backpack in the Sierras....I had forgotten my rainjacket. Despite the downpour, we pressed further, we hadn't driven 2 hours to sit in the car. As we hiked towards the trail, we made it to the edge of a sheer cliff, and as we looked down, the view took my breath away. It was as if we were on the edge of the planet, looking into some sort of moon crater, barren of almost everything, except for some brightly colored shrubs. As the mist cleared, we carefully hiked our way down into the crater, every moment getting more and more drenched. At that point I stopped caring that rain was falling down in torrents so that I could hardly keep my eyes open, or that my clothes were dripping so wet that whenever we stopped you could hear the water running down. It didn't matter that my hands were really numb. I was so amazed at how barren the place was.
I've seen a few volcanoes in my time, Mt St Helens to name one, but this one was different. On one side you could see multiple cones, just rising off in the distance, and on the other you could see the steep cliff that we had just clambered down. All around was a stockpile of oddly shaped rocks, that had been melted and molded into such strange designs no artist could have ever come up with. We didn't talk much, but just kept walking along, listening to the silence. You couldn't even hear the rain very much, as it hit the rocks without making a single sound. I just took pictures from time to time, admiring the array of colors. Sadly we had to do the shorter hike, because of time restraints and the fact that by that point I was pretty well, waterlogged. I looked off in the distance to the big cone, noting that I would save that "big guy" for next time. We walked back mainly satisfied by how very few tourists had come today, to hike around in the rain. What they didn't know was it was the best time to see this place, all shrouded in fog, nice and cool without a single ray of sunshine. You can only imagine how hot that crater gets when it's sunny, since there's not a spot of shade in sight.
It's places like these that make Reunion seem like "paradise" quite a lot of the time. By the time we got back to the beach it was time for some french fries at the snack bar near the "Big Left," one of the best surf spots in the world. As the sun set, I again could not believe how magical this place is. Yup, paradise. But even vacation has to come to an end someday. And as much as I love this place, it's time for other adventures.
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