Mt. Nevis-Muddy-Shoes

I suppose I could have included this tidbit in that other post about Nevis (which, incidentally is pronounced "Knee-viss".  I know, right?  Never mind that it looks like "Neh-viss", it's definitely "Knee-viss".), but I climbed a volcano while staying on our wee island. 

Obviously this was a long-extinct volcano (extinct?  Are volcanoes extinct?  Defunct?  Dead?  Sleepy?  I think extinct is right; I'll go with that) and it's the highest point in the Caribbean.  I think.  It might just be the toughest climb in the Caribbean.  Either way.  I was hella nervous pre-climb and seriously considered not going for fear of slowing down my fellow hikers.  So glad I didn't do that and even more glad I have good friends who encourage me and know how to calm me when I get a bit cray-cray.

Here's the volcano.  The resemblance is remarkable.

Everyone else is in the Jeep.
The Jeep that had weird opaque windows you couldn't see through.
Just play along.

(It's 1:51 in the morning.  I should probably go to bed.) 

As good as my drawing up there is, here's a shot of Mt. Nevis for real (we weren't sure what its actual name is, so we dubbed it Mt. Nevis.  We very well could have completely made that up.)

Clouds.

This might be it too.  *shrug*

It was one of the funnest hikes/climbs I have ever done.  It was steep as shit and muddy as hell.  I fell numerous times (once off the trail with only a baby tree to break my fall) and was covered in bruises the next day.  And after all of that, we didn't even get to see the view from the top because that magnificent bastard was wearing a little cloud hat, but shit, it didn't even matter.  So. Much. Fun.

One of those muddy foots is my muddy foot.

The rest of our muddy selves.

After the climb there was much drinking and eating and rejoicing and frolicking and the day after the hike, there was in-home massages.  Yeah, horrible vacation.