On the way up to Sierra Negra
you see
tall trees and lush highland vegetation.
Starting to ride from the last farm up leads
through abandoned land invaded by the guava fruit trees.
The caldera of Sierra Negra has a
diameter of 10 kilometers and is one of the largest in the world. The
crater walls and bottom are covered by low growing plants and only a few
small animals inhabit this environment.
Darwin's shrub
and a few other low growing plants
encountered at the caldera's edge.
Composite picture of the huge crater
with a diameter of more than 10 km..
Bromeliads are epiphytes sitting on the trees
but not hurting it. On this trip you get to see various species of this
plant.
Other epiphytes on the trees include club
mosses, ferns, mosses and lichens which thrive in the moist climate
being able to take the moisture right up through their leaves.
A
lone Candelabra cactus in the hostile environment. Aa lava with its
broken shapes and forms is created if it rains when the hot lava
flows and gets thus cooled quickly.
The porous rock to the left was formed by the flow with most of the
gases escaping. The rock to the right is much heavier trapping all gases
and was ejected by the explosions.
Volcan Chico is a secondary volcanic active zone
located on the slopes outside the caldera, which
produced lava flows and eruptions as recently as 30 years ago.
Sulfur,
iron and other cooled magma
make up a colorful landscape.
From those holes hot air with gases,
called fumaroles still escape from the volcano's
inside.
