Walking on set lava.

Though the morning was quite enthralling and I managed to complete what was a childhood ambition that I'd almost forgotten about I did sleep exceptionally well when I had got back from the trip up Pacaya, the local active volcano. I was up about five this afternoon which shows what a lightweight I have become, I only had to get up at 6 this morning and I didn't get to bed that late last night. I don't think that this is ridiculously early but I do think that I have kept the habit of staying awake in the afternoon that I would have in the UK. The shots at top of the volcano were taken in the most difficult of conditions and it's only really thanks to the 'shadow' function on Picasa that I was able to cause the bulk of the mist to 'evaporate' from most of the shots.

The group I was with, there were about 14 of us, were all very nice and most of those who wore trainers managed to see the funny side of slipping up on the arses as they were going both up and down the treacherous pathway to the top. For the afluent, and those that don't care about animals, it's possible to ride a completely knackerred looking horse up to the top and over the other side.

It was a really special moment as we approached the lava. The bulk of the walk up the pathway was on muddy to gritty ground and was reasonably easy despite the sheer incline that seemed to be affecting me more than anyone else. I don't think many people slipped up on the way up the path though almost all of us lost our footing to a degree. I was relieved when we reached the clearing at the top of the hillside only to find a group of people who I presume were Guatemalan Scouts who started towards the lava flow as we were passing where they were camped. There were two or three groups in all, and we kind of coalesed as we were leaving the clearing at the hill top and starting to walk on the set lava.

The scene was added to because of the misty conditions. I would have preferred it to have been clear but what seemed to add to the ambience of the day was that the mist and rain as it was hitting the rocks was audiably evaporating as it hit areas where the lava was streaming out of the ground. There was a noticeable jump up in temperature as we were around five or six feet from the point where lava was coming out of the ground and the increase in the volume of sound of rain coming down on to the red hot rocks was also noticeable, as it immediately evaporated and misting up my camera amongst other things.

The shots taken are at Volcan Pacaya and also at Pacaya, Antigua should you wish to see how well I could get them to turn out. Walking back after having a marshmallow with a group of Americans and taking a few photos was quite an experience. We had ascended the volcanic area on the way to the lava flow and there was quite a scene in front of us which resemebled to me something out of Lord of the Rings, everyone keeping pretty much to the same path as the guide, who didn't actually look a lot like Smeigel. Everyone was soaked through it seemed and with the rain coming down quite heavily as we approached the muddy gritty path back down the hillside I wondered how frequently the people who were wearing trainers would be falling on their asses. It was actually far more frequent that I imagined - most of them had muddy bottoms by the time we reached the site's offices and shops at the bottom of the hillside. We made it back to Antigua in good time, about one hour and twenty minutes and I was showered up and in bed within the hour in order to take the mock siesta that I seem to need when I've been up before 8am here.

The shots aren't great but the conditions were attrocious for photographs and what has been salvaged is more a testament to digital technology than my photographic ability. It has as an experience made me want to recall more of my childhood ambitions as I don't think that I've had an experience like it for some time. I don't really recall why I wanted to do this as a child. It was probably connected to some naive belief that 'seeing is believing' and that lava was evidence of what may be at the core of the earth. Thirty years ago I probably had more interest in being an intrepid explorer, in the style of Indiana Jones and a lot has changed since that period in the early 1970's most notably in the form of environmental movements and in terms of the beginning of post-modernism. Man is no longer attempting to control the elements and dominate, master and exploit the world in quite the same vein. The relationship with nature and natural phenomena like active volcanoes has become more ecological and reflexive; I don't know if I'll be that inclinded to re-frame other childhood ambitions in order to validate following them through but if it was as entralling as today was, it would be well worth it. Having looked at Antonovsky's contribution to the field of well-being and his notion of the sense of coherence, there is an element of that within what I have done today. Perhaps it is healthier to recontextualise childhood wishes in a more mature manner and to try to keep some continuity in one's wishes and aspirations.

The Considered Opinion....

For the majority of the time that I was at university I found the idea of having a considered opinion as being extremely old fashioned and entirely out of synch with the post-modern fluctuations in ways of approaching research, epistemology and other issue areas that I struggled to understand. There may of course only be this level of understanding this term however, I would speculate that there are what may in effect be class based divisions in how the term can be viewed.

It did seem like a particularly Victorian and gentlemanly means of a describing a relatively good quality opinion, a view of high status that was arrived at through sensible and reasonable consideration of factual information in the light of a contemporary situation. A considered opinion should perhaps reflect all information relevant to the opinion after someone has had opportunity to digest that information. This information should perhaps be researched and critiqued by the person who expresses the opinion. It may also be something that a graduate of any degree should aim to have on any view that they express – that they will have given adequate consideration to all matters that they are willing to state an opinion on. I find it rather difficult to imagine that this does take place because I imagine graduates tend to slowly absorb information after a degree and may enjoy or find greater pleasure in well researched, written and targeted texts but not necessarily research their views with a semi-religious conviction.

I have aimed at understanding some current affairs issue areas to a respectable standard and not found it straightforward to do this. I have say for instance aimed at developing an understanding of conflict ridden areas, such as the middle-east and Northern Ireland. It is not difficult to get a few books on each area, say reviewing the last fifty years history and key characters and movements which are affecting each area, and to read through these. However, what I have found rather difficult is just getting on with this. Academia is not the leisure activity that I think it possibly should be in some respects. Maybe I should not feel any grief dissatisfaction or upset when reading about the atrocities of the British government but after studying the information then express and feel some form of shame. It’s certainly not something that should disrupt the reading that I do and I shouldn’t feel that any response during reading is anything other than likely to interrupt the process of forming the said opinion. This I appreciate may sound like a very juvenile view to state but because it does I don’t think that it is frequently expressed.

It does also strike me that there is going to be some means to other levels to the considered opinion and that there are likely to be matters that can not be divulged publicly that may have some bearing on what can be expressed in an opinion – that someone gentlemanly – not that this restricts women in any way at present - and senior in society may not be able to divulge information on some particular form of corruption, however, what someone may be aware of could be incorporated into their opinions. Maybe a considered opinion was a means of gaining guidance without needing to be aware of the unpleasantness of the world that those up top may be aware of and to benefit from their guidance. This is what I assume religions aim to propagate through a universal doctrine of morality which has been generated by some of the most corrupt people that the world has known…A little jaundiced I think.