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Indiana Jones And The Volcano
By Keith Varnum, Fri Dec 9th
Indiana Jones and the Volcano Experiencing a live volcano was on top of our agenda when myfriend Rob and I visited the exotic land of Costa Rica. Theplane touched down in the capital city of San Jose, and weheaded for the car rental to pick up a 4x4 and a map to Mt.Arenal, the nearest active volcano. After an arduous drive through torrential rain, we finallyarrived in a quiet village supposedly at the foot of afire-belching monster. I say supposedly because it was so foggy,we weren’t even sure a volcano existed. We couldn’t see a tree ablock away, let alone a volcanic mountain looming 5,000 feetabove us. (Article continued below)
Locals claim if you really listen closely, you can hear thebeast rumble. We never heard a whimper. By the second misty dayand night of no sighting, I suspected the local population hadfabricated the story of an erupting volcano in order to attracttourist dollars.
A volcano of convenience. No muss, no fuss.Just some imaginary rumbling every so often that only the localshear from a volcano no one ever sees because of the rain and fog! Waiting out the rain, we were eating a tasty native dinner ofred beans and rice at a colorful local dive when the owner ofthe café strolled over to our table. Without invitation, heplopped himself down. Miguel appeared to me exactly as I’vealways imagined don Juan of Carlos Castaneda fame to look. Hisface was dark and swarthy with a kind but inscrutableexpression. Staring straight into our eyes, he declared inhalting English, “You want to know volcano, not just look at it.” Being a veteran traveler, I have learned to be agreeable in aforeign country and, in general, say “yes” to practicallyeverything spoken to me by the locals. Not realizing the fullimport of the distinction between the words Miguel had used, Iresponded amicably, “Yeah, yeah, of course, we’d like to knowthe volcano.” Without another word, Miguel turned over my paper place mat andbegan to draw a crooked line. We watched in silence as he guidedthe pencil over the grease-stained paper in absorbedconcentration. What emerged was a detailed map of twists andturns with landmarks indicated by little, kid-like pictures oftrees, stone walls and tiny shacks to represent a village. Finished, Miguel sighed and spoke directly into our souls withpiercing, green eyes. “This map take you to volcano. To be withvolcano—to feel and know spirit of volcano.” Then he laughedsoftly and cautioned us we would be scared because the volcanowould definitely erupt when we were there. “But volcano not harmyou,” he added hastily. With a wistful look in his face, Miguelshared how he has picnicked at the edge of the volcano his wholelife and the towering inferno had never harmed him. His wordsonly mildly consoled me. The sound of the cold, drenching rain woke us at dawn. We stillcouldn’t see or hear the volcano. Since the downpour discouragedus from any tourist activity, we decided we may as well getsoaking wet following Miguel’s map to wherever it led. We drove up the steep mountainside until the rugged jeep roadended abruptly at a craggy cliff. I was very surprised Miguel’shand-drawn map actually corresponded to what we found on ourjourney. We followed our friend’s makeshift chart through a holein a fence, up a circuitous rocky path, over many collapsed lavarock walls and past long-deserted fruit orchards. The trailended at an imposing 300-foot wall of solid volcanic lava flowso jagged and sharp we couldn’t climb it. Fortunately for us, Miguel had anticipated this challenge. Atthe edge of the lava flow, his map showed a naturallycamouflaged trail through the dense rainforest. We plunged intothe dark primeval forest. The jungle growth was so thick withvines and roots, the path so muddy and slippery, I felt we’ddropped into a comic scene right out of the Harrison Ford movie“Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.” During onehilarious moment, Rob and I both lost our footing and, clutchingeach other, slid back down fifty feet of the mudslide trail.Grabbing overhanging vines, Tarzan-style, saved the day—and ournecks! Our guardian angels must get a lot of overtime pay! Undaunted and filled with the rush of adventure, Rob and Ihelped each other stand up, pull ourselves together and restartthe climb. Clawing and scratching our way through therainforest, we finally reached the top of the lava flow. Myfirst impression was how very windy and cold it was up there fora tropical climate. The pouring rain and dense fog hadpersisted, obliterating the view of anything more than a foot infront of us. As we inched our way along the top of the volcanicrock, I remembered how Miguel had told us of his many idyllicpicnics here with his friends. Not very conducive weather for apicnic on this morning! Suddenly, a booming roar filled the air, followed by a verypowerful rumble that reverberated throughout our bodies. We feltthe Earth roll in one undulating wave after another! Even thoughRob and I had never experienced an eruption before, weinstinctively knew this was the volcano showing its might. Theground continued to heave in unnerving spasms. People-sizeboulders sped past us down the slope. Flying rocks werepropelled into nearby trees, the sheer force imbedding theprojectiles cleanly into their trunks. We heard and felt nearbyavalanches crashing their way down the mountain. We could onlysee a fraction of the devastation because of the blindingdownpour, but our bodies definitely registered the massiverearrangement all around us. A sharp electric terror shot through every cell of my body. Itsmessage was explicit and commanding, “Leave! Now! You must gonow to save your life.” I shouted to Rob, “We’re out of here! It’s not safe!” To myastonishment, he shook his head from side to side indicating hedidn’t want to go. “I’m staying. This is too cool!” he yelled over the roar of thewind and falling rock. He was nineteen years old. His sense ofnovelty and exploration was still stronger than his sense ofdanger and good judgment. I started to argue. I made zeroimpression on the brash, young daredevil. Then another explosion rocked our world. I watched in horror asthe heat, ash and force of the blast denuded a huge 200-foottree in one second, stripping off all its leaves and limbs. Ifthis volcano could do that to a tree, it could do the same tous! I knew with certainty I was supposed to leave posthaste. Jumping off the top of the lava mound right into the rainforest,I bolted without another thought. I threw myself into the“Raiders of the Lost Ark” express mudslide, riding the flowingwater and sludge through the dense jungle growth down the sideof the still-quaking mountainside. In what seemed like only afew seconds, I arrived at the bottom of the lava flow. The pathwas certainly faster and easier going down than climbing up! Fora brief moment, I lay soaked to the bone, resting in a mudpuddle, my ripped clothes covered with brown muck. Recovering some of my composure, I became aware for the firsttime of heat radiating from the lava flow smoldering severalfeet to my left. I crawled in the direction of the flow until Iwas within a few inches of the mass. To my surprise, the airfelt like I had just opened a 400-degree oven. The surface wasso hot, I instinctively jumped back a few feet. When we firstarrived earlier in the morning, the extremely cold wind andpelting rain had so neutralized the radiant heat from the lava,we didn’t even notice the temperature. But the heat was not the only aspect of the lava that theelements had concealed from us. I picked up a small twig andapproached the foot of the black mound that had gushed from thetop of the mountain. Getting as close as I could to thesulphurous heat, I stuck the branch into the rain-drenchedground about two inches in front of the lava. Within a minute,the lava hill reached the stick and buried it! Suddenly my whole body reeled with the involuntary shudder ofrecognition. For the last hour Rob and I had been walking on alive, moving lava flow! And Rob was still up there runningaround on the molten granite. Another eruption, three times louder than the first one, filledthe air. My ears throbbed from the deafening boom. My feet andbody registered avalanche after avalanche of crashing rockcareening down the side of the volcano. Descending the roughtrail, I ran head over heels in a panic, determined to outrunany rockslides coming my way. After a half-hour of the fastest,long distance race I’ve ever run, I arrived at our jeep safelysheltered under a broad-armed tree. Collapsing into the frontseat, I fought to catch my breath. As my pulse and mind quieted, I was overcome with fear for thesafety of my friend still walking around on the moving bed ofliquid rock in the midst of periodic violent explosions. I beganfeeling intensely responsible. I’d left a young kid in my chargeon top of an erupting volcano! A nightmarish vision bombardedme. I saw his parents, who had entrusted their son with me,watching local authorities dig through the rubble of the volcanosearching for the body of the lost American youth. Feeling soguilty and worried I could neither relax nor rest, I decided Imust leave the jeep and hike back up the volcano. I had to findRob. No sooner had I opened the door of the jeep than an insistentinner impulse told me to stay put and listen inside for furtherinstructions. When I receive such forceful commands from myinner coach, I usually obey. Quieting myself as much as possibleunder the circumstances, I endeavored to get in touch with mynext best intuitive move. I challenged myself, Was it wrong whatI did? Was it selfish and self-absorbed to look after my ownsafety and leave a young kid behind? After I felt all the intense emotions stirred up from askingthese soul-searching questions, I received a very strong messagedirectly from Spirit. My inner knowing spoke to me emphatically,saying: “You did the right thing. You followed your intuition. If yourecall specifically, your inner coach told you that it wasdangerous for you to stay, and that you needed to leaveimmediately. It said nothing about your friend Rob. Nothing atall. You were right to follow your guidance and leave. In fact,had you stayed, you may very well have endangered your friend’ssafety! Had you stayed, you would have been out of alignmentwith your intuition and, therefore, out of harmony and integritywith yourself. This discordant state has a strong tendency tointerfere with another person’s ability to tap into and followhis or her own knowing. Had you stayed, you may have hinderedRob’s ability to hear and heed his inner direction. You took themost helpful, loving and appropriate action by following theletter and spirit of your intuition. You following you owninternal urging allowed your friend the space to realize he mustrely on his own internal wisdom.” Spirit’s message was a fascinating new lesson in intuitiveguidance for me. In general, and for its reassurance in mypresent predicament, I was grateful for this fresh perspective.I never before realized the precision of intuition. I neverbefore understood the independence of one person’s guidance fromthe inner counsel of another person in a shared situation. At the exact moment I realized the import of what I was beingtold by my inner coach, Rob came streaking down the trail towardthe jeep. In the fury of the last violent eruption, Rob receivedhis own internal signal to vamoose. Guided by his own innercompass, he immediately took the Mudslide Express through thejungle to safety. I was extremely relieved—and appreciative toSpirit—that my nightmare vision of Rob’s demise was averted. Igave silent thanks for the eternal lessons I learned from ourescapade. Back on solid ground, Rob and I were anxious to leave themountain rains and clouds. We hopped into the jeep and spedtoward the sunny western coast of Costa Rica. Driving down themountainside, we both lapsed in and out of thankful silence forbeing alive. Perhaps the next day, the morning’s events wouldseem a great adventure, but, right then, the very real dangerwe’d just survived remained very palpable and raw. Our minds,emotions and physical bodies were still remembering andreplaying our narrow escape. Suddenly, Rob and I experienced simultaneous intuitive hits topull over and get out of the jeep. Leaning against the vehicle,we turned as one toward the top of the mountain we’d justdescended. As if waiting for us to stop our downward trek awayfrom the mountain and turn our gaze upward, the clouds parted toreveal the awesome Mt. Arenal volcano for the very first timesince our arrival in so many days earlier. The densemist lifted. We saw exactly where we had been hiking on the lavaflow. We pinpointed where the tree line ended and the lava flowbegan. We’d been standing only a hundred yards from the openmouth of the volcano when it erupted! The restaurant owner Miguel had promised we would be with, wewould feel and we would know the spirit of the volcano. He saidthe mountain would definitely erupt when we were there. And he’dpromised the volcano would not harm us. The rain and his crudemap tricked us into going so close to the volcano that we did,indeed, get to know the volcano, not just view it. Was it the spirit of the volcano that sent Miguel to us? —andturned the skies into a torrential downpour in order to obscurethe treacherous nature of our journey so we wouldn’t be scaredoff? Rob and I agreed, stranger things have happened. One thingwas certain. If we’d been able to see where we were going, wewould never have walked as close as we did to the mouth of thecauldron. Now, viewing the majesty of Mt. Arenal, we were humbled and everso grateful for the experience of having been able to safelyfeel the mountain’s power and personality. As we were sendingout our thankfulness to and admiration of the volcano, themountain erupted again with an explosion twice as high as thevolcano itself. Two miles of elegant ash plume shot up into thedark blue sky. The event was quite dramatic and very humbling. We knew the volcano was responding to our love and appreciationfor its gift to us that day. Then the clouds closed back in andour mighty friend said good-bye, leaving us forever changed andenriched by its friendship.
About the author:Keith Varnum shares his 30 years of practical success as anauthor, personal coach, acupuncturist, filmmaker, radio host,vision quest guide and international seminar leader (The DreamWorkshops). Keith helps people get the love, money and healththey want with his FREE “Prosperity Ezine” at www.TheDream.com. | 