One of travel’s rewards is the
unexpected you can nearly always count on when leaving behind the boredom of modern life. In 1994, when I climbed southern Colombia’s
Cumbal Volcano with my family, our goal was to peek inside its crater. We never
imagined we would be watching farmers carrying blocks of fossil ice on their
backs from the bottom of that crater.
Now the farmers quickly wrapped
the ice inside grass and espeletias. This would protect its temperature from
the sun and the warm sides of the horses which would carry it down the volcano.
The men told us they would sell the ice
to small ice cream makers in villages far below.
Unfortunately, we had arrived
too late to watch them ax the ice out of the rocks. They were done for the day.
And soon forever. Electricity and refrigerators would soon reach those villages.
