Two nights later you come back to the village and the owner of the hotel where you are staying has a weird look in his face. He starts telling how he thought you were dead or lost on the volcano. He was worried to death. He went to the police station and reported you missing. Now the old man is obviously relieved and happy. As you are speaking to the hotel owner there are over 20 people looking for you on the volcano. At 6 a.m this morning the best guides of the island climbed to the top of the volcano and inside the crater, where toxic fumes are always a threat, to make sure nobody is in there. Several people have lost their lives on this volcano, mainly tourists.

An hour later some of the search party come and visit the hotel. The “lost Swede” goes out to meet these young men.

I personally think this photo pretty much summons up the feeling at that moment. Selfishly out of the topic I might even say that it’s one of the best photos I’ve taken.

It’s a happy ending but sometimes we ‘independent travelers’, me included, fail to remember that there are actually people who do get worried and care about what we do and where we are.

And what did we do during the two days when people were worried to dead? We had fun and went hiking to another volcano on this island. It’s not active so we swam on the crater. More of that trip later since I feel it’s off the topic of this post.