To climb the Paricutin volcano one has to be a spiritual warrior - Another adventure in Michoacan state of Mexico... No one knew about this place until a friend from Guadelajara made us aware of the special mystical nature of this volcano. No one knows that it is one of the seven "natural" world wonders, ranking among giants such as the grand canyon, Mount everest, australian coral reef, the caves of spain and france etc. Why such an insignificant volcano, among thousand others has been chosen ? The speciality is that it is hardly 50 years old, that it rose next to a small village and yet didn't kill a single person. Then last but not least the only building to remain was the church and its altar which as by a miracle remained intact up until today. There are certainly many other things one will find out only if one goes there personally. Our trip: started on saturday morning at 7:30 from Morelia. We reached at 10:15 and until we were ready to go it was 11:00 A.M. We were offered to go on horseback and for many of us this would have been the right thing to do as we were quite late in the day for all to make it. As we reached the site of the church, we were amazed how the only things left intact were the church-bell and the altar... After a long walk through the forest, we see a huge field of stones... Sulfur coming out in various places... Looks far but is not far... As the rain started in the middle of the stone field, we had to stop and protect ourselves from the hail hitting us. Thunder and lightening all around us. At this point 6 members of the 18 people decided wisely to go back. Among the 12 left, 3 almost reached the end of the stone field, 2 reached the beginning of the cone of the mountain and 7 made it to the summit. Among them: 1. Shanti who had been there before 2. Asiima who also had been there. 3. Pratap 4. Topiltzin Miguel 5. Dada Krpasundarananda 6. Dada Mokseshvarananda 7. Enrique Had we started 2 hours earlier, many of us would have reached also, but we could not foresee the slow pace at which a group of 18 moves versus a group of 4. After we had gone through the worst rain and hail, the sun broke out... In the night an unexpected challenge arose for one of Shanti's sister, as a diabetes patient was in coma from hypoglycemia. She had to bring her to the hospital and spent the night until 4 A.M. In the morning we left the volcano, who had given us a good challenge, but not harmed us. Three or four of us could not climb the 786 steps down to the cascades we visited the next day, so the group was down to 10. The beauty and power of the cascades recharged us and gave us time to meditate upon the experience of the day before... Fire and water..., yes, these were powerful forces, experienced in a weekend of a lifetime of memories...