The Red Bulls of Aso-san

The red bulls of Aso-san are slightly famous, no not for giving you wings. Although, this particular fellow took a liking to me and was following as I was walking the 15.3 km down the road to the hostel. He wouldn't stop staring at me so I mooed to him. Seemed like the thing to do. Well, he mooed back. Similar to many conversations I have had in Japanese I wasn't quite sure what I was saying nor did I understand the response.

The Aso-san valley is beautiful, similar to the valley of Buena Vista where you are surrounded by mountains. But in Aso-san you are surrounded by volcanoes. So my plan was to take the bus to the visitor center near the caldera and then hike the rest of the way up. Cut me some slack, it was 38 degC... Unfortunately, the caldera was closed due to high concentrations of poisonous gas. So I snapped a few pictures of Aso-san, ate an ice cream cone and tried to figure out what to do.

I was hoping to get some good exercise in, so I decided to follow a trail marked on my map to Mt Komezuka (which translates to upside-down rice bowl apparently). It involved walking down the road for a couple kilometers and then taking a trail that goes right by Komezuka and then ends near the hostel. Sounds perfect. Except I never found the trail because it was hidden under grass a meter tall. So I walked. And I walked. And I walked down this road for all 15.3 km of it. Did I mention it was 38 degC? Oi.

So maybe that's why the bull was so curious about me - he'd never seen a crazy American walking down the road talking to him before.

These pictures (and a conversation with a bull) are about all I have to show for a day spent on Aso-san. I did a sketch of the bull in my journal in honor of his support during my downhill suffering.