Manizales - Tour to Nevado Ruiz and Visit to Termales Otoño

I went on a tour to Nevado Ruiz. Nevado Ruiz is an active volcano just east of Manizales. The above is not Nevado Ruiz. It is a smaller volcanic mountain nearby. At the time of my visit, they were not allowing visitors any closer to Nevado Ruiz due to volcanic activity. Even so, this tour rocked!

We started our day riding a tour bus up the mountain. We stopped for a typical breakfast. On the way up, the scenery was magnificent. It started with steep, deep green mountains. As we rose in altitude, the flora began to change. We saw four distinct floral environments: the deep green mountains changed to the Páramo, which then gave way to the Super Páramo at about 4200 meters, which then gave way to the Tumbas (the tombs) at about 4400 meters (about 14,400 feet). A person could spend and enjoy an entire day at each one of these eco zones.

We finished the day with a dip in the volcanic waters at Termales Otoño, which turned out to be a very relaxing way to finish the tour.

Deep, green eco:

Here you can see the beginning of the Páramo. There is still a lot of green, but there is more upper altitude brush type vegetation;

These next two were taken fairly close to each other at about 4000 meters in altitude and are both representative of the Páramo:

This next one shows the Super Páramo which begins at about 4200 meters. Notice the very limited vegetation:

Finally, Las Tumbas (the tombs) at about 4500 meters (I am not sure). Here it looks like we are visiting another planet. The volcano pictured above is just to the right.

Additional pictures of the trip: