Sometimes We Climb Volcanoes

Volcano Climb # 1- Pacaya

Pacaya is one of the many active volcanoes in Guatemala. It last erupted in May of 2010 raining ash down onto the surrounding towns and hitting as far as Antigua and Guatemala City. Yes---we decided we must climb this volcano.

Yesterday afternoon Molly, Regine, and I set off to Antigua to catch a transport to Pacaya. Pacaya is roughly located about an hour outside of Antigua, although the winding roads made the journey seem much longer. We arrived around 3pm and it promptly started to down pour. What now? Fortunately there were ponchos, actually there were pieces of plastic for sale which you could poke a whole in and stick your head through...better then nothing. We bundled up in our rainbow colored plastic bags and began the hour and a half treck up the side of a volcano! The trail that we took up the volcano is mostly ash due to the recent eruption and therefore it was difficult to get your footing and even though the trail is not too long it is directly up hill. Needless to say we were all out of breath (but don't worry if we got too out of breath there were horses behind us and you could jump on a ride up the volcano too!)

About a half an hour into the hike the clouds parted and the afternoon turned out to be gorgeous. We continued to hike upwards and as the trees parted we could see the most beautiful vistas. Our guide pointed our different cities and landmarks along the way. As the trail came to an end we walked out into an opening and there was the top of Pacaya! We were so close and we could see the steam smoking out of the top! But the hike was not over yet!

Although the trail ended we continued to hike of volcanic rocks for another twenty minutes and worked our way even closer to the volcano. The closer we got the warmer it was and you could feel the rocks/ground getting warmer too. When we reached our destination you could see the steam rising off of the rocks and the ground was hot enough to start a small fire. Our guide tossed some sticks in a pile and we all roasted marshmallows over the heat of a volcano. It was amazing!

As the sun began to set we headed back down the trail to the base of the volcano. We watched the most beautiful sunset off in the distance and began our decent. The trails were so ashy that on the way down it was almost impossible to have a good grip so you have to give in and slide---it was almost like skiing. The last part of the decent was dark, but luckily all of the guides as flashlights to lead the way. When we reached the bottom they were selling cervezas (aka beers). What more could you want?

One volcano down...I am ready for the next one!