Day 14- Antigua and Pacaya Volcano

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July 1st 2012

Published: July 26th 2012

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Senora Kirk

Antigua

Beautiful architecture

Another day exploring Antigua today. This is such a beautiful city. All of the buildings are such beautiful colors. I will let pictures speak for the majority of this town.

At 2pm, we took a tour to hike the Pacaya Volcano. It is one of two active volcanoes in Guatemala. I misunderstood and thought that we would see red lava flowing down, but that is not the case. Apparently, red lava only flows if it is about to erupt. The last eruption of Pacaya was in 2010, and it was catastrophic. Hundreds of houses in the towns surrounded the volcano were demolished (I was surprised so many people live on/around the volcano...seems like a non-ideal location). The ashes from the eruption went as far as 10 hours away. We were able to see the pool of lava from that eruption, which is now gray.

Hiking the volcano much harder than I had thought it would be. Many parts were like black sand- if you have ever walked at the beach, imagine hiking uphill in it. The ascent took about an hour an a half. It was a lot like hiking a mountain. I guess I had imagined going straight

Antigua

Band playing in plaza

up, but it was more like going around at an incline.

Near the top, we stopped at the hot rocks to warm our hand (it was very cold!) and roast some marshmellows. Maybe it was because I was tired, but thoe were the best marshmellows I have ever had!

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