Santiagutio if you dare...

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Santiaguito, west of Xela, is one of the top ten most active volcanoes in the world. Penny and I both had interesting trips their last month. Here are some photos and a short commentary...

Santiaguito, my second trip in my time here in Guatemala, is one of Guatemalas more active volcanoes. It erupts approximately every half an hour, spewing out ash and hot rocks. It was our goal to go camp at the lookout point to see the red hot rocks and lava rolling down the mountain at night. However, we were destined not to make it as a good few
hours into the trip we reached a 20m deep gorge which had wiped out the
track. We were just debating which would be the best way to bush-bash when
a gush of water several metres across ( the river had been about 30cm wide
when we arrived)flooded down the gorge. This made me a little suspicious,
and with good reason, as within seconds the river became a raging torrent
of mud 20 m across and 10m deep, rolling boulders the size of cars down
it. By this stage I had run back down the track, as I wasnt about to hang
around on an unstable cliff edge while a lahar came rushing down the
mountain next to me. Needless to say we backtracked and spent the night on
the lower ( and somewhat safer!) slopes of the mountain.

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