Climbing volcanos!

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The Awesome Pacaya Volcano

Blogger Bec

That night, we endured an overnight bus to Antigua, via Guatamala City- 13 hours, yuk!
STill, all our discomfort was forgotten as we pulled into Antigua, an impossibly perfect city which is actually a World Heritage Site - the entire city!!
All the streets are cobbled, each building a different colour render, all facades kept in the original style as set out by the Spanish conquerers. It was absolutely spectacular! Antigua is best known for being the hub for Spanish schools popular with tourists as well as home to 5 of Guatamalas most well known volcanos - 2 of which are still active.

We were given a great walking tour of the city which took in all the major sites - mostly Catholic churches full of frightening iconography meant to intimidate and keep the masses under control. I found most of the tour deeply unsettling.

The next day (yesterday) we climbed Volcan Pacaya (Pacaya Volcano) - the hands down highlight of our trip so far. Pacaya is still active and we climbed for around two hours almost to the summit. After walking on trails for the most part, the last 200 metres were across steaming volcanic rock. Our guide lead the way so we didn´t veer into the hot sections. WE STOOD NEXT TO LAVA. The heat was incredible!!
It was a fairly demanding climb, especially when we had to climb over volcanic rock that had only recently stopped being hot ( as in last month).

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Photos

Bec and Doug on fire
Not quite, but if you look closely you can see the lava flow behind us. We took this shot with my point and shoot coz we didnt want to stand for too long getting Bec's camera out of her bag!!

Ominous signs...literally!
A sign warning of the dangers of climbing an active volcano. DUH!!!

Group shot!
The Geckos crew, standing on HOT rock!

Market stall, Antigua city
So many beautiful colours and textures!

Local handicrafts
We watched this local Mayan woman construct a similar textile. We paid her $50, hoping that would give her a little bit better life for a little bit!

Comments

[sima]

wow!
to be honest guys today i finally had the time to take a look at your blog! your trip seems freakin awesome! The lava scary. my favourite bit! enjoy guys, and happy chinese new year! gonxi fa cai!