Pacaya

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An early morning to catch the shuttle to the volcano. We were up at 6AM, no place open for breakfast so we had cookie which had been purchased at the Xelapan yesterday and off we went. It took an hour to reach the Volcano park where some of us hired horses to climb up the mountain to the base of the volcano Pacaya. we climbed for about a half hour to the base of the lava flow where we dismounted and had to climb further on foot, about another 40 minutes. Pacaya last blew in 2006, as we stood looking up at the lava we could see trees that had burnt standing beside trees which were currently in bloom. As we climbed the rock underfoot became warmer and very jagged, you could tap on it with the climbing stick and hear a hollow sound, I realized that we were standing on a crust overtop of molton lava. We actually stood just feet away from a flowing river of lava, the heat was almost overwhelming and the fumes were very strong. We looked up toward the crater and could see the spashes of burning rock as the gasses escaped. It was an amazing experiance, the sound of the gas breaking through the lava was strange and watching the molton lava splash into the sky was better than fireworks. The rocks under our feet were actually hot as we stood no more than 150 feet from the bubbling lava. We walked slowly down the lava bed back to the horses where we mounted up and rode back down the hill. Travelling down was difficult for the animals and I dismounted and walked the last bit of the mountain, finding it hard on my own knees so I can only imagine how the horses do that climb up and down 2 or 3 times a day. We were back to the hotel by 1:30, showered and headed out for lunch. A few of us headed to the local Artisan Market in Antigua where i finished my souvenir shopping and then headed back to the hotel. We had an early dinner - Thai food which was great - and then back to the hotel and in bed by 8:30. Looking forward to an early morning 3:30AM shuttle to the airport and the flight homeward. I will miss Guatemala, its mountians, valleys, cities, lively markets, and most of all the people.

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Photos

The peak
The top of Pacaya and the crater which is a live volcano

Comments

[Joni seligman]

wonderful blog
Thank you Nancy for all these entries. I read every word of this terrific experience and studied every photo. You have 'painted' a great picture of the GSP 2010 trip the Guatemala. Well done. Joni