Roasting Marshmallows On A Volcano

---

Yesterday Dan and I went shopping separately to get each other a little something for Christmas. When Dan returned he said "guess who I ran into?" A few names of people we knew here came to mind but I really didn't have an answer. "Who?" I replied, "Matt & Leigh!" he said. (The kiwi friends we made in Belize) I thought they would be much further south then us by now but they too had decided to enroll in a Spanish emersion school in a nearby city which allowed our paths to cross again. They told Dad they were leaving at 2 for a Pacaya tour which we had actually discussed doing the same day so we quickly got ready and signed up for the 2 pm tour. It was nice to see them again and catch up. The bus ride was making me nauseous though, the driver was going fast up and around hills. Thankfully it was only about an hour drive to where we started walking. Pacaya is a volcano near Guatemala city by the way. There are so many volcanoes here it's hard to keep track of which is which.



When we got out of the van we were surrounded by children selling walking sticks. People try to sell us stuff all day every day but something about these kids was different, they were especially annoying. They would block your way when you were trying to walk and I didn't buy a stick on principal alone. I had read reviews online that said they were useful but these children were almost making me angry. We started up the hill and I took note that the mother of a Belgium family was not at all dressed for what we were about to do. Her shoes were for the city only, somehow she did it but wow! Almost immediately I wondered why I was finding this hike so difficult, it was grueling, quite steep and possibly the altitude had a bit to do with it but after all I've been walking so much! One of the guys fell and scraped up his hand quite good and Dan couldn't stop sneezing from all the crap in the air, you could literally see it in the wind. We took a break and I got out our first aid kit for the guy who fell, he was greatful, then I dolled out Clariton for Dan which seemed to help almost immediately. We got to a lookout where we could see Guatemala city in the distance and a lake, it was quite beautiful. The guide showed us an oak tree that is 400 years old and a few other plants, one with huge soft leaves. As I type I am thinking of some of these words in Spanish, ha ha I guess the training is working! I was really thinking about how pathetic I felt even though I was keeping up with the group. Horses followed us in case we decided we wanted to pay for them to take us up the volcano. Thin dogs as well, I was irritated with them, they could save so many calories if they only stayed below. What can you do...The earth beneath us was like crushed lava rock, not super deep but a few inches. We continued to see amazing viewpoints. The sun was starting to set and it was beautiful. We snapped photos, all you could see in every direction was mountains and volcanoes, the hike was well worth what we were seeing. The land was now desolate, we were on the top of one section and the volcano was smoking. No lava yesterday unfortunately. We began to feel hot rocks and the guide busted out marshmallows for us to roast in the vents. They were quite hot and the mallows tasted good! There was a hole that people were climbing into that was warm apparently. I didn't climb in. By this point I had several layers on the wind was quite strong. The views were simply amazing! The decent down was a bit tricky especially as it began to get dark but we all managed without incident. Leigh fed one of the dogs as we headed down the volcano and we chatted with others we met on the bus. A nice group of people.



When we reached the place where the bus was; we used the bathrooms and you could buy snacks at a little shack. I came out of the bathroom and Dan was giving me some chips he bought, one of the kids said "for me" quickly Dan said "no." This continued the whole time we were waiting to get into the van, the children asking for everything anyone had. I was not nice to them at all. You had to be there, these kids were so obnoxious. I volunteered at a homeless shelter and sponsored a child in Hati for about a decade, I'm not an un-giving person but these kids were scammers. They weren't starving and they had no manners. Matt & Leigh gave a kid some chips and Leigh was outraged that he didn't even say thank you, he seemed to have a sneer on his face. For shame that their parents didn't teach them any better. Each bus that arrives is full of mere suckers to these kids. In my opinion I have seen poor...in Cuba and these kids are not poor. You don't see kids in Cuba buying sodas and chips at the store, there is simply no money for that and I just had nothing but contempt for these children.



Finally we loaded in the van and I began to feel a bit sick on the ride again but was fine when we stopped. We had a lovely dinner with Matt & Leigh and then had to come home because it was nearly 10 and Dan still had homework. We were also quite dirty from the volcanic dust and I was anxious to shower. It felt so good to get out of Antigua for a bit. I feel like we have been here so long, I am totally ready for a new place!

---