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Published: April 7th 2014
Pacaya Volcano
The hike up to the volcano, typical scene (except for the angle- usually MUCH steeper!)Up on time, thanks to the morning birds at 05:00 - I personally would have been happy throwing a solid object at them, as *I* didn’t find them cute; but welcome to Central America! Had breakfast in broken Spanish and was told in fluent Spanish (yikes!) that our tour guide to Pacaya Volcano had phoned and was on his way. What I thought was Guatemalan time, he arrived at 08:30. Turns out that he thought we were meeting him at the office and I thought at the hotel. Bless him for not ignoring us and phoning the hotel!
An hour and a half drive on a shockingly nice highway, until the last 5-10 km, then it was dirt road, embedded rocks and about 15-25kph going. the kind that makes you want to cry after an hour. Fortunately it was only about 15 minutes. We picked up our local guide Monkey (National Park Guide) on the proverbial street corner and away we went. Got bombarded by local kids selling ‘walking sticks’ and then went along with Alberto and Monkey to the hike.
Uh-huh. First 4 steps into the hike and I thought “holy guacamole I”m in trouble”. “Alberto - so,
Flower
Season was over, but stunning flower Monkey showed us um, what elevation are we at? “Ned, we are at 1,800 metres”. Um, and “Alberto, how high are we going? “To 2200 metres, Ned”. ah. Thanks. (insert internal sobbing)
Every step was anguish and I realized that while I was in my winter shape, it was more that I was not acclimated to the elevation or the temperature and had spent the previous 24 hours traveling. HA! Who is the moron who booked this smart plan, I must phone and complain. AH, wait, yes, that was me. sigh……….
Ultimately it was a beautiful, yet painful “easy” hike despite me not being able to get enough oxygen to do a whole lot of anything. lush, shady and while very steep was ultimately worth every step. Monkey was a great guide; his English was broken at best, but he had a great smile and his knowledge of the floral was incredible. we were using leaves that were softer than velvet to wipe the sweat off our brow (repeatedly) and smelling fresh herbs, eating berries and other tasty (and not so tasty with giggles from Monkey) treats, and learning about the environment.
The last eruption was 22 days prior, so
Snack
Fresh peeled orange sprinkled with dash of salt and crushed pumpkin seeds - delicious! sadly we did not get to walk by any ‘live’ lava, but still it was incredible to see the smoke from lava that was higher up, the destruction of the latest eruption and just the eco system. interesting to be walking along dry black dirt and then see random pieces of lush green grass, that was starting to grow again. such a lush soil, just wanted to plant a garden in it! we got to the lowest area where the lava had settled and the rocks were so hot to stand on I couldn’t keep my feet still.
Out came the marshmallows (coloured and all - when you are going to eat bad, eat all the way bad) and we roasted marshmallows in about 7-15 seconds from the heat, squished them off the branch with 2 chocolates coated biscuits and inhaled the sugar. I had 2:-) And I don’t even like marshmallows - but given the heat, the effort and the cool factor of the situation, it was a blast!
Then we wandered off around the corner, away from the school group of small humans we had caught up to, and the fog rolled in. couldn’t see 4
Pacaya Volcano Hike
Look at the difference between the black and fresh green grass feet in front of you (at best) and it was really neat, made me think of a Stephen King novel, and I was waiting for a random clown to jump out (more on the clown later…..). Our lunch stop was a great view (except for the fog - eventually we did see it) and the most incredible picnic lunch of fresh, fresh, fresh vegetables. The avocado was to DIE for, and all the other goodies, and refried beans, and well, heaven on a plate. I was so impressed and devoured it. One of my challenges is finding enough fresh fruit and vegetables when I travel, so this was inhaled by both of us:-)
Another half hour walk (down thankfully) and we were back in the vehicle to head home. what a day. dirty was an understatement, sweaty but so happy we did it. Settled into our new hotel, and discovered a VIP basket from G. Which blew me away - and the note was from Erin Buttler in Vancouver, and old work companion of mine. She had heard I was doing a trip and managed to search through their registration system, find out when I was going and had
the Guide arrange this for me. I was so awed! What an amazing start to the trip!
We went for coffee and had a delicious Guatemalan coffee near the main square and watched the world go by. Antigua is SO cute, and so charming and well, I just love the feel of it. So impressed and I’d only really been in the city for an hour and I was in love. Discovered Jade (I did not know it came in more than one colour), saw many things I would like to buy but held off - after all it’s only day one! Met our group for the meet and greet, went over a few tidbits and information and found out that our trip was NOT changing after all (long story). We were off to El Salvador in the morning. Group dinner, and bed time - since our wake up call was for 05:00.
Great start to the trip - so far Guatemala is everything that I hoped it would be!!
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