Pacaya Volcano

We slept in till about 11:00 am, after a late night out with Neal and Troy.  The day before, we had booked a tour of Pacaya, an active Volcano close to Guatemala City and Antiqua.

The bus arrived at 2:00 pm to collect us, and 10 other hardy souls, and we began the 1.5 hour ride through the countryside and up the mountain to the base, where we disembarked after paying our $8 US fee and were told we needed to buy flashlights.   No one back at the hostel had told us this (since we all have headlamps already) so we shelled out another $3 for a cheap flashlight each.

Another way to get some money out of us we guessed.

Our guide met us at the base, gave us a quick speech (in Spanish) which we didn't understand all of, but the basic part was.. "We're going to hike 3.5 km straight up the side of this Volcano."  

We then proceeded, over the next hour and a half, to do just that.  By the time we climbed through the clouds, and emerged at the top, we were drenched in sweat and our lungs were burning.

The Volcano is continually active, and the last major eruption was less than 7 months ago, on May 27, 2010, so we were entering an area that was newly formed, and is still hot and smoking to this day.

After making our way along a ridge line, we dropped down into the area we would be exploring.

Coming to a large fissure, it became apparent that this hole in the earth was incredibly hot.  Our guide placed a stick into the gap, and it erupted in flames in a few seconds.   Some of the people in our group had brought marshmallows, and began to roast them.

We climbed further, where we found a cave formed out of raw Lava rock.  Entering the cave, the temperature quickly climbed to over 40° Celcius, and again, our guide placed some sticks into some holes in the cave, where they immediately ignited …

We stayed for about 40 minutes here, marvelling at the moon like features, and the total devastation wrought by the most recent explosion.

As the sun dropped into the clouds, we climbed out of the crater and begin our 1 hour descent in the now fading sunlight (hence the flashlights).  Arriving at the bottom, we piled into our broken down van for the 1.5 hour ride back to Antiqua, where they dropped us in the main city square at 8:00 pm.  After grabbing supper around the block, we walked back to our Hostel, said our good nights, and dropped gratefully into bed, sore, tired, and happy for another wonderful experience on the road.

Beginning the 3.5km climb up the Volcano

Pacaya Volcano

Tim, Neal and Cory.  Troy wasn't feeling well and stayed at the Hostel.

Making my way along the ridge line.

Igniting some brush in a fissure in the earth

Neal Dawes.  US American.  :)

To learn more about the Pacaya Volcano, click here