Standing on the thin crust of an active volcano

Trip Start Sep 10, 2006
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Trip End ??? ??, 2007


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Tuesday, October 17, 2006

We had a leisurely morning on monday, went on a search for eggs, bread and juice and made some yummy breakfast at the hostel. We got on a chicken bus to Antigua, with the help of the guys at the 'terminal'. I use that word lightly because there is no building, no ticket counter or anything like that. Just a ton of old school buses and a bunch of guys yelling destinations over and over again. One came and asked us where we were going and we said Antigua. We followed him through the maze of buses, he grabbed our packs and put them on top of the bus and we hopped on. It took about 4 hours to get there instead of the hour and half it should have due to road construction, traffic and a car accident. I'm sure we would have gotten there much later had it not been for our crazy bus driver weaving in and out of traffic and jumping to the front of the line while everybody else waited at a stop for construction. Once in Antigua we checked into a hostel and booked an early morning tour to climb Volcan Pacaya, found some dinner and relaxed at the hostel 01 Volcan Pacaya
01 Volcan Pacaya
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Tuesday started at 6am waiting for the tour bus to pick us up, of course it was late, we ate some bread and jam on the way to the Volcano. We met our guide and started our hike up the volcano, due to recent activity we would not be climbing to the crater just to a view point. The hike was steep and at a much better pace than our last hike on a volcano, the guide had some interesting things to tell us about the volcano and surroundings. We had some amazing views of Pacaya, and surrounding volcanos as we hiked up, we also walked over some old lava flows. We got to a point that I thought was as close as we would get but our guide kept going on, sweet, we really are going to get close. The ground was starting to get hot and we could see the heat rising from the ground ahead of us. We started to hear the flowing lava and then we got to our destination.. We were now just about 5 feet from a flowing river of lava. It was so cool and so HOT!! We all got a chance to throw some branches in the lava and watch them burn up. The boots of someone on the tour melted a bit but not to worry Casey´s and mine were just fine. Some folks decided to jump over the flow but we restrained and just watched the lava flow by. Still can´t believe how close to the lava we were, Casey told the guide that in the states this would never be allowed. His reply was ¨In Guatemala we´re a little crazy.¨ Once back in Antigua we did some laundry, explored town for a bit and cooked a good but non filling dinner with some other travelers we had met. It has been a great day! Next stop, the beach!
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Comments

ekohn
ekohn on Oct 22, 2006 at 11:49PM

Hot Feet
When boots start to melt, we think you're too close!
Stay cool!
Sounds amazing!

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