Liquid Hot Magma @ Pacaya Volcano
Trip Start
Mar 05, 2007
1
6
10
Trip End
May 22, 2007
Antigua Guatemala,
Guatemala
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Since learning about them in elementary school, I have always been fascinated by volcanoes and lava. Despite hiking one in Nicaragua, I had never actually seen lava with my own eyes.
Closeup of the magma
All that would change when Carrie, Melissa and I hiked Volcano Pacaya, which is just outside Antigua. The hike began with a tough climb through a forested area during which children on horses were offering the people having trouble making it up the hill a "taxi ride" on their horse. However, once we got above the canopy the real fun began...we got to hike to the actual lava flows! After walking over hardened flows from previous eruptions for a while, we made our way up towards the cone and immediately began to feel the heat coming down the volcano. You could see the whitened areas that literally were hardened a few feet above underground lava rivers. Our guide only needed to touch a branch with dead leaves to the rocks and they caught fire. As we continued the hike the sulphur smell began to mix with the scent of the burning rubber of the bottoms of our sneakers. Our final reward for our hike...we literally were 10 feet from active lava flows! Carrie got to roast a marshmallow over a lava jet and I pretty much stood there awestruck and taking photos when I remembered. All in all, one of the coolest experiences of my life!
See more photos at Adventures of a GoodMan
