Trip to Pacaya Volcano
Trip Start
Nov 29, 2007
1
91
115
Trip End
Jun 24, 2008
Antigua Guatemala,
Guatemala
Friday, May 2, 2008
I won't bore you all with the details of the various grammar that I learnt, Chris if you really want to know the difference between por y para I charge reasonable rates for Spanish lessons!!!!
So, today after finishing school (feel like a kid again!) we headed off to see the infamous Volcano that everyone talks about here
The Lava River that nealry reached the village!
. Volcano Pacaya is about 1 hours drive from Antigua. We arrived at the National Park at about 3pm, you pay around 40 quetzales to get to the Volcano and then another 40 Q to get into the park, it is only about 10$ US in total and worth every penny.We had a great guide, who only spoke Spanish, so it was great practice for us. He said we had about an hour and a half walk up to the Volcano, but in fact we were a group of very 'young' people (the guide said it, not me!) and we made it in an hour. It was a tough walk up and it was pretty warm too.
We learnt that this Volcano has only been active for about 45 years and the last major eruption was in 2000. The guide told us that there was a group of tourists up there at the time and everyone ran for their lives back to the village - at this point I am thinking "should I really be doing this"?! The first thing we saw on the way up was huge pile of lava that had come down from the Volcano in 2006. With this particular Volcano the lava does not come out of the top (unlike the Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica). This Volcano has erupted (in 2000) but normally the activity of the lava comes from the bottom of the Volcano and pushes up through the earth. In 2006 there was a massive lava flow, which stopped about 2km short of the village
This is below the rocks we were walking over!
. If it has continued it would have covered the village.When we got to the bottom of the Volcano it was a really strange and eerie site. The whole area is just covered in the lava, some of it still flowing and bubbling, but the rest just gone solid and cold where it has cooled. There are no birds, animals or sounds in the area, other than the sounds coming from the ground.
We made our way, carefully, over to a huge lave flow to get some good pictures. We also had a chance to cook marshmallows in the ground, which was pretty cool. I love toasted marshmallows, but the stuff gets everywhere! We had really good fun with the people we met and we were pretty popular as we were the only ones who brought marshmallows, so we shared them with everyone.
Next the guide took us to another lava flow where we able to stick our walking poles in the lava flow and see them immediately ignite, pretty cool to watch, but boy was it hot. I got as close as I could and gave up before I lost my eyebrows!!! Even the ground where we were walking was really hot and the rocks are really hollow in places and just crack beneath your weight, as Epi discovered!!!! One wrong step and you have more than a little sunburn on your leg!
But this is one trip I will never forget, where else in the world would you be allowed to walk over and next to hot bubbling lava and cook marshmallows in the ground next to it. Great fun!
Afterward we headed back to the house and went out for a last beer with our house mates. Long and tiring, but unforgettable day.
Comments
That looked exciting
I reckon you were lucky to get out of there with your shoe leather intact.
W
xx
Mum
How exciting!! You should have taken some potatoes! Hope your boots survived.