NO LAVA - Pacaya Volcano, Antigua, Guatemala

I didn't know a lot about Guatemala before I came here, but one thing I knew for certain that I wanted to do was climb an active volcano. Guatemala has about 10 active volcanoes and one of them is located near Antigua and it happens to be one that you can climb and see the lava flow. Tom and I headed out to do the afternoon hike, with the idea that you can see the glow of the lava at night.

After taking a long shuttle ride through some twisty roads, we arrived at our destination. The guide hopped on our bus and said something in quick and to me, incomprehensible, Spanish. One thing for sure that I heard was NO LAVA. Apparently there hadn't been lava for the past two days which of course the tour company neglected to tell us. Tom and I both wanted to turn around right then and there but we had to do the hike as we were already committed. I think I also heard 1 kilometer and 1500 ft elevation change - that is a lot of elevation change in .6 miles!

Before we got started, there were tons of little kids selling sticks to help navigate the steep climb. I wanted to get one as another person recommended it. Of course, Tom was too manly to need a stick. However, we didn't have enough change for just one so Tom was forced to decided to get one too. Sensing new prey, about 15 children surrounded Tom yelling "Stick! Stick!". I will never forget the sight of this gaggle of small children half Tom's size shoving sticks in his face. Tom handled this with aplomb and with sticks in hand we started to head up the hill.

And up and up the hill we went! The pace of the guided tour was fairly quick for me and I was struggling with the altitude and maybe being just a teensy bit out of shape. As I was trailing everyone else huffing and puffing up the steep grade, a man and a boy on horses started following me and saying "chica, horse, chica, want a horse?". It was already embarrassing being the last one and on top of that I didn't need someone offering me a ride too! No way was I getting on that horse. Thankfully two other girls in our group elected to take the horses so they stopped bugging me and let me suffer in peace.

Tom in front of two other volcanoes at viewpoint:

A puff of smoke from Fuego:



Neat lighting:

As we got nearer to where the lava supposedly comes out the terrain got rockier and rockier. Climbing in scree is very tough. However, that is a cakewalk compared to the next obstacle, an area that was very steep with lose volcanic rock. Trying to grab onto sharp handholds was tough and rocks were falling down from the people above. I was really getting tired and struggling and was not a very happy Amber. As I stopped to catch my breath, I noticed a couple standing off the trail and then the rock they were standing on collapsed. Like a deer in headlights, I was frozen in place as some very large rocks (or small boulders) started tumbling down the hill straight towards me. A rock about 24 inches wide (well of course it keeps getting bigger as I tell this story!) hit me in the leg along with several other rocks. THAT WAS IT. I had enough. I was super shaky after being hit by a rock and it hurt. Plus, we had to come back down this same hill in the dark after sunset. I made the executive decision to turn around seeing as there was NO LAVA. Tom was very supportive, so we turned around and painstakingly starting going back down the hill, showering the people below us with small rocks all the way as we headed to an area to wait for the rest of our group to finish that portion of the hike.

Volcan Pacaya:



Where's the lava?

Luckily for me, if you are going to get hit by a big rock, volcanic rock is relatively light but it is sharp. The rock cut up my pants a little bit and scraped up my leg and cased a fairly large bruise. However, I was ok and Tom and I got to enjoy a nice sunset before heading back downhill in the dark.

Some views of the sunset:







Our shadows at sunset:

We were disappointed that we didn't get to see any lava. Between this volcano and the one in Costa Rica that we never got to even see, we weren't having good volcano luck so far on our trip. However, there are many more volcanoes out there for us (well, mainly Tom) to conquer!

- Amber

Comments

[Bryanna]

Yikes, girl... I hope you are ok.. that whole experience sounds awful... you handled it like a sport, I would have been freaking out!! However, honestly, I probably wouldnt be very good at hiking anyway... regardless of the conditions... as far as I know you can't hike in heels... tee hee hee!!

Pretty pictures... take care of you!!

xo
Bryanna

PS) JJ is obsessed with coloring these days... he loves markers!!! lol.

[Xiaodong Zhang]

Hey, Tom and Amber, I found your blog when I was searching the report of recent eruption of Valcano Pacaya. My wife and I visited this Valcano last year, fortunately, we saw the lava. And I followed reading your other blogs, it is really nice, pictures are fantastic as well. Thanks for your sharing, and keep writing.

Xiaodong from Beijing, China

[Ajf 4]

Luckily I read your blog, like your blog, this is the one I've been worried, thank you.

[macpage]

Nice photos. I wish I can climb these volcanoes

[Air Jordan]

And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

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As an example, what exactly is the good reaction to a horrible fiscal setback? On this predicament wouldn't it be the constructive reaction to copout and runaway? Escape via alcohol, drug, or suicide? No! This kind of unfavorable reactions only produce larger difficulties by promising a short-term remedy to the urgent issue.

[Nike Shox]

This website is AMAZING. How do you make it look this good! GLAD TO KONW THE KINDLY FRIEND LIKE YOU.

[Christian Louboutin Outlet]

Wanted to see it from the first trailer, the second red band “hit girl” trailer made me anxious to see it and now this third trailer has made me need to see it.
Very cute! I LOVE the color, too.

[Belstaff Clothing]

I like ANMJ on FB & just subscribed to the email feed! :)