To conclude the series about her trip to Guatemala, guest poster Nora Walsh describes her ascent of Volcano Pacaya.
While is wasn’t a hike for the faint hearted, the payoff was an up close and personal view of red hot lava.
By Nora Walsh
Our last day was one of the most memorable days of my life. For $10 (excluding the 40Q entrance fee) we jumped on the 2 pm tour of 14 people to climb Volcano Pacaya.
What they don’t tell us, which we really needed to know beforehand was to bring a flashlight, buy a walking stick at the bottom for 5Q, pack water and Clif bar, wear comfortable shoes, long pants (so you don’t get cut if you fall) and layered clothing because it can get very chilly while climbing. My outermost layer was also waterproof, which I highly recommend because we found ourselves in a misty cloud with periodic rainfall. Those in sweatshirts were miserable.
I can safely say that it was an adventure and something no tour company in the United States would ever allow you to do. First of all, our “English” speaking tour guide was fluent in about “hello” and “goodbye.”
Even worse, she barely kept track of our group, and we literally were climbing thin crusts of molten rock that could have broken off, leaving us with gaping wounds and no tour guide in sight.
But just when I was exhausted and ready to give up as we neared the 1.5 mile summit, we could start to feel the temperature rise now that we were just minutes away.
Lava Oozing Out of a Volcano. When I finally reached the top, the seeping florescent lava was one of the most extraordinary things I’ve seen in nature. It was mesmerizing to watch it ooze out of the volcano, appearing so harmless, even as its 2,200 degree heat began to sear my face from looking at it up close for too long.
As we started our descent I was still giddy about my first encounter with real-life lava and thought how boring it will be to hike another mountain without the reward of seeing molten hot lava at its peak.
As we trekked down the volcano in the pitch black, our path lit only by a small reading light I had brought with me, I thought how unsafe this probably was. But this is precisely why I love Latin America so much. There is an adventure at every turn with the proverbial warning sign of “enter at your own risk”… and I almost always do …
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on Mar 21st, 2010 at 9:54 pm
The best part of Volcanic eruption, for me, is the fact that a person has to earn the beauty of that volcano. There are very few pull out and observe spots. To see the best parts of the volcano, you have to hike.
on Mar 22nd, 2010 at 8:47 am
Nora! this seems amazing… i love the photo… you are so close to the lava… definitely seems like an expereince of a lifetime! thank you for sharing it