Around The World In 80 Waves

I was up at 5.30 to meet some of the embassy staff who would be climbing the active volcano with me. Ismael and Sara who are both locals, joined me for the drive from Guatemala City and we picked up Eleanor, an American trainer who works for the embassy and is here for the week  in Antigua before starting the ascent. The first thing we saw was this geothermal facility which uses the heat produced by the volcano to generate electricity for the surrounding area.

Ismael had brought us to the base of Mount Pacaya and we started the climb. I had barely been able to walk the previous day so was glad that my legs were even moving, however it was really tough until we climbed through a layer of smog and the air cleaned up. You can see some of the path in this picture, which never let up.

The hike was all the more difficult because there was no shelter from the relentless sun, which we had started early to avoid the worst of.

We saw a few others on the climb using horses to do the work for them, but that wouldnt be the way I wanted to reach the summit. To help us along Ismael had brought along walking sticks for everybody. As you can see I was more interested in fencing with mine.

Going completely to the summit had been prohibited a week earlier due to the increased activity being shown by the volcano, so the highest we were able to get was a small vent which had formed about a 100m down from the rim of the crater.

Parts of this vent were still red hot but that didn’t stop Sara from scaling the chimney which had formed on top of it. The fine pieces of rock are very hard but the lumps of it are surprisingly brittle. When Sara descended a few sizable pieces fell off the side of the chimney so I thought it best not to try and climb to the top myself.

We sat at the base of the chimney and had a bite to eat, that is until it was actually burning our backsides. There was also a rather ominous rumble from the main volcano, so we started the descent back to the little town at the edge of the national park where we left the car, and where this picture was taken.

A quick drive back to Antigua where we enjoyed a wonderful lunch and then honed our haggling skills in the markets there. We hung around drinking cocktails on a rooftop terrace until the sun went down behind the mountains and it was time to go home.