Volcan Pacaya

I now clearly know the difference between a walk, hike and climb!

Walk: travel by foot.......on a flat surface........usually no pain, unless you slip on an icy surface. There might be a few steps (i.e. curbs on the street and stairs)

Hike: form of walking....with the specific purpose of exploring and enjoying the scenery. There might be a bit of pain due to obstacles along the way to watch out for (rocks, trees etc.,).

Climb: form of walking AND hiking in an UPWARD direction. There will be ALOT of pain and some fear, as you do have to come down at some point.

I CLIMBED VOLCAN PACAYA last night at aprx 9 pm!

It took 1.5 hrs to get up and 45 minutes to get down in a very FAST hike.

Elevation 8,371 feet (2,552 meters).

I was excited, exhausted, sweating, and scared all at the same time.

I started my day out yesterday like normal........no plans other than school in the afternoon. As I'm walking by a tour spot, I decide to go in and buy a ticket for the next morning. In discussing morning or late evening walks, I decide that the evening one might work for me. EVEN THOUGH I CAN"T SEE IN THE DARK and don't really like venturing too far unless I have major bright lights on! Oh well........nothing like getting out of your comfort box!

Two hours after I purchase this ticket ($15 USD), it starts to thunder and rain like mad. I rush over to the tour spot and change my time to the next day at 6 am. No problem.........but I wouldn't get $5.00 back (the day trip is only $10). I'm happy I was able to change the times.

Two hours after this, while I'm in class, I see the sun come out and it's beautiful out! I go back and change it to the 5 pm trip! I can do this if I want.

I leave class early to get ready.......you need to bring a flashlight, rain gear, water and snacks.

The shuttle bus is driven by the dad, and the son makes sure we are all in. 20 tourists.......from all over the world. The dad has a big rifle next to him. Spanish music is playing on the radio.

Driving on the highway was crazy! It was rush hour and the 1.5 hour trip to the National Park and town of Pacaya turned into 2.5 hours. Bumper to bumper cars, buses and huge huge commercial trucks. They sure looked longer and bigger than our trucks! Many of them were parked along the highway for the drivers to sleep as there is no official "truck stops". At one point, a chicken bus tried to cut us off.........AND...we were behind a truck carrying a tank full of flammibles! Yikes!

The highway has spots that go uphill, some downhill and some very crazy curbs. For this reason, there are also some locations that have these emergency exits that run UPHILL! Yessire.

Remember its dark, so very hard to figure out where we are, but we get to this small village by going uphill and uphill and then we end up at this entrance where we each had to pay 25Q's ($3.75) to enter the park area. The entrance receipt indicates no leaving the area with rocks or gravel. No removal of plants or animals. No camping. No picture taking. No to pretty well anything.

Our guide has a flashlight that barely works and he carries no water for himself. I find out later in the climb that he does this 3 times a day, and he has been doing it for 5 years. He is also 30 years old and not married. I know this as he had to help me quite a few times up and down so I would not kill myself.

This CLIMB was NOT as easy as everyone made it out to be!

The path way was pretty good, it was the steepness in some parts and then the crazy part near the top, where you are walking on slippery rocks ..........sinking and then sliding that was the insane part! At one point, I yelled out AYUDAR GUIA! I was determined to just sit there and wait for everyone, but he FORCED me upwards HOLDING my hand.

I was really really scared as I knew I would have to come down and this was not a pleasant thought.

When we did get to the top.....I was allowed to sit and watch the lava slide down the mountain. It was unreal! It was so hot up there and seeing this in the nighttime with the red fire was unbelievable! It felt like I was at a huge barbeque pit for PEOPLE!

I took some pictures, but I'm not sure they will come out that great. I hope it will give me some good reminders when I get them developed.

Coming down, hand in hand, we basically ran and slid down the mountain for the top part. The rest of the mountain coming down was not that bad. I had to really watch where I was going, as my head lamp was not that bright.

ALLELULIA I made it back to the bottom!

Highlights of the trip:

• Buying a walking stick before I went up the mountain from a little boy for 5Q's. It was actually "renting" as I left the stick there. THANK GOD I did this!
• About 1/4 up the mountain, hearing 2 men yelling "taxi, taxi" and each walking next to a horse you could rent! I think they should move their business up to 2/3's of the mountain. People would definitely take them up on that! Horses might refuse though.
• When we were able to stop for a water break, I would notice that this one man from "France" would just have a CIGARETTE! He had no flashlight, no water and climbed this mountain like he was bored, walking with his hands behind his back as if he was casually going out for a stroll. I hated him.
• Stepping in COW lava just before the lava rocks. Yes, there were 2 or 3 big cows in that section just laying down in some form of grass. I think they were trying to sleep.
• A dog joining us about 1/4 of the way. He made it look so easy. Maybe it's because he has 4 paws.
• Getting a little sprinkle of rain 1/2 way up the mountain. Yes, I just loved this wearing glasses.
• Walking on the lava rocks right after being active after a 48 day period. Our guide even dug in deeper and gave us a few rocks that were still hot to the touch!
• A couple walking really closely behind me on the way down. I stopped at one point and said "it looks like you are in a rush". They responded in some form of english "no, we just need your light as ours went out at the top". Gees......they could of just asked.
• Getting back into the shuttle bus and all of us getting yelled at to wipe our shoes off in Spanish.

We left at 5 pm for this crazy adventure......and I was dropped off at home by 12:30 am.

Seven and a half hours of an adventure I would normally not have done!

I am in pain today.........but it was worth it.

I will also be coming home with a few lava rocks as proof!