Ever climbed a volcano that's still erupting? Well if you fancy it then come to Guatemala, they let you do anything dangerous here. We're in Antigua, which is a beautiful city in the central highlands of Guatemala and one of the things that makes it so beautiful is because its surrounded by volcanos - a pretty magical sight when you look out of the window in the morning!
Pacaya is the volcano that currently has a bit of action going on - the three surrounding Antigua are just sitting there looking nice - but its only an hour or so away, so you can do a climb of it in half a day with a guided tour.
The economical tours run twice a day; one leaving at 6am and the other at 2pm. They both have their pros and cons. For example, if you go at 6am, you're more likely to get the best of the clear skies, as it often clouds over in the afternoon. If you decide to go at 2pm, you'll do the climb to the top in the light, but it will be dark when you come down. Seeing molten lava move in the dark is very tempting, but in many people's opinion, is outweighed by the prospect of climbing down in the dark!
We chose the morning option, and I have to say I was very glad we did. Continuing the theme of a lack of health and safety, coming down the mountain in the dark is just not a mouthwatering prospect.
Here's why. You start the walking tour along with 12 or so other people in your group (hopefully ending with the same number!) at 1900m and its a 2 kilometer walk to take you to the peak, at 2550m. The walk is steep at times and the first half is through the forest, which can be done with a fair amount of ease. With the second part, it starts to become challenging. First of all you have to walk on volcanic ash, which is rather like black sand. As anyone knows from walking on a beach, you expend more energy trying to get somewhere than on hard ground. But, by the time you reach the ash, the amazing scenery has come into view. You can get a good look at Volcan de Agua, behind it a small glimpse of Antigua, but looking up at the peak of Pacaya with the fast moving clouds sometimes enveloping it, was the most special.
As you get closer to the top, despite the strong winds, it starts to get warmer. Smoke pours out of various holes and the terrain starts to change. No longer do you have to contend with ash, you now have to climb over lava thats just a few days old. The lava rocks felt very crispy under foot and looked a bit like wire wool. You certainly wouldn't want to fall on it as it was razor sharp. You could see the glow of the lava only a few feet under your own!
But the best bit came next. Our guide hopped over the rocks to one side to get a view of what the lava was doing today. Luckily, today it wasn't advancing down from the peak towards us! We climbed on further and came within 10 meters of a lava river. Glowing orange, large chunks of the volcano were slowly moving off the edge. I'd never seen rocks that big move on their own! The whole area around us was in motion. Thankfully a pretty slow motion, but when you see rocks nearby cracking and splitting before your eyes, you want to keep your wits about you!
With traveling rocks beneath us, we couldn't stay up there for too long, so next came the descent back down. Again, not easy. At times you were sliding down the ash, as it was too steep to walk. I was certainly glad not to be doing that in the dark! I found the easiest way was to get into a crouched position, like if you were on a surf board, and glide down.
We reached the bottom with the same number of people in our group. The worst of the injuries a few cuts and grazes - the americans promising not to sue!
I had no idea Guatemala would be so action packed. Climbing Pacaya is one of those annoyingly put phrases: a must-do.
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