Buenos días! (Good Morning in English) It was great to start the day with a delicious Guatemalan breakfast, cooked by Alvaro’s mother. Everything was homemade – fried plantains, refried black beans, fresh squeezed orange juice, scrambled eggs with fresh tomatoes and fresh baked bread! The food was so delicious, it practically melted into my mouth. After breakfast, we went off for one of the most awesome sights on this planet – an active volcano!

Pacaya is an active volcano in Guatemala which first erupted approximately 23,000 years ago, and has erupted at least 23 times since the Spanish conquest of Guatemala. After being dormant for a century, it erupted violently in 1965 and has been erupting continuously since then. Much of its activity is Strombolian (low level volcanic eruptions), but occasional Plinian (eruptions that are similar to the one that killed Pliny the Elder in AD 79) eruptions also occur, sometimes showering the nearby city of Antigua with ash. We arrived at the entrance of the volcano park, with many local guides offering their services. We had to pay the entrance fee and then we started our drive up the mountain range, passing small villages in the same vicinity as Pazaya Volcano. I felt so spooked due to the scary sight of the volcano. I couldn’t imagine myself living on the same mountain range as the volcano!

We stopped our vehicle at the last village, and while stopped we saw many bulls walking by us along with some small kids playing soccer. The journey on foot to the volcano began with about 3 miles’ worth of walking. It felt like a fun and simple hike. I thought. I just absolutely couldn’t wait to see the volcano. We went through a jungle with very high hill, and were stunned by the sight of a small poisonous snake near us. Fortunately it appeared that that someone had broken its neck, killing the snake. The guide disposed of the snake in a safe place, and we walked away from it, glad that it hadn’t been alive when we came across it.

Finally some smoke was sighted from the top of the volcano. I couldn’t believe how close I was coming to the volcano, and how I would be able to see it up close. I even saw it when I had flown in earlier into Guatemala City Airport. At that point, the walk had become incredibly exhausting, walking uphill like as if it was at ninety degrees! We had to walk on an unpaved path, and then on the volcano’s soft lava rocks, like as if I was walking on snow. We came to what appeared to be the top of the mountain, but we had a good laugh when we realized it was only the side of the hill by the volcano. It was a surreal view, seeing volcanic ash on the ground and then lush, green fields on the other side.

Yet more hiking was needed, so we kept moving. The downhill slope was long, and a little steep. Our guide said to be careful, and so we went down the slope in a sort of skidding fashion. It was almost as if I was skiing with my hiking boots! Getting a sense of what volcanoes do, I saw an actual living plant on the slope, pretty much the only one. It was pretty sad to see that. We continued on to the next hill, leading to the volcano, and while on our way we saw some rocks coming down from the peak, and white smoke coming out. We also wondered if we were being crazy, trying to come face to face with the volcano, but the general enthusiasm of the group compelled us forward.

We passed by some lava walls, and did some climbing on them. The lava ash was only 8 months old! It was incredibly tough to walk on it, once again feeling like I was walking in some deep snow. I kept telling myself don’t give up, knowing that the peak was near. We saw some evidence of fresh lava ash, and the guide told us to wait while he checked the molten lava area nearby with his stick. It was about ten feet away from me, and I could feel the heat of the lava coming at me. The wind was blowing at us, making the heat feel unwanted and uncomfortable. We put some marshmallows on a stick as if we were camping, and held it out near the lava. It felt so hot underneath our shoes! There were some lava rocks, but we couldn’t touch them even though they had been cooling off for several months now.

The marshmallow caught on fire within a second, a sight I couldn’t believe with my own eyes. Then we saw some new lava breaking through a black hill, coming at us. 10 minutes on the volcano’s slope was enough for us. Our guide mentioned that the area (we were about 200 feet below the peak) was currently very dangerous due to falling lava rocks. Then more smoke came from the peak, and the lava started really flowing out, through the path. We were like, let’s go down! It was tough going, because of the instability of the lava rocks. It took us about 45 minutes to get down to our base location, while the trip up actually lasted around 3 hours, plus the 15 minutes spent taking video for my vlog. The whole experience was definitely worth the effort and danger!

From there, we drove back to Antigua to meet a famous local Deaf painter, Freddy de Leon. Both Alvaro and Freddy grew up in Antigua, and Freddy gave me a brief history of the city. Then we went out to see his artwork in the city. While on the tour, he mentioned how a couple from the United States hired him to paint as many pictures as possible on the walls and ceilings at their mansion, which had a big courtyard in the middle. It took him over eleven years to finish the work perfectly. The city was very beautiful, with its cobblestreets and old buildings which went alongside a famous courtyard with a water foundation built back in 1738. We did some walking around, and I saw so many people out and about, in a peaceful way, not like one of the big cities back home. Thank God!

Now it was time for dinner, so we stopped by a local Antigua store for some good local cuisine. We had small tortillas with steak, chicken, and sausage along with some fresh vegetables. After dinner concluded, it was then time to say Buenos Noche and prepare for our long drive to Quetzaltenago the next day.

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