So, on New Year´s day I was tired but thought I would be safe if I joined an organised tour of the volcano. The alternative was to be lazy and stay in Antigua but it was my last day in Guatemala and I´d heard I ´had to see Pacaya from quite a few travellers in the hostel. It was all a good idea in theory.
Arriving to the parking lot an hour from Antigua where the hike began, our group of 12 left the driver and began our ascent with a guide who spoke only Spanish. He told us a few things at the beginning that were probably important but being near the back of the group, not being able to speak fluent Spanish yet and in my tiredness, I didn't catch most of what he was saying.
Next, we hiked directly up the steep volcano surrounded by other volcanos and mountains in the late afternoon for 90 minutes or so amongst around 10 other groups of tourist- Pacaya was in fact amazing but certainly not undiscovered! At the top of the trail around 2/3 of the way up the volcano, there was a slow moving river of bright orange lava amongst the charred black and grey rocks. It was also a foggy day, which added to the atmosphere as the mist loomed over the top of the volcano. We even had the opportunity to roast marshmallows with long sticks that children had sold to various members of the groups at the bottom of the volcano. I got to eat one and it did taste kind of ´different´somehow with a rich, charred volcano flavour- yum!
As the sun began to set, I heard someone behind me say to her friend they should get down before it got too dark. Good point I thought, remembering the steep climb up over loose volcanic rocks. Not seeing where my guide had gone as he was among many of the other ones who looked quite similar to me, I thought I would follow one of the other groups down and wait for them in the parking lot.
Unfortunately, at the bottom of the hill, I discovered there were multiple parking lots and I was actually at the wrong one! Other guides kept asking me for the name of my group but I hadn't heard a name if there was one.. I was trying to tell them the name of the travel agency who I booked it through but it was a long Spanish name and I remembered that wrong too in my tiredness.....
So, a couple Guatemalan guides offered me a ride in their van to what they said would be the place where my group would be. I was a little nervous getting in the van with just them but what choice did I have as it was dark at this point and no one was left to wait with. After we arrived there, I waited for over an hour in the dark as group after group descended the mountain and none of them were my group!
As the last one descended, I told a couple Argentinian guys who spoke English what had happened and they told me there was space in their van. As I tried to go with them, their driver refused to take me saying that my group would be looking for me! The Argeninians argued that it would be dangerous to leave me up there in the dark and that my group might have likely already left. The driver still refused and they argued back and forth in aggressive Spanish as a van full of impatient tourists stared at us through the windows. I was in tears thinking about what would happen should I be stuck on the volcano overnight!
Luckily, the Argentinian guy and his son refused to leave without me, which posed a problem for the driver as he was responsible for getting his group back safely. He finally grudgingly agreed to take me if I paid full price again for the tour, which was 50 Quetzals or around US $7. I wiped away my tears as the other Guatemalan guides kept saying 'tranquilo, tranquilo' over and over as I gladly handed the driver my money. He did wisely call some central area to let them know my name in case my driver was looking for me and then drove us all back to Antigua. I complained to my tour company that while I shouldn´t have separated from the group, they should keep better track of us as well! To their credit, they did give me a refund since I had to pay twice for the trip!
Just prior to the volcano adventure, I had spent New Year's Eve in Antigua where there were thousands of people celebrating in the pubs and on the streets. At midnight, a bunch of fire works went off in the Parque Central or central square of the town. It was interesting how they went off in all directions instead of in one place in the orderly way I am used to back in Australia or Canada.
Other highlights of my time in Guatemala include the 10 days I spent in Xela, which is the country's second largest city after Guatemala City. I found the people here to be very hard working, humble and genuinely nice. There was not the same degree of tourism or in some ways falseness here that seems to result from a lot of exposure to mainstream Western media or at least in part from all the tourists who visit.
After visiting Xela, I spent 6 days including 2 days of transportation by local busses, trekking through the Cuchumatanes Mountains. Our group of 11 including 2 guides and another who was off-duty, spent 4 days hiking the 60km through mountainous terrain from Nebaj to Todos Santos, Guatemala.
We slept in homes with families eating the local food and resting after a long day of hiking by enjoying natural steam room or more accurately steam ´cave´ just outside their home.
Other highlights of this trek were chatting to local villagers in the small pueblos we passed through, taking in the breathtaking and diverse range of scenery along the steep mountain trails and rolling grassy roads surrounded by farmland.
One of the most intense days included watching the sun rise at 5:30am after trekking for 2 hours straight up a mountain! The people on our trek were all nice/easy going and making the most of this incredible experience, which made it even better although we were all exhausted by 9pm each night and awake anywhere from 3:30-6 each morning to get in full days of hiking!
According to locals on, this was the first time in over 17 years there has been snow in Guatemala and it fell on this peak.
After this trip, I spent a few days in San Pedro, which is on the beautiful and infamous Lake Atitlan. It is an 18 x 18km lake surrounded by steep conical volcanos.
According to people I met there, 10 years ago the lake was crystal clear but unfortunately as I understood it, due to a hurricane that hit several years ago, the main sewage tank was destroyed and all the raw sewage now goes directly into the lake. The only evidence I saw of this was a ring of green algae growing all the way around it along with slimy green algae in the lake near the shore and a general brown tinge over parts of the lake. Since then, I met a man in Costa Rica who was there for 2 months swimming in the lake almost every day... he told me that during that time, he got a mouth infection and most of his teeth fell out, which I was witness to! He said he was in Costa Rica to try and get his teeth fixed. That was more than enough evidence for me although thankfully I had already been warned not to swim there!
Taking the small ferry to various points around the lake, it was still amazing to see the small local villages, with avacado trees and lush rain forest surrounding the lake. Hopefully, they will or have fixed the sewage situation as it is really sad to think of how this beauty will continue to be destroyed over time otherwise!
My visit to Guatemala finished in Antigua where I met a cool Irish girl named Niamh (a Gaelic name pronounced Neeve) and travelled with her for a few days through El Salvidor.
We stayed in Playa El Tunco along the Pacific coast where I got to go surfing and although the locals said the waves were uncharacteristically small, I was OK with that since I haven´t surfed for awhile! We generally enjoyed the peacefulness of this little town, went swimming every day as it was hot in contrast to the higher elevation of Guatemala and enjoyed sampling the local El Salvidorian food and beer in the cafes.
This morning, the 6th of Jan at 5am, we caught an 11 hour bus ride from San Salvidor to Managua, Nicaragua. Niamh went an hour North to Leon for a few days to catch up with some friends and instead of back tracking, I decided to continue an hour South to Grenada, which is a beautiful Colonial style city. I´d like to stay for a few days but the ferry to Ometepe Island in Lake Nicaragua leaves from here only a couple times a week including tomorrow afternoon so my plan is to take the 4 or so hour boat ride there tomorrow. The way people here have been talking about this island is in wonderment as to how beautiful it is so I am really looking forward to relaxing here and maybe climbing a volcano or two, which are also features of the island!
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