Volcano Pacaya

Sunday, September 23^rd

We got up at 5:20am and got picked up by our shuttle around 6:00am. Our tour was completely full. There were some people from Germany, England, Austria, and Israel. It took about an hour to drive to the volcano. Once we got to the volcano, we saw tons of locals with horses that we were there to give people rides up the volcano if it was too hard. There were also lots of little boys trying to sell walking sticks to everyone.

The hike itself was actually not that hard, but many of the people in our group had a hard time making it up. One girl even used one of the horses. The views were amazing. We got a really good look at the three volcanos by Antigua: Fuego, Agua, and Acatenango. We hiked to the lava flow area near the summit. I loved seeing all of the lava rock, which was pretty recent because the volcano had erupted two years ago. The guide brought marshmallows and we roasted them over a couple of steaming vents. It was a fun treat. Another guide brought hot dogs for herself and had them for lunch. I liked that idea much more than marshmallows! I, of course, was the only person that fell down during the trip. The guide specifically said to be careful towards the end because the lava rock is sharp and about twenty minutes later I fell in front of half our tour. 

A view of the 3 other volcanos (L to R: Fuego, Acatenago, Agua)

Jordan roasting his marshmellow

At the highest point we were allowed to climb

We were dropped off by the shuttle in Parque Central, so we decided to walk around. We found a small street where Maya women had laid out their wares. We looked at them for awhile and then we went in search of granizadas and a snack. We found them at La Merced. We split a strawberry and pina granizada and a pollo sandwich. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel for a nap. 

 A random dog we saw running around Parque Central

 

For dinner, we went to a cool little Salvadorian restaurant called El Papaturra. We got a cheese and chorizo appetizer. It was AMAZING. For our entrees, I had pupusas and Jordan had Chile Rellanos. Both were so good. For dessert, we stopped at Café Condessa for some REAL cheesecake. Guatemalans really like custard cheesecake, which is more like the no-bake cheesecake. That kind of cheesecake is all I have been able to get a hold of, so I was dying for some NY-style cheesecake.