Volcano Pacaya. 533 days later.

On Saturday, November 12, Kaycie and I hiked Volcano Pacaya.  Last year, during our international service trip with the NWU group Global Service Learning, we made similar plans to hike the same volcano for Saturday, May 29, 2010.  GSL never climbed Volcano Pacaya; it erupted on May 27.  Well, GSL…  A mere 76 weeks later, Kaycie and I made it to the top (barely)!  It was a pretty steep hike.  I had to pop my ears a few times to account for the change in pressure.  All in all, it took ninety minutes to reach the summit.

We had a guide lead the baker’s dozen, including us, up the mountain and share fun facts every once in a while.  For example, pacaya, is the name of a fruit-bearing tree.  I think it’s pretty awesome Guatemala has a Volcano Fuego, Agua and Pacaya.  If you stretch a tree to symbolize “earth” then you have seventy-five percent of the four basic elements.  They’re only missing an “air” Volcano.  Maybe one of these days I’ll snap a picture of clouds in the shape of a volcano!  I don’t want this to be a lenghty entry, so instead of describing the scenery in 1,000 words, I’ll just post some pics.

A view after (approx.) 15 minutes of hiking

Scenic stop at Laguna de Calderas

"Caldron Lagoon"

 Guatemala City

Volcano Agua from Volcano Pacaya

Kaycie girl

Our guide said there were 7 separate trees in this structure 

Volcano Agua after (approx.) 60 minutes of hiking

Volcano Fuego on the left, Agua on the right

We reached the summit!

We are basking in the glory!

A heavenly view

Much to our dismay, we didn’t see any lava.  After the sunset, it got pretty cold (I doubt we get much sympathy from our Nebraskan brethren for suffering through a breezy 50 degree night, on top of a volcano, to boot!).  We did crawl through some rock formations that exuded volcanic steam.  In seconds, I was drenched in sweat!

Two other hikers, crawling through the heated rock formation

Kaycie in another rock formation heated by the Volcano

It was much easier going down the volcano.  Minus the darkness.  We brought flashlights, so we each only fell once (remarkably)!  I don’t know how our guide did it, but he led the group of Australians, (North) Americans and Guatemaltecos (Native Guatemalans) down the volcano with no light source whatsoever.  I could understand traversing the landscape in pitch black, because eyes tend to adjust.  Right?  Maybe I’ll ask an optometrist one day…  The guide walked down without a flashlight, even after our light polluted his vision.

It was pretty dark by the time we hiked down the Volcano!

It was a pretty exciting Saturday hike.  And we completed our Saturday by eating dinner at the best restaurant for burgers (as suggested by Stefan).  It took both of us a long time for the inevitable pun to land.  Kaycie was the one to finally make the connection.  The name of the awesome burger joint?  Lava…  I had a Lava burger with jalapenos; it got a little hot!  Distasteful pun.  But the burger was seriously delicious.

The following Sunday, Kaycie and I enjoyed a brunch buffet at Café Condesa. Highlight item: tomato quiche.  That night we stopped at the Bagel Barn for a 16 ounce coffee and enjoyed a movie projected onto one wall.  The movie was mostly in English with Spanish subtitles; although some scenes left me more or less lost because it was all in Spanish and they dropped the captions.  My Spanish is improving, but slower than I would prefer.

We are settling into our respective positions at Constru Casa; Kaycie, the Volunteer Coordinator and Public Relations Intern and I, the Project Reporter.  My first official day, I hopped on the back of a motorcycle to assist Giovanni with an interview in a nearby town and snap some pictures of the family and home.  I’m piecing together a larger understanding of how the organization works.  I look forward to finding innovative ways to improve my reporting.

Our most recent weekend was pretty peaceful.  We stayed around Antigua for some good ole’ R&R.  In our defense, we tried to plan a coffee plantation tour for Sunday, but the travel agencies reported them all full or closed.  Oh well, maybe next weekend. 

Thanks for reading.

-          Travis & Kaycie