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Climbing Volcano Pacaya after a week of housebuilding was quite a challenge for me! Guides with horses taunt you calling "taxi, taxi - esta cansada? Caballos es muy fuerte!" But I was determined to climb the volcano with my own feet! Besides as soon as you got so tired you thought you couldn't continue, the path seemed to flatten out a bit - or we had a little rest!
The ascent was quite cloudy which was good as it kept us cool, and also meant that we couldn´t see how far we had to go. In total the climb takes around 1.5hrs. Just as we neared the top the clouds disappeared below us and we saw the lava! It was very impressive and also quite scary as large molten lava rocks kept falling towards us.... It was very warm and my only pair of trainers for walking and house building are a little bit shredded on the bottom.
The view behind us was stunning. You can see the 3 volcanos that surround Antigua - Agua, Acatenango and my favourite Fuego (another active volcano with fun smoke puffing out the top!). The sunset was so beautiful!
You can roast marshmellows on the rocks/lava and set sticks on fire. Very bizarre. Had a great time. The climb down was fun - a bit like skiing and much faster. It got dark quite quickly and you could see the lava behind us glowing in the distance. We walked a slightly different route back down - very steep and scary (although came prepared with a head torch - thanks Lou!). The drive home was almost as dangerous as the falling molten rocks!! Crazy drivers everywhere...
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Hammo Wow!! Check you out Knight!! Sounds like the head-torch came in handy!! Loving the photos and the stories of your adventures today!! Please can I come and join you?! xxxx