Climbing the Volcano

Sunday we climbed up Pacaya, the most active volcano in Guatemala. This is the view back to Volcano Agua (La Antigua is on the other side):


Here are Kelsey & Larissa & the guide (Eusebio) with Pacaya in the background:


Hot Lava! I am actually cheating a little with these pictures. While they are indeed pictures of lava on Pacaya, the pictures are from 2 years ago when Ben & I climbed it. This year, it was too darn hot to get close enough for pictures. In fact, Kelsey was trying to take a picture and after about 30 seconds of standing still, she decided she needed to high tail it out of there to a cooler spot. After she descended to safety, she discovered that her lower legs exposed below her capris, were scorched red, as if they had been sun burned! The lava was just too hot too fast for decent photos this year, but this is what it looked like!



One of the delightful aspects of the trip is the little kids who "rent" walking sticks. They start out wanting to charge Q5 (about 60 cents) but will quickly come down to Q2. At the end of the hike, they're staked out waiting to get their merchandise back. Quite the little entrepeneurs. I wanted a picture of this little guy, Carlos Antonio because his eyelashes were about 3/4" long. They seemed as if they were going to obscure his vision, and I imagine as he gets older they're going to obscure somebody's vision!