Pacaya Volcano

Hiking My First Active Volcano!

Pacaya Volcano, Guatemala

It’s my first day in Guatemala and after an hour of hiking, I already find myself questioning the sanity of the activity I’m participating in. I’m on the side of the most active volcano in Guatemala; hey, what could go wrong.. it’s only a volcano right!?

The day started out with a routine introductory meeting – my new companions for the week are an Israeli family of 4 who I’d be joining for a five day guided tour of Guatemala’s most popular destinations with Guatemalan Adventure.

The View

We drove up much of Pacaya’s base and upon arrival after the last bit of bumpy road we were all treated to beautiful views of two other volcanoes across the valley.

Smoke Plume

To my surprise one of them began emitting a large plume of ash just after I made eye contact! Whelp… glad we didn’t pick that one to hike today! A few minutes of ogling over the views pass and we’re all ready to play the climb the mountain game.

Onward we go, passing through some light trees and shrubs- with young children and horses hot on our trail (hoping we’d decide that hooves were a better ride up than our own feet!). Left, right, left – one step after another, time ticks and sweat begins to trickle through the cracks and crevices of my body. At nearly 8,000 feet in elevation I’m finding it increasingly difficult to satisfy my lungs request for more oxygen. This is the point in all hikes where I begin pondering why I torture myself with long walks up steep hills.

Hiking Pacaya Volcano - Gauatemala

After an eternity of walking or possibly less than a couple hours (who’s counting?) we’ve reached new surroundings – gone is the soft, fertile soil – replaced by hard, dried lava. Pacaya’s crater is now in sight and I’m beginning to remember why hikes are worth the pain – the payoff at the top!

Pacaya Volcano Erupting

And what a payoff it was! We were all pleasantly surprised to see rocks being violently ejected out of the crater and safely away from our direction. It wasn’t a constant eruption, just quick intervals which added to the challenge of snapping this photo for the blog đŸ˜‰

Me at Pacaya Volcano

Pacaya was a great introduction to Guatemala’s beautiful and natural landscapes that left me with even more anticipation for what was to come in the following days!

 

This was the first day of my guided trip with Guatemalan Adventure, read more here:

Note: Guatemalan Adventure hosted this tour at a discounted rate so I could to bring you this review. As always, all opinions published here are my own.