I climbed a volcano - part two

I climbed a volcano - part two

In the last post I introduced briefly Guatemala and its main volcanoes. I have mentioned that when you want to climb a volcano, you have to do it with a guide. My Asian acquaintance from Taiwan called Kiki and I "hired" a guid called Neri who gave us a private tour for which we had to leave a house at 2:45 a. m.

Let me invite you to the story of getting to know the Pacaya volcano!

We are ready to start

After paying an entrance fee in the park through which one can get to Pacaya there was nothing else to wait for. We started to walk forward. Neri does not speak too much English, which was good for me (as I am always happy speaking in Spanish). However, as Kiki did not know too much Spanish, we did a translation.

Picture: Me, Kiki and our lovely guide Neri.

First, we were walking just with one light which was Neri’s. After a while we realized that (obviously) it would be much easier to use even our phone lanterns, so we could even walk faster. We also met a group of men who were carrying heavy objects. We started to talk to them, because Neri knew them. These people work on the “top” of the volcano which we were climbing and as they have a snack bar there, they climb the volcano every day. Moreover, they climb it with those heavy things.

Why do you need a guide

As mentioned above, you would not be allowed entering if you came without a guide. It make sense – you are about to climb an active volcano, I guess not many of us have huge knowledge about volcanoes and its movements. Another thing is that Guatemala is not Europe where we live without jaguars. There are many forests and jungles where you would not only see some monkeys swinging on some tree branches but there would be a small chance (but still, it is a chance) of “meeting” those wild beasts of prey.

We stopped in one spot to drink and admire a super old tree. We heard some noise coming out of the “tree part”. Neri checked that but he assured us, that nothing was happening and we could calmly continue our climbing adventure.

Finally! We see lava!

After less than two hours we reached the point from where we could see streams of lava. You would not believe, but when lava pops out and the solid part of volcano opens/breaks itself, it makes a lot of noise. It is very loud.

It was still dark outside – it was our idea to get to the top still at night so we could see lava even better. It was quite cold there as wind was strong enough. I was pleased watching lava floating on the volcano and looking so calm. However, I expected the whole experience would be stronger. Also, Neri told us that we will be hot, not cold when getting there – lava is hot.

Luckily, this was not our final point. Neri took us some 300 meters further and what we saw there was exactly the thing I wanted to experience.  Lava there was just a meter far from us. If it was not dangerous, I had a feeling I could even touch it. It was not cold up there anymore. Neri even roasted marshmallows for us. There was another group of four or five people, otherwise nobody. Neri gave us so much time to enjoy the view and live that experience. He was not rushing us to leave the place already. It made the whole adventure special, unique. As he works also during the day for some travel companies, he does also group tours. They might be a little bit less expensive, but as he said, the gained experience is not the same: it is not as astonishing to see lava during the days because you cannot see its “flame” colour, you climb the volcano with other 20 people, so you cannot really control the pace when ascending or descending on the way back, everyone wants to take a picture and before everyone actually does it, there is time to leave. Neri told us the guides usually spend there approximately 15 - 20 minutes when walking with the group during a day. We spend there probably 1,5 – 2 hours! Till the day light appeared.

Picture: Being so close to lava was an incredible experience!

When we were there, I went to a part where I could be alone. I simply enjoyed watching floating lava, observing forms of incredibly shaped lava stones – when it got cold, listening to the sound of it all and just being there.

On the way back

There was an interesting thing which I noticed only on the way back. Next to the path, or on its side, there were huge and quite deep holes in the ground. I asked what are they there for. Neri replied that it helps to keep the soil path more or less safe because, especially during the rain season(which is when there is summer in Europe) water gets from the path to the deep hole and so it is still possible to walk the path. Is it not smart?

Picture: Holes that you can see in many places of the path - it helps especially during the rainy season.

Are you not able to climb a volcano

There is a possibility of renting a horse which would carry you the whole way up and down. I do not know what the price is for this service.

Well, now, something to be considered when you speak European or American Spanish. Neri told us a story when there were two girls in a group of tourists climbing the same volcano. One of them was Spaniard and one was Mexican. The Mexican girl was really tired and so the Spaniard recommended: “When you are tire, “coje” a horse.” In European Spanish it means just to take the horse, to ride it. The Mexican got offended because in her Spanish it meant: “If you are tired, fu·k a horse.” Luckily, Neri has already met people from all over the world and he explained that “cojer” in European Spanish means “tomar”. So if you are about to take a taxi, go by car or boat or even ride a horse, use the word “tomar” in Guatemala (and the rest of the Spanish speaking countries in America).

Picture: Neri meets people from all over the world. He remembers their stories and those people who did a private tour with him themselves!

Was it worth it?

This whole experience was definitely 100% worth it! We paid in total 350 Quetzales (42 EUR) each, but if there were more of us, we would pay even less. However, doing this private tour was a good decision.

If you are about to go to Guatemala and would like to get the same experience – night walking in a small group – I can provide you with Neri’s phone number (he agreed).

Will you climb a volcano?

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