Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala

We got up bright and early and said goodbye to Totonicapan so we could get over to Antigua and spend the day exploring. As we entered into Antigua we were immediately charmed by its old colonial architecture. We ended up having a great lunch and then checked out the hotel situation in town. After visiting about half a dozen places, we decided on Posada Don Diego. A great little place with rooms off of a central courtyard and a cafe in the front. Great people here.
After got got our stuff settled in, we spent pretty much the entire rest of the day just exploring and photographing the town, and hanging out working on the computer in the cafe. Good stuff!

We started the day before dawn with an hour and half bus ride outside of Antigua to the base of Volcan Pacaya. We had considered trying to find the ‘National Park’ ourselves, but after seeing where this place was, we were glad we went with a guide service. The national parks aren’t exactly up to U.S. standards. Many twists and turns up extremely steep and muddy roads and a few small villages later we arrived at the trailhead. As soon as we pulled up, little kids came crawling out of the woodwork and started swarming the van, yelling 'Stick, Stick' 'Is necessary for climbing' in broken english. All of them had a cute little hand carved stick, and kept trying to grab your attention so you'd rent theirs. Then it was another hour and a half hike straight up to get to the active area of the mountain. As we hiked, cowboys followed behind with saddled horses, taunting us the whole way 'taxi!' We figured they must have a betting pool going as soon as a van rolls up and pick which tourist will succumb to the steepness and request a ride!

We were disappointed at first because the entire volcano was shrouded in a heavy fog, but as luck would have it, when we rounded the corner to the final ridge, the fog started breaking up and we could see the amazing view that lay before us. As the mist cleared we could see more of the top of the volcano and the orange glow of the lava coming down the side that we would be heading to. Within twenty minutes we were within a few feet of the lava and enjoying the warmth coming from the cinder rock all around us. It seemed like the whole mountain-side in front of us was alive, constantly shifting, with new rock being created every second, showering down the mountain side. As we arrived, another tour group was even toasting marshmallows over the hot glowing rock. After spending a good half hour to forty five minutes taking pictures and video, we headed back down into the jungle. It’s definitely one of the memories that will stick with us from this trip for a long time!