Climbing Pacaya

Wow - the weeks fly by here and I cannot believe that we still haven´t posted the photos from our volcano climb last weekend. The climb was beautiful. We climbed it in the late afternoon so we could see the sunset from the top and climbed down in the dark. While we had heard that it was a tough climb, it went fast and seemed much easier than climbs in the cascades. I suppose many of the people we had talked to may not have been climatized (Guatemala is much higher up than many US cities...).

We climbed with a guide (the trails are not always well marked and it is an ACTIVE volcano...in case I did not mention that. Most guides live in the pueblos around the volcano and track the activity very closely. From the top, we could see Guatemala City, the other three major volcanos in this part of the country, and several small pueblos. Amazing. Photos will speak much louder than my words in this case.

Us at the trailhead.

View of some trekkers ahead of us on the trail.

"Skiing" down the Ash fields to check out a heat vent.

Heading into the heat vent.

Aaron roasting marshmallows. 

I should have taken an "after" photo too...they were a perfect brown crisp.

The two of us at the top.

 Aaron at the top.

 Sunset.

View from the top at sunset.

 Heading down at dusk.