Day 15: Antigua, Guatemala

We absolutely LOVE Antigua! It’s pretty much one of the greatest places in the world. The atmosphere is very casual and relaxed and just generally very comfortable.

We would love to come back and live here for a couple years at some point. There are tons of employment opportunities and apartments are relatively inexpensive.

Back Streets of Antigua

We had such a great breakfast this morning at the hostel. It’s the typical Guatemalan breakfast (Desayuno Chapin) which consists of a couple scrambled eggs, refried beans, the most delicious mini tortillas, a little hunk of some kind of white cheese, and the most wonderful fried plantains all with some amazing Antigua coffee and a little red sauce on the side for the eggs (not hot, just very flavorful). It was f*ing amazing!

Chapin, Half eaten before I remembered to take a photo

We decided on a whim to take a sunset/nighttime trek up Volan Pacaya. It’s about an hour or so away from Antigua by mini bus and only cost $8 including the to/from transportation that picks you up at your hostel). The ride up to the park where you start hiking to Pacaya was…interesting. It’s up this back-and-forth winding road at an alarming rate of speed with a random speed bump or two as the little old and abused bus tries its hardest to haul the 15 or 16 people up a vertical incline.

It takes about 20 minutes to get to the start of the hiking trail where the minibus is swamped with 10-15 little kids with arm-loads of walking sticks who are all yelling “Schtick? Schtick? Buy a schtick from me, my friends!” The sticks cost 5 quetzals and while they might provide a little help while hiking, they are really for poking the lava at the top of the volcano (which is awesome, by the way)!

It a tough couple hours hike up to the lava fields, following a long string of people on a tiny dirt path barely big enough for a goat. Along the way, there are incredible views of the surrounding valley and Guatemala City.

View of Guatemala City from Pacaya

Long trail to Pacaya through the lava fields

Us with Pacaya in the background

After a couple hours of hiking up the volcano and much of it through the lower lava fields that are like gravel but are 6-8 inches deep (you would be amazed at the amount of volcanic dust that ends up in the strangest places…), it’s really nice to watch the sunset just feet away from a big lava stream. The heat from the lava is so intense that even from about 4-5 feet away you can barely stand to feel it on your skin. (these photos do not due justice to how orange and hot the lava truly was)

Lindsey at the lava

Saben poking lava with a stick.

Saben at the lava

Sunset on pacaya

We could see the bright orange lava flowing beneath many of the rocks we were walking on which was so hot it melted the soles off the shoes of a couple of people in the group!

Lava beneath our feet

The hike down off the volcano was pretty wild as well. By this time it was completely dark and the lava flow was starting to pick up so we had to really move off of the mountain. Behind us we could see giant flaming balls of lava rolling down the path we had just been walking 15 min, earlier.

Shakey Pacaya at night

The ash and gravel got into everything and by the time we got back to the shuttle our shoes were nearly ruined. The kids were hanging out a the bottom of the trail when we go there “Schtick for me, Schtick for me”. Scooping up the walking sticks they had sold earlier from the hikers who no longer needed them. To sell them off again tomorrow. Good business plan.

Enjoyed a celebratory beer with a traveler we met along the way and back down the mountain we went , headed for “home.”