Seattle to Ushuaia

Guatemala is a disorganized, loud, and hot country.  Nicely paved two-lane highways turn into 80 miles of dirt without warning.  Insects are everywhere and you need to watch your belongings at all times.  I love it here!

I spent my first night in Guatemala in the city of Quetzaltenango, or as the locals call it, Xela (Shey-lah).  My first impression of the place was not great and I imagine this has lots to do with the uncomfortable ride across the border.  Buses and trucks spew foul-smelling oily black smoke into the air, and they drive extremely aggressively, making it hard to pass them.  Igor and I only rode ~80 miles past the border but by the time we arrived in Xela, I’d worked up a mean sweat and was ready to take a nap.

Igor wanted to spend a few weeks in Xela to learn Spanish at a local language school, so I said my goodbyes and rode away, solo once more.  I truly enjoyed traveling with Igor and Pepe, but I also appreciate having my own pace and my own direction.  As any motorcyclist will tell you, riding in a group can be fun, but it brings additional stress to the ride.  Was he able to pass that truck? Are they still behind me?  Am I going too fast?  Too slow?  Such thoughts occupy my mind, while riding solo puts me in a more pensive and untethered mode of thinking.

After enjoying my “breakfast”, I gassed up and left Xela.  An interesting thing about Guatemala is that gasoline prices are listed by the gallon instead of by the liter.  Distances are still measured using the metric system, as well as all other volume measurements that I’ve seen (bottled water, oil, etc), but gas stations are different.  You notice these things when you ride a motorcycle – lots of time to think.

After a few missed turns, I finally found Antigua.  Riding in Guatemala is quite an experience, I must say.  GPS maps are a “best-effort” affair, and even paper maps can be inaccurate or misleading.  After the last few days of travel I’ve determined that any travel-time estimates that I make should be at least doubled.

Anyways, true to reports, Antigua is a very lovely and very touristy town.  I stayed in “Hostel 5″ near the town  square.  The hostel had hot water, clean beds, and free breakfasts.  It even had a spot inside for my motorcycle!  I met some new friends while staying in Antigua, but I’ll get to that in a minute.  First, the main affair:

I have dreamed of seeing hot lava up close ever since I was a child.  When I decided to do this trip, I made a list of destinations to visit, and Mt. Pacaya was right at the top.  Mt Pacaya is an active volcano and depending on the level of activity, it’s possible to climb up and see molten lava flow down the mountain.  This is something that the authorities in USA would never, ever allow, but in Guatemala, anything goes!

A shuttle bus took me and 13 other tourists from Antigua up to the trailhead on Pacaya for 65 quetzals/head, or about $8 USD.  The ride was fast and scary and when it ended, I was very happy to step on solid ground again.

Entry into the park cost 40 quetzals/head, and the price included a local guide to take us up the mountain.  I never learned our guide’s name, but he was pretty memorable!

The first half of our hike passed through lush jungle, which turned into sparse greenery before giving way to bare rock.

Once we got to the lava fields, the hiking became significantly tougher.  Newly cooled lava is filled with sharp edges and rough surfaces that really, really want to cut your knees and elbows up!  Our guide slowed the pace considerably and we made it up without any injuries.

Eventually the trail became so steep that we had to use our hands for support, so I put away the camera.  We did stop to rest and drink water, so I had a chance to snap some photos of the gorgeous scenery.

As we continued hiking, the group began to notice the occasional warm breeze.  In Guatemala, the temperature is still pretty nice even at 8000 feet, but you don’t usually get hot breezes on the sides of mountains.  Our guide stopped and dug into the loose rock a few inches, then instructed us to place a hand inside the hole.  The rock was hot to the touch!  According to our guide, the lava here was mere days old.

After another few minutes of climbing, we started noticing charred rock and a fiery smell in the air.  On the side of the trail I saw my first glimpse of what was to come:

This was it.  We had arrived.  We scrambled over the still-hot lava crust, careful not to place a limb near anything still red.  In retrospect, the whole experience seems unbelievably dangerous, but nobody got hurt and I’m very glad I went.  This is what I saw:

My first impression: molten lava is HOT.  I know what you’re saying: “um, no shit, Joe”.  The thing is, you don’t appreciate how incredibly hot this stuff is until you’re standing 20 feet downwind of a river of lava.  I did approach it close enough to poke my walking stick into it, but to do this I had to splash water over my exposed skin, and even then I only lasted a few seconds.  2000 degrees Celcius is pretty difficult for my pasty white skin to handle.

That’s about it.  The climb back down the mountain was in full darkness.  Everyone had headlamps or flashlights, so we could see just fine, but nevertheless we took it easy until we left the lava fields.

This experience was incredible, and I will never forget it.  I don’t know what else to say about this, so I’ll just leave it at that.

This entry was posted on December 11, 2009 at 4:41 pm and is filed under On The Road.

Tags: guatemala, natural wonder, pictures