Pacaya

Sunday, January 18th.. excerpts from my journal

725am - Today's the day.. we're up and getting ready to climb the volcano Pacaya (approx. 2500 meters or 8,000 some feet)! Aaron Yutzy is coming with and I told him to wait at CASAS at 730 cause that{s what my mom had told me. Well, it's 5 minutes til that and my mom is just getting out of the shower. I'm not sure what to do about this..

813pm - Which one of these statements is false? 1. today i hiked a volcano 2. it's 813 and i wanna go to bed 3. i love spiders Ok, if you picked number 3, you were right! Why am I so tired at 815pm? Probably cause I HIKED A VOLCANO TODAY! TO THE TIPPY TOP! That's correct.. wow, I can hardly believe it myself.

We did end up getting Aaron this morning. He was waiting at CASAS. My mom's boyfriend (QuiQue) brought a friend hiking (Herbert) and he was the reason they were an hour late to get us but it all worked out. We got to the bottom of the hike and started around 1020am. On the way up the steep curvy mountain (driving) there was a marathon happening. That made Guatemalan driving even more interesting! Crazy people! Two of my first mistakes in climbing this volcano were leaving my water bottle in the car (on purpose) and not putting sunscreen on (also on purpose) and my third and final mistake was wearing my chacos (also on purpose).

I went to the bathroom before we started and to my great surprise and delight there was a toilet seat, toilet paper AND a sink. The only thing missing was light. Apparently I missed the only lightswitch on my way in for both stalls. Needless to say, I wouldn't recommend peeing in pitch black.

The beginning of the ascent actually had me thinking I was going to die - for real. They had told me it was about an hour to the top - they lied. After about 3 minutes of incredibly steep, rocky path and exercise induced asthma, I was ready to quit. Thank goodness I didn't.

We pressed on, taking a wrong path once, seeing lots of stray dogs, feeling dehydrated and envying those lazy rich toursits who paid for horses to carry them to the top. Now when I say top it's a relative term. Because after an hour and a half of somewhat steep and strenuous hiking, I thought we had reached the 'top'. We were at the end of the dirt, grassy hiking path, standing on a plateau looking out over lots of black lava (not live) and small trees, bulidings etc. This is where sane people stop and turn around. Also, I wasn't aware we were actually allowed to climb on this lava.. and soon found out we were. It was clear we weren't actually at the TOP. But it was good enough for me at that point.

Well they wanted to climb around on some lava... so we did, and after about 20 min we sat and rested and ate some granola bars. Surely this was it. I felt pretty satisfied and was enjoying the great view. But just a little more they said.. we're almost there! HA! This is when it starts to get interesting.. Already feeling slighty dehydrated and having trouble breathing, I pressed on. We started hitting spots where the lava was pretty warm beneath our feet and the air was getting thinner. Lucky for me my chacos weren't showing any signs of melting. I did burn two toes though.

The real top seemed so close and yet so, so far. I needed to take many breaks and go very slow. Aaron was gracious enough to wait with me. A few times I actually waited to give up and just sit down and wait for them. It was good I didn't for a few reasons... 1. I was so close - I mean how often do you get an opportunity like this? 2. They took a different way back down! haha

Finally we reached the top. Let me also explain that this volcano is active and we heard about 2 erruptions of the toxic gas on the way up and 3 more while we were up there. I'm still alive. You could see for miles at the top and it was gorgeous. We were high. However, it was the 'high' I was expecting from having mastered this feat. Also, there was no red hot flowing molten lava like I was expecting which was kind of disappointing. I felt like I was Frodo returning the ring to Mount Doom the whole time up. Also, the high altitude was affecting my breathing pretty badly.

Up until today I thought that simply climbing a volcano was an amazing feat. I now know that getting back down it is even more impressive. Where was the helicopter to pick me up? We had made it to the tippy top in 2 1-2 hours. We took a few pictures up there and started back down. The first part of the descent was just a foreshadowing of all to come. Picture lots of tiny loose lava rocks (not hot, thankfully) with an occasional large boulder mixed in, and such a steep slope that there's no hope of traction.. Oh and also, this is the part where regretting my chacos comes in.

Honestly, it's hard to even describe this - but you'd take one step, sink in about 2-3 inches, and slide forward 3 feet. And then your next foot... It was kinda like roller skating - on rocks. They said that this way down was faster - now I know why. Naturally all these tiny sharp rocks got stuck in the bottom of my sandals, causing much pain to the bottom of my feet. I have lots of tiny cuts all over them. And there was nothing I could do about it until I reached the bottom and dug them out. Dust was flying everywhere, and a few times I fell on my behind - luckily not landing on my camera, which was also full of dust. It was quite the experience.. very painful for my feet, kinda fun in a weird way, but not one I'd like to repeat.

After that descent we still had lots of lava rocks to cross until we reached the grassy, dirt path again. But we rested and ate again and threw rocks into the abyss of the earth for about 10 minutes first. After about 2 minutes of nice lava rock path (I say nice cause it was easier to 'climb' than what we just 'slid' down) we encountered another surprise. More tiny loose rocks on another steep slope! HOORAH!

Same excruciating pain on my feet and this time even a boulder that Herbert accidentally moved tumbled down and hit my calf leaving a nice bruise. By this time my toes and feet were full of cuts and also my hands from gripping the rocks while climbing. I wanted to cry and wished there was another way down, but onward we went. After about an hour of this treacherous descent we reached the dirt path. PRAISE THE LORD! Words cannot describe my elation, even though we still had about an hour to go.

Aaron and I managed to find an indigenous woman selling drinks along the way and bought a bottled water for about 60 cents. It was good cause I was feeling dizzy and wake from dehydration. Where was that water bottle I brought? No more rocks in my chacos though!

The descent took 2 hours and 15 minutes in total. I never thought I'd be so happy to see that 3 min steep rocky part at the beginning again! I HAD DONE IT! I had climbed a volcano all the way to the actual top and gotten back down! What an awesome feeling. Mom, be glad you weren't there to witness how dangerous some parts actually were. There were times on the way up that I prayed telling God he'd have to be the one 'carrying' my legs cause I couldn't do it myself. I truly felt his presence and safety. I was proud of myself for having accomplished this..

Not having eaten a meal since 730am and it now being 330 pm, all we could think about was food! (like you Sarah!) And how dirty we were. The 1 1-2 hr ride to Antigua was so nice. We all wanted pizza so we went to a restaurant Herbert knew of. Washing my hands and feet felt so good. But it was then that I realized my face and arms were awfully red! Talk about regretting that sunscreen decision. I guess we were closer to the sun.

We went to order pizza and they said it was only served from 12-3 and 6-10. Uhh, ok. How weird. It was 515pm. So we left and found another restaurant that turned out to be nicer anyway. We ate in a tiny room with couches (that felt awesome) and American music. And I can honestly say I've never tasted better pizza. Probably cause I was so hungry. We left there and had an hour drive back home. I showered - so good, blew my nose and found lots of dirt was hiding there, and lotioned up my sunburn and cracked and cut feet and hands. And now, at 9pm I am finally going to bed.

What a tiring, but satisfying day!
Until my next adventure... adios!

(I ran out of time but I will upload some pictures of the past week and the volcano another day!)