Guatemala


Guatemala: the Pacaya volcano (I)

A couple of quick facts: Guatemala extension is 109.000 km2 (a bit less than half of the U.K.) and it has around 13 million people.

At first it was difficult to see clearly the lava river. We were a bit far and despite dusk approaching fast, there was too much sunlight. Around 20 minutes later, when sunlight was almost gone, the lava glowing could be perfectly distinguished; it felt like the volcano was bleeding through a huge wound.

Lava river in the distance (Photo by Pablo Mendez)

Once we managed to reach the lava river we were astonished. I could hardly imagine it was going to be so spectacular. The fact that you could go as close to the lava as you dared, the possibility of feeling and experiencing one of those things you always believed were only possible in documentaries…well, no need to clarify that it was one of the most impressive things I have ever done, right?

The lava flowed calmly, heavily, almost like in slow motion, and you could perfectly hear a continuous crack-crack from the cracking and melting rocks. I could feel the infinite inner power of the earth, that one that is always there and we only remember when a natural catastrophe strikes.

“Interacting” with the lava is a real experience: go as far as a couple of metres from it and it is very hot (let me finish the sentence before you think is stupidly obvious please). After that, each centimetre you go closer feels exponentially hotter till there is a point, like an invisible barrier, when you cannot move a millimetre closer as the heat is unbearable. I tried to endure staying at that point and my 3-days-long beard started to crackle.

By the lava river

Once it was completely dark there was another surprise: we realised that no more than 30-40 centimetres below our feet, incandescent lava was flowing. We could see it through the narrow layer of porous volcanic rocks. Worried and amazed, we asked the local guide if it was not too dangerous. What would happen if a crack suddenly opened or if the volcano decided to sneeze in that specific moment? Calmly and cheerful he replied: “If that happens we would become part of the volcano history”. Seemed like a profound and poetic idea but I was not that interested.

At some point one of the Japanese girls, dressed like Hello Kitty, started screaming and jumping. She came running towards me and with another jump she gave me a koala hug. I’d say it was due to me being irresistible for oriental girls, although the fact that I was geographically closer to her than any other one could have had an influence (my friends insisted in this point).

As she was still shouting (directly in my ear now) something about her sneakers, I took a look and saw that the soles had started to melt, forming shapeless plastic drops. Next thing she shouted (still in my ear) was “take me out of here NOW”, so I started walking downhill whistling “The bodyguard” song, not sure she got the joke though.

With all the adrenaline and excitement I did not check the watch even once but I think we were a couple of hours up there, mesmerised. We started the way back using our torches as it was pitch dark by then, with the guide helping the Hello Kitty girl as she could not walk properly in her melted sneakers. Back in the van nobody said a word as we were all tired and exhausted.

Here are some videos we took that day:

As per today, Pacaya volcano is still active and lava rivers are still being formed, with size and shape varying constantly.

A bit more than a month ago, April 2010, a tourist from Venezuela and a local guide died when climbing the Pacaya due to a landslide when they were close to the volcano rim. The worst eruption in years happened just 2 weeks ago (late May 2010), killing some people and forcing the airport to close due to the volcanic cloud. Hopefully it will still be possible to visit the volcano soon.

Pacaya volcano became a sort of sensation in Central America since the cracks with lava started forming. In 2008, while travelling in Costa Rica I saw a few people wearing T-shirts with the Pacaya on them (I didn’t see any merchandising when I was there), and lots of people I met were going to cross to Guatemala just to climb the Pacaya and see the lava rivers

When and where? September 2006. Antigua, Pacaya volcano, lake Atitlan, Chichicastenango, Semuc Chempey, Lanquín, San Cristóbal, El Ceibal, Flores, Rio Dulce, Livingston, Tikal, Copán, Quiriguá.

How? A group of four friends (Fran, Pablo, Ana and myself), University mates. Flight and first night hotel booked. We rented a car to move around.

Why did I go? I had been told wonders about Guatemala for years. I tried to go a couple of times but it did not happen. I went looking for nature, outstanding cultural sights and because Latin America is my favourite destination.

Recent history in 2 or 3 lines: From 1900 to 1960 the strong influence of the USA (United Fruit Company) controls the country and provokes political instability (many coups). From 1960 to 1996 the civil war tore the country apart, being at its worst in the late 70s early 80s. After the 1996 Peace Agreements democracy managed to get stable.

The Pacaya volcano is close to Antigua although it is not one of those you can see surrounding the city. After the last violent eruption in 1965 the activity has been constant, being declared a national reserve in 2005 given the increasing tourism (also, I imagine, to try to control the access to such a potentially dangerous place and stopping people from doing stupid things).

The year I was there in 2006, the volcanic activity increased considerably, leading to the formation of lava rivers on the side of the mountain, still far from the top, so accessing them was fairly easy.

The only way to enter the park and climb up to the lava was a guided tour that could be done in the morning, afternoon or evening, so we decided the last option to see the sunset on our way up. Price was $15.

A van picked us up a couple of hours before sunset (around 7pm) and the first thing that surprised me was that the other people who joined our group were four japanese girls. And my surprise grew when they told me they did not know each other before, they just booked the same excursion by chance.

Two of them were in Antigua in a language exchange program, the other two were backpacking solo in Central America. Given that I have met quite a few people in Spain scared of travelling to Latin America as in their minds it is “horribly dangerous”, bumping into some Japanese girls, with their helpless looks, unable to speak proper Spanish and still travelling solo across El Salvador, Honduras or Guatemala turned me into a great mood.

After an hour that passed quickly we reached the Park entrance. We got a guide assigned and started our way up. The first part of the hike was easy, following a wide clean trail not too steep. Whenever the trail went close to the cliff, we had the chance to see the landscape and it was magnificent. We were well above low thick clouds that were covering everything but the rim of the other surrounding volcanoes.

Views from the Pacaya volcano

After a short break for water and photos, the path started to get steeper when we reached a small forest. The sun had gone and light was fading, although we did not need our torches yet.

When we left the forest we got the first shock: the trail had disappeared abruptly buried under layers and layers of recently solidified lava. It was like turning suddenly from order to chaos. The hike became more difficult as we had to climb carefully on top of the edgy rocks. The feeling was like if the volcano was really really old and we had to cross through the deep wrinkles of its face.

Solidified lava layers (Photo by Francisco Amigo)