Day 12 Guatemala City

Made arrangements with Victor, a Guatemalan tour guide www.getaroundguatemala.blogspot.com whose name had been given to me by a friend in Boston who had been here on previous occasions, to go to the Pacaya volcano, about 20 miles south west of Gautemala City. It's a popular destination,and is the most frequently climbed volcano in Guatemala. The peak of Pacaya is 2500 meters (approx 8300ft) above sea level.The climb is relatively easy, unless, like me, you ask the guide if the shortcut part of the way is OK to take. He checked with a young Guatemalan, Estephan, who is 15, and who accompanied us, who said OK (well actually he said muy bien) so off we went. Sooooo, yes it is shorter, but I didn't have a clue that it was also pretty much a straight up climb, about a 45% grade, tho it zigged and zagged some. I made it to around 2000 meters. It was a very aerobic workout, but the view on the way up , across the valley to 2 other volcanos on the other side was fantastic. There were many rests en route! Above the tree line, the only color is the black of the lava from previous eruptions, the blue sky-that day anyway- and the white smoke/steam/gasses. Once we reached the black volcanic ash and rock, I found the ash harder to cross than the rocks - it's so crumbly it feels slippery,and is like walking on very gravelly sand, only vertically, rather than horizontally, and at that height made breathing harder. Then there's the area nearer where the lava flows that is very tough to cross, it's the sharp cooled lava rocks. The rocks were another thing......incredibly sharp, without care you could easily cut your hand or leg. Going back down was a breeze, compared to going up. So glad I did it.....I'm probably not going to be back here again anytime soon. I can cross ' climbing a volcano' off my list of things to do. It took about 3 hours to go up and back. On the road down the mountain, to go back to Guatemala City, I saw acres of coffee plantations. The rich volcanic content make for great soil for growing coffee. It takes 2 years of growth before the coffee 'berries' can be picked, and the tree only produces for 10 years, then they are ripped out and new ones replanted, a year after some other crop has been planted, to enrich the soil.
Back to the hotel and a hot shower to get rid of the volcano dust and grit that got in my shoes, and on my clothes. I'm pretty sure my white sox just lost the ability to be referred to as that from now on.
Next week Victor is going to take me to Lake Atitlan, reputed to be the deepest in Central America, estimated at it's deepest to be 340 meters, and is being the most the beautiful in the world. It's surrounded by mountains and 3 volcanos.
By the way, you can click on any of the photos in the blog, and a larger image appears.