Roasting Marshmellows on Lava Flows- V. Pacaya, Guatemala

I think that when I take a trip I tend to flood the journeys section with lots of posts without much distance between them. Often its up to my ability to get to the internet that makes my posts so close together. Well that aint gonig to change yet! Heres another post of pictures from me although I am sure the story will be shorter, this keyboard i no fun to type on.

After my stint at Lake Atitlan I wanted to step foot onto something that let me know I was still able! So I signed up for a tour of Volcan Pacaya, where I had heard you could walk next to flowing lava. Oddly enough thats always been a dream of mine. So I got onto the shuttle at 2pm and we were at the volcano by 3 or 4pm.

The beginning of the trip was a nice steep uphill hike that I was loving every minute of. I had piked up a bit out of the slump and was happy that someone was leading me up a peak rather then me needing my own enforcment. We would often stop and look back at the group which didnt seem to be having as much fun. Eventually we made it up to the lookout point towards the volcano. It was amazing to know that we were right under a volcano which is still spewing smoke and we could see some lava flows even from the viewpoint.


We hiked down to the valley of black and roamed around for a bit until we stumbled on something warm. What? Am I about to step in poo?


There were two flows in this area. One was a small stream about 3 feet wide that continued down the slope and then there was this one. It was a really neat flow which we could see building and we could get close to it. It was unimaginatably hot for something moving and without flames.


I love the colors


The stream in the center of the photo was the lava flow that continued on. I would love to go back and find some reallllly large lava flows and get onto them. The picture opportunites were everywhere!


I took a lot of pictures and then walked around for a little bit. I wasnt sure of what to do next when someone asked me "Can I borrow that stick you have for marshmellows?" well that sounded about as good as anything else! So we roasted marshmellows on the lava. Its hard to see in this picture but I feel like my whole body is on fire in this picture. It took about 1 second for the marshmellow to catch fire. Best Marshmellow ever!


We waited at this particilar flow until it was getting ready to pour over the lip. It hung out for a bit but finally the covering piece broke and down it poured. As soon as the top layer fell I could feel the heat and my shoes began to melt within seconds...I was pretty close.


And down she pours...this sweet lava of mine.


To illustrate the heat we would push a stick into the lava. It would instantly burst into flames and fly up the stick. It was an amazing thing to watch.



After a while on the lava flow we all trogged back up the hill to a nice viewpoint for the sunset.


I took this last picture before we headed back to the van. Which I decided would be a lot more fun in a full on sprint. What a rush that is! Running of a volcano in partial darkness with my camera still slung around my neck. Oh well..I heard these canons are bombproof.


Well now I am headed toward Utila to try open water dive cert. Hopefully that goes well!