Volcán Pacaya

On Saturday, June 20, we went with another couple (The Alberts) to drive out and hike Pacaya Volcano---an active volcano of 8,371 ft. We left just after 6:30 am and after about an hour's drive (and a large detour) we arrived where the road split to go to the town of San Vicente Pacaya (to the left) or Pacaya Volcano National Park (to the right). We paid for our tickets to enter the park and picked up our guide, "Felix," and continued driving until we reached the village of San Francisco. This is where the trail begins. As we got out of our car several children came over to us asking us to buy a walking stick from them. Neil and I bought our walking sticks from the little girl on the right for 5 quetzales (or about 75 cents).

As Felix led us toward the trail we walked past a large group of horses and their guides. They smiled (the men, not the horses!) at us and "encouraged" us to get a horse and ride instead of walk. We just smiled back and declined their offers. This is the sign at the beginning of the trail.


This is our little hiking group with our 4 horsemen following us---just waiting for us to tire out and need to ride one of their horses. They were very persistant. They would smile and say, "Here is your taxi." The trail was getting very steep and rocky and those horses were starting to look pretty good.

Felix was a very good guide. He would stop and show us different plants and tell us about them. These are some of the orchids and bromiliads that we saw growing on the trees. He pointed out a tree that his parents used to use for soap when he was a little boy, because they didn't have any money to buy soap.

This is our guide, Felix, on the left. On the right is my horse, Canelo---yes, I decided to take it easy on my poor knees (after about 1/3 of the way up the trail). Emilio (my "piloto") led the horse so I didn't have to worry about guiding it at all. The horses knew the trail well and Emilio and I had a very nice chat (in Spanish) while we went up---and down---the trail. He told me all about his family and how he grew up in this area---and how they sometimes had to evacuate their homes because of the big volcanic eruptions of Pacaya.

I didn't realize Neil was taking so many photos of me on Canelo! It looks like I never hang on while I am riding! Sometimes it was pretty bumpy. Emilio told me that he usually walked his horse up and down this trail twice daily. It is about a 2 1/2 hour hike just to reach the base of the volcano. (By the way, the saddle horn and the back of the saddle were made of carved wood instead of leather. I thought that was interesting.)


This is the lava rock that we walked over once we reached the base of the cone of the volcano. The color of the lava shows if it is old or new. If it is a light color (as on the left) it is from an older eruption. If it is a very dark color, (as on the right) then it is only weeks or months old---from a more recent eruption.

Boy, these hiking sticks really came in handy in hiking over these trails on the lava rocks. There really wouldn't have been any place for me to put my hand down to steady myself! This area is still near the base of the volcanic cone. It is a very "hot" spot with heat vents coming up through the rocks.
This is looking down into a spot where you can see red lava. Some people drop their walking sticks down into it, and that is what is burning. This hole on the right was just a very interesting formation made by an earlier lava flow.


Pacaya Volcano is in the background, but not quite the top of the cone. It is still off to the left. It was quite a cloudy day and the clouds kept the cone hidden. We all decided not to hike to the top since we wouldn't have a view from there. It was a great hike and the views of the valleys and towns below us were wonderful---as long as the clouds let us see them. We had hoped to be able to see the other surrounding volcanos, but the clouds kept them out of sight.