Hiking Pacaya Volcano

Yesterday we took an evening tour to the active volcano near Antigua named Pacaya. We had to choose between a 6am departure or an afternoon/evening tour and we heard the night tours are better because you can really see the lava flowing in the dark, so we chose the evening tour. Our bus left at 2:30pm and we drove for an hour and a half, past the outskirts of Guatemala City, to an elevation of about 2000 meters or so.

Upon arrival to the National Park our guide and our group of 20 began the hike up. It was really steep, but we had a lot of rest stops. After an hour of climbing we saw the first signs of volcanic rock from a large flow that occurred in August 2006. From here we could also see the top of the volcano which was steaming (see first photo).

After examining the hardened lava formations we continued upward hiking over the lava rock. It was approaching sunset, and we began to see the bright orange glow of lava coming down the side of the volcano. As we approached the lava floes it got really hot. The air temperature was problably in the low 60s, but close to the lava it felt almost 90, and the closer you got to it, well, you can imagine! The guides let us get as close as we wanted. One guy in our group stood over a glowing pile of cooling lava and burned his leg hairs off! It was a great experience and well worth the $5 tour charge!

Sign on the way up to the top

View of nearby Agua Volcano, near Antigua

Luke in front of a lava floe

Emily in front of a lava floe, it is getting darker outside

Getting even darker, now you can see the lava spilling down the side of the volcano