Volcán de Pacaya – Antigua
The beginning of our hike was all rain, fog, and steep trails. The first part of the hike was super hard, and they also chase you with horses to make you go faster. Honestly, I almost wanted to give up after a while. It was raining a lot, and this was our view at the first lookout point, I was sure we wouldn’t see anything at the top because of the fog. So yes, I was questioning if it was worth it… But man was I wrong!
After walking for another hour, we finally saw the tip of the volcano and flowing lava in the horizon. It was so motivating to see that, so I (almost) started running up the hill. The joy I felt the closer I got is indescribable, it was such a surreal feeling!
You can’t see it that well in the picture, but it was so steep where we were sitting. It was sooo scary and freaking hot, the heat from the lava almost melted our faces. You get a better visual of the flowing lava in my vlog below. Ohh, and the dog sitting next to me followed us all the way up and down the mountain. Our guide told us they are stray dogs, and they follow the tourists in hope that they will get some
food at some point.
I’m not sure if kissing on top of a volcano can categorize as cliche… Anyways, now I can cross that off on my bucket list.
First of all, this is seriously one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my whole life. I was terrified, exhausted, and the happiest I’ve been in a long time. When I was very little I had two big dreams, walk on a volcano with lava, and see dinosaurs. As I grew up I understood that hanging out with dinosaurs was out of the picture… But my fascination for volcanos stayed with me until now. They say “Dreams don’t work unless you do…”, so after booking our trip to Antigua I immediately knew I had to fulfill this dream. And gosh, what an experience! I can’t stress it enough, if you’re ever in Guatemala you need to visit a volcano. They have over 37 volcanos to chose from. Although, all the locals said we were super lucky, not a lot of people that visit get to see the flowing lava.
Quick info: Volcan de Pacaya is 2552 meters high, and we climbed all the way up to 2300 ish meters (7545ft). Pacaya is a very active volcano that has recently formed fresh lava flows, but it first erupted 23000 years ago. It’s also known as “one of Guatemala’s most active volcanos”.
Have you ever hiked a volcano? ♥
xx
