Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala

What a crazy and unforgettable experience we had here!  Well, the actual visit of Antigua went ok.  As usual, got around to seeing every corner of the town.  It’s your typical colonial town, very pretty, with lovely architecture all over the place, churches, and lots of ruins here and there. 

 

One difference though, here if you wanna climb an active volcano, you can!  Nearby, you have, as the locals call them, El Volcán de Agua and El Volcán de Fuego.  We chose to venture up the Volcán de Fuego, aka the Pacaya Volcano.  The tour started out ok, bright sunny day, no rain, the weather was perfect, but it was too good to be true.  As we hiked to the top, we had no idea what was in store for us.   But soon enough we did! To make the climb even more difficult it suddenly started pouring down rain, just as we almost reached the top.

 

So there we were drenched, cold, and quite frankly, scared.  Then on top of that, we got separated from our group for a bit, and found ourselves having to get over to the other side of the volcano, all alone!  What a frightening experience!  Felt like stunt people!  I can’t believe we actually managed to rejoin our group, but we did!

 

And due to all the rain, there was steam all over the place, making visibility really bad.  Still we tried to admire the volcano and its lava as best we could.  It was really tough for me, but I still found the experience to be a memorable one. 

 

Now I’m not sure which was more difficult, going up or coming down!  We didn’t get a break coming down either.   The decent was also an interesting one.  If only you could have seen us!  There we were, slipping and sliding all the way down, until we reached the bottom!  Everyone in the group couldn’t believe we actually made it back to the bottom, safe and sound, in the dark and in the rain! Glad to have lived this unique experience, but don't think I’d do it again!  One thing’s for sure, you gotta do the tour if ever in this part of Guatemala!

Time to say hasta luego and keep on going south!  Guatemala was great and we experienced some crazy things here that we’ll remember always.  All the fear and nervousness we felt before coming here is gone.   Guate is a lovely country not to be missed if ever in Central America .  We’ll definitely be back!

Antigua Guatemala, le Pujols du guatemala, petit village en pierre, petites maisons, route en pavé, 3 ou 4 églises, 2 ou 3 ruines, sympa quoi! Le but était d´aller voir le volcan pacaya, un des rares en activité en amérique centrale et du sud.  Finalement vers 2h de l´apres-midi, un bus nous a amené là-bas à 2300m et le niveau maximum/securisé était à 2800m, un petit monté de 2h, la monté fut lente et tranquille.  Arrivé en haut, un autre monde, le chao, du vent, la pluie, la vapeur, de la roche volcanique, de la lave seché et très coupante, l´enfer!! Devant la lave, ton instinct te dis d´aller toucher, et tu la touche avec le baton que t´a vendu le petit garçon en bas pour gagner un peu d´argent. 

Jusqu´à là tout va bien, mais le retour fut un désastre, aucune visibilité, j´arrivais meme pas à voir mes pieds et la roche était tranchante, avec la lave à nos pieds, ça chauffe, ça chauffe.

  Pour sortir de la lave seché on a du mettre 1h, à l´aller 10 minutes. Sans oublié le vent, la pluie . . . Et là ça devient intéressant car il faisait nuit, imagine la jungle, une descente de 70° dans un chemin boueuse sans lumière, avec un guide qui s´en fout si tu tombes, si tu te brules, te perds etc . . . je pense qu´on a mis 2h30 pour enfin arriver en bas et voir les memes gosses qui m´avaient vendu leur baton me le reclamer!!! Ce fut une grande aventure.