High Fidelity
Trip Start
Dec 08, 2004
1
7
12
Trip End
Feb 04, 2005
Volcan Pacaya, Guatemala
Friday, January 14, 2005
Top 5 cool things about climbing Pacaya:
1. You could see all the way out to the Pacific coast.
2. You could see the three volcanoes around Antigua, and Fuego kept burping out clouds of ash.
3. You could walk all the way up to the edge of the crater and see the new cone spitting out small rocks only 20 metres from where we are standing.
4. The feeling of accomplishment when you get to the top and sit down right next to the active crater.
5. Translating all the stuff the guide was saying for the American tourists.
Top 5 lame things about climbing Pacaya:
1. The group kept stopping and starting, which made it impossible to get into a steady rhythm that is most conducive to climbing steep inclines.
2. People would stop right in front of you as you were climbing the most difficult bits, and you would have to go around them where the traction was much worse and you were more likely to slip.
3. Even though it is national park you spend a lot of the time walking past corn fields rather than through cloud forest.
4. The strong winds near the top that made it even harder to keep your footing and enjoy the view.
5. Trying to clean the volcanic dust out of your shoes without a vacuum cleaner.
We couldn't agree about which category this last item falls into, so in a special third category...
Things Lucas thought were cool and Jenny thought were lame:
1. You "ski" back down the volcano, slip sliding through the volcanic scree down a steep slope.
We are still considering whether we will try to climb Acatenango. Pacaya is only 2500m and can be done in a half day trip. Acatenango is nearly 4000m and they recommend doing it over two days. We will see...
