[at-l] 11/14-15:Antigua to Quatzaltenango (Xela) and a volcano, too.

[Mara Factor]

Pardon the cross-posting but I thought some of the hikers would enjoy
the trip report of the overnight on an active volcano in Guatemala...

November 14: Antigua to Volcan Pacaya

Once again, I find myself hiking where a misstep can mean a bit more
than a twisted ankle.  Last year, I was hiking in the vicinity of
bombies (the bomblets left behind by cluster bombs) in Lao.  This
year, I´m hiking in the vicinity of lava bombs, hiking through razor
sharp rock, and over rock still glowing red from when it was liquid
the night before.

Earlier in the day...

During an early morning sleepless session working a crossword puzzle,
I got some help from one of the resident birds when I was looking for
an answer.  The resident captive pigeon started cooing just when I was
trying to come up with the answer coo.  Perfect.  Then it was back to
sleep.

I got up for good before 7am and climbed to the cross overlooking the
town.  The morning air is clearer so I got a great view of the volcano
opposite town.  It was only a 10 minute climb to the cross and then
another 10 minute climb to the statue of Santiago at the Plaza del
Apostal.  This area, once notorious for robberies still has a stigma
so when a local man saw me, apparently alone, looking at a large wasp
with long orange wings and a blue/black body, after teaching me how to
pronounce its name (e bespa), he insisted on accompanying me back down
the hill.  That was very nice of him.

I´ve found very consistently that the locals often don´t try at all to
speak English but are very patient with the tourists when they try to
speak Spanish and are very willing to help them learn.

Back at the hotel, I repacked for my overnight trip and then carried
my stuff across town to the O.X. outfitters.  I wandered town a bit,
visited a jade ¨museum¨ that was really just a large store with a lot
to sell, ate lunch of a huge ham and cheese sandwich (I could only eat
half so gave the rest away), grabbed water and snacks from the local
bodega, stopped at another expat establishment to get some information
about a dentist I had heard about the day before and then went back to
the outfitter to change my clothes, do a final repack, and meet the
other three on the Volcan Pacaya trip.  Jeremy, a Brit, spends time
outdoors, and Nicole and Brad from Canada, enjoy the outdoors but
haven´t done much hiking.  But this trip will be an easy one and we
can go as slow as necessary.

It was maybe an hours drive away and the local drivers here are as
crazy as the ones in SE Asia, passing on blind curves, careening
around curves with tires screeching and more.

Once there, we were offered ¨natural¨ taxis, or horses, for the ride
up (100Q each way).  Children sold hiking sticks for 5Q each.  (Q =
quetzal - about 7.5 to the dollar)

It was an easy climb up.  We were told about 1.5 hours and even with
novices along, it only took 1.25 hours.  The going was pretty easy
through mostly dirt and some new track.  We arrived at our campsite
and set up on small gravelly lava rock.  The clouds moved in as we
were setting up camp so we ate dinner first of curry and rice and then
ended up walking up the mountain in the dark, through patchy fog.  The
going got harder and harder as we climbed.  First just some sand-like
patches on a shallow grade, then through lava bomb type boulder field,
then climbing through the boulder field on crushed boulders.  We slid
down almost as fast as we stepped up.  We had to be careful about
dislodging rocks on those below and behind us.  These rocks are very
new and as sharp as glass.  Climbing this portion, we were joined by
two emaciated dogs who obviously hang out on the mountain, begging
from the hikers.  Every time we stopped to try to figure out where the
trail went next, they would immediately lie down and curl up.  They
would make great trail dogs as they tended to stay in line, rarely got
underfoot, and never barked.

We got better and better views as we got closer and it was truly an
awesome sight to see that much lava flow down the mountain.  We could
see fiery hot rocks being thrown from the flow, breaking into smaller
and smaller pieces like sparks as they flowed down the mountain.

We weren´t going to the top of the mountain, but just trying to get
alongside the lava river above where the rocks were shooting off.
Part of our trail took us to where the lava had been flowing the day
before.  The rocks under our feet were still warm and we did have to
beware of hot spots but it was pretty easy to just try to stay on top
of the bigger rocks.

We couldn´t get close enough to look over the river´s edge directly at
the lava, but we could feel its heat.  And we were close enough to
very hot rocks to roast marshmallows over some of them.

Going down, I slipped once and had to sit down but I landed slowly and
neither cut myself nor burned myself.  Others weren´t so lucky and
some ended up with some minor cuts from the extremely sharp lava
rocks.  But nobody got burned and nobody melted their shoes.  I kept
checking the bottoms of mine to make sure I wasn´t standing on hot
spots.  They don´t sell shoes in my size here in Guatemala so I´ve got
to make mine last.

While going up was slow going, going down was a quick affair as we
were able to step and glide for a good portion of the way back to our
campsite.  It was fun and was very glad to have hiking poles with me.

We stopped at one point on the way down to sit and watch the flow.  At
one point, we saw a lava ¨dam¨ break and send a large flow down very
quickly, then we watched the river grow and grow for a while.  We
checked the pads on one of the dogs that had accompanied us up to the
hot lava rock, over the sharp lave and her pads were just fine.  She
obviously spends a lot of time on the sharp rocks in order to toughen
up her pads that much.  We sat long enough for the moon to come up and
light our way down the mountain.   By then, we were also quite cold
and happy to be moving again.

Antigua is at about 5,000 feet and we climbed to about 7,200 feet.
Even in Central America, those elevations mean cool and cold
temperatures, especially at night.

Back at camp, we munched on almonds and more marshmallows before
turning in.  We were sleeping in a five man tent but Matt, our guide,
slept under the stars.  Even still, it was tight quarters in the tent
and we had to sleep creatively to avoid sliding down the hill and
crushing those below us.

The only permanent victim of the night´s hike were the mud baskets on
the poles I was using.  Oops!  One got melted when it sank down to the
hot rock I think and then both got torn up on the sharp rock.


November 15: Volcan Pacaya to Antigua

A 3:30 nature run had me watching the lava flow again and with the
quiet air, I could hear what sounded like crashing glass.  It was the
lava rock flowing and crashing down the mountain on top of itself.
Then back to sleep.

We missed sunrise but got up early, ate bagels, and packed up camp.
Spend a bit more time watching the volcano but mostly looked out
across at other volcanoes in the area, one of which, also active,
would occasionally spit puffs of smoke into the air.

Our hike down took about an hour and we were met by our ride at the
base who gave us another crazy ride back to town.

The five of us from the trip went to the Rainbow Cafe for breakfast
and then I went back to my hotel and got my 30Q room again.  I
showered, napped, and then got a snack and went to the square to write
in my journal a while.  Before 5:00, I met Jeremy (from the hike) at
El Siteo to see a production of ¨Darwin´s theory and the unnecessary
hell it has raised.¨ A play written and produced by a local woman
(expat).  It played to a packed hour of mostly expats with a few of us
travelers and tourists mixed in.  There were just a couple of
Guatemalans in the audience for this English speaking play.

Back to Escudilla for more tillapia and the to Cafe No Se to meet
Nicole and Brad and watch and listen to Jeremy´s friend play guitar.
Maryanne, another of Jeremy´s friends also joined us.  The place was
full of expats most of whom seems to either have been in the audience
at the play or actually playing parts in the play.

The play had many short acts, ranging from the ice age cave man who
created a revolution with the wheel, Darwin and his mother, Darwin
talking with Sir Isaac Newton from the grave, the Scopes trial, and
more.  It was often punny, somewhat funny, and quite clever.  The
acting wasn´t the best with quite a few stage whispers but what else
would you expect in Antigua.

As an aside, I´m once again fighting bug bites that leave large red
blisters on my fingers.  They are the same as what I had in Singapore
but at least they aren´t accompanied by impetigo this time.  I´m also
the only one who seems to get bit by mosquitoes around here.  Nobody
else on the volcano got bit and I got chewed.  I didn´t even know it
until it was too late to apply DEET.  And if I´m not the only one
getting bit, I´m the only one who is allergic to those bites.  They
are leaving large swollen areas but I´m trying my bet not to scratch.


November 16: Antigua to Quetzaltenango (aka Xela, pr. Shayla)

Bakery goods for breakfast and then packed for a trip to Xela.  The
bus area was only a couple of blocks away.  Once there, I was quickly
pointed to the correct bus.  My pack went under the back seat and I
sat in the front.  This was my first trip on a ¨chicken bus,¨ a former
US school bus. It was a relatively short ride to where I changed buses
and not so bad.  But the next bus was a different experience.  For
most of the ride, every seat had at least three adults in it, often
with up to four kids, too.  I could only sit at the aisle seat so my
legs could stick out into the aisle.  The roads were mountainous and
once again, I got the crazy driver of the day.  We were never passed
and we were constantly passing other cars, trucks, and even all the
other chicken buses on the road.  It had a fun element to it but I
came away literally bruised.  I may swing for the tourist buses for
some of the more popular and longer routes and leave my rides on the
chicken buses for when I have no other choice or when I know it´s in
an area where the buses aren´t all that packed.

Once in Xela, I checked into the Black Cat hostel and ended up meeting
a bunch of others.  One guy is on the same schedule as me right now,
maybe two weeks here to learn Spanish and then going south.  He´s
looking to surf and I´m looking to hike.  My backpack is smaller than
his surfboard though.

I went to the Blue Angel for dinner with Lloyd, his friend from
Australia.  It´s the cheapest place I´ve seen so far to eat.   There
we met up with some women they had met in Cuba.  They ended up joining
us while we ate (they were already finishing when we got there) and
then stayed to see a movie there, ¨Into the Wild.¨ I had read the book
but not seen the movie.

I was surprised to find nobody else in my room when I got there so it
was nice to be able to turn on the light and read before bed.

Gotta remember to stop at a pharmacy tomorrow...  I may have left the
US with a stomach bug as I´ve been fighting one already since the
first or second day I was here...  Could be a long trip is this is
going to be the new normal.  Ugh!

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