So I promised you great photos of Volcan Pacaya... the active volcano near Antigua that you can actually climb. I hadn't taken my camera to other volcanoes and this time I was actually gonna have photos to show.

Well, there's a thing. The camera didn't work. It's a digital camera that records onto CD's and the CD in the camera was scratched. It couldn't read it and wouldn't shoot any photos. In an attempt to salvage the situation, another guy with a functioning digital camera took a shot of me and promises to email it. You'll see it when I do.

"We were herded down the street at a trot."
The trip to the active volcano was fraught with problems from the beginning. After being told we would leave from in front of my hotel, the owner begins urgently telling me I need to walk down the street somewhere. I don't understand him and invoke my recently-evolved strategy of repeating back possible things he may have

The Crater of Volcan Pacaya

said until he nods. I discover I'm to walk just past the McDonalds to the travel agency that organizes the trips. There I meet some other people who are on the trip, including a nice guy from Maine. We wait there about 30 minutes after our appointed departure time. Then we were moved to another location to wait another 30 minutes, when a bus pulled up at a distant corner and we were herded down the street at a trot.

Then the bus driver got lost. At least that's how it appeared. There were people hanging out the door seeming to look for directions or landmarks or something. And after finally arriving at the volcano we discover our tour price did not include entrance to the national park. Another $3.50 or so.

"You fall back a foot for every two feet you climb."
But from there it was stunning. About an hour or so into the hike you emerge into this clearing for your first good view of the volcano looming right over your head. There are plumes of steam coming from the top and you can feel the heat coming from the mountain. The final half hour or so is over loose, sandy soil that gives way with every step. You fall back a foot for every two feet you climb. But the top is simply unreal.

You can't see into the crater very well, as there's a constant roiling of sulfury steam inside. But to feel the heat and occasionally get overwhelmed by a dose of noxious steam is quite an experience. It was quite cold and I wasn't dressed for the weather, but sitting on the warm rocks provided some relief. From the top we were able to see Volcan Agua, which I'd climbed over the weekend... and even Volcan Santa Maria, the one near Quetzaltenango which I'd climbed a couple of weeks ago.

"You can almost ski it with your feet."
The trip back down may have actually been the best part of the hike. It was payback for my missing the entire ski season this year. That loose dirt that was hell to climb is an absolute trip to come down. You can almost ski it with your feet and it feels a lot like doing tight slalom-like turns in a little bit of powder. Very fun to go barreling down the side of a volcano.

I've decided I've spent enough time in Antigua. Even though I can't go much farther until my package from the US arrives in Guatemala City, I'm leaving here on Friday and heading for the capital. I've reserved at room at the Howard Johnson for the first night, so I'll have a safe place to stay and time to look for a cheap, safe place in the city the next day.