Stu and Anna's travels

After the authenticity of Xela and the laidbackness (bordering on horizontal) of San Pedro, Antigua was a slight shock. The guide books say, "In the list of true Guatemalan towns, Antigua would feature at the bottom". This is certainly as touristy as Guatemala gets. After getting used to people speaking more than 1 word of English to us, we set off up Volcan Pacaya.

This is one of the active volcanoes in Central America. It has exploded more than once in the last 10 years but on a normal day is just content to gently spew lava down one of its sides. After climbing to the base of the lava field our guide explained how old each piece of rock was (2 years to about 1 month), we then started climbing over it. At first we got up close to the bottom of the lava river, pretty hot but slow moving. Safely in the distance we could see the start of the same lava river... then we started climbing towards it. As we got closer a strange smell of burning rubber filled the air; the soles of our shoes were melting on the rocks. At the very top point we were close enough to poke the virgin lava with a stick and the rocks we were standing on were in the centre of the mountain only the week before. Definitely an amazing experience, although one that would have been impossible without the Guatemalan approach to "health and safety".