David and Elyse Guatemala 2022: July 2022

Sunday, July 24, 2022

We climbed a volcano!

Saturday, July 23

Today was a wonderful experience visiting an active volcano.

Guatemala has 37 volcanoes, three of which are active: Volcán Santa Maria, which is far from where we are; Volcán de Fuego, considered the most active in Central America that is also visible from Antigua and from which we saw belching smoke and lava this past week; and Volcán Pacaya, which we visited up close and personal.

Here is a very grainy clip of Fuego sending up sparks at night. It's hard to see what it was, but it was pretty amazing in person. This is not the active volcano we climbed!

Volcan de Fuego smoking as seen from our rooftop.

Climbing Pacaya

The drive to and from Volcán Pacaya was a winding, nauseating trip up and down hills and mountains in a private van. Once we entered the national park area, Elyse saddled up on a horse and David trekked by foot on a 1500 foot elevation hike to where the cooled lava flows are from as recently as 2010 and 2014. Our destination was where heat emerges from under the cooled lava, warm enough to roast marshmallows and even cook barbeque! It rained just as we reached our destination, so there was lots of steam rising from the warm ground. One small rock which we held was so hot it couldn’t be held still for fear of burning our skin.

Because of the clouds we were unable see the Pacific, which we were told is possible on clear days. Even so, the views were awe inspiring. We looked down on much of the cloud cover, while simultaneously clouds flowed around. We had magnificent views of the valley below as well as the other local volcanoes. The cooled lava from different eruptions had different coloration. Some of the older lava rocks had algae and moss growing on them. Plant life was also clearly making a come back on the areas that were from older lava flows. Looking down on the valley, it was possible to see the black paths of the more recent lava flows, with untouched green areas continuing to grow unscathed. It was reassuring to see life continuing despite such devastation.

Ma nora hamakom hazeh! How awesome is this space! Enjoy the photos!

Base camp before we started our climb

Already seeing lava rock (that's Elyse's horse, Bruno's head on the lower right)

Looking down at one of the nearby pueblos

Stunning views of the other volcanos in the area

Elyse on Bruno

Clouds sweeping in

"Gonna ride my horse down the old town road..."

Lava spills above the clouds

You can't get to the top of Pacaya - too dangerous - but we got pretty close

With our guide, Luis, we made it to the "Lava Store," The horses can't go any further and it's all on foot from here.

Multi-colored rock formations

We can feel the heat coming up from under the earth!

Too hot to handle for very long!

My feet are nice and toasty.
We've read stories about people's shoes melting.
Ours didn't but it was definitely toasty! And smelled like rotten eggs!

Warm tushies too!

A little further along the path, someone opened a restaurant - meat cooked by the steaming volcano.

IT's a tradition to roast marshmellows in the steam vents!

Moss growing in the lava stones. Life will abide!

The different shades of lava represent different eruptions over time.

Elyse and Bruno - going down on wet mud was a little frightening.

Bye bye Pacaya! Thanks for an awesome adventure.

Saturday, July 23, 2022

A Week of Activity

Sunday, July 17

We haven’t posted in a week, so are going to try to cover a week’s-worth of activity in three short posts.

Sunday started a little late with a long walk to an organic farm on the southern edge of Antigua. As we passed through Parque Central, we caught what appears to be the very end of a parade of classic cars, one of this month’s events for Las Fiestas Reales de Santiago. It turns out that it was the ENTIRE PARADE! The crowned women waving from the cars are Miss Antigua, past and present.

We glanced around the vendor table in Parque Central and continued on our way to Finca Caoba (Caoba Farm). Elyse had come to the farm when she came to Guatemala with AJSW pre-pandemic. After walking around the grounds to admire the fresh greens, vegetable and bee hives (the bees here are very small compared to those in the US), we partook in a fantastic vegetarian farm-fresh lunch outdoors in a garden setting. As we left, we again admired the flora and vistas of the Volcan de Agua and Volcan de Fuego. As we passed back through Parque Central, David couldn’t resist photographing a hat vendor carrying all his inventory on his head and in his hands.

some lovely nasturtium growing at the farm

Elyse, cactus and Vulcan de Agua in the backgrund

Some sort of citrus fruit....

So much good food growing, arugula, kale, radishes.....

Enjoying a lemonada con mente (lemonade and mint) in the shade

Banana flowers!

Wow!

Dinner was at one of the numerous nearby options, with live music.

Monday-Friday, July 18-22

Our week was filled with studying Spanish, working virtually, and partaking of local sites, tastes and sounds in Antigua.

There are only two seasons in Guatemala – the rainy season (May-October) and the dry season (November-April). Although it is rainy season right now, the entire week was clear. We were able to get full glimpses of the surround volcanoes, including smoke belching during the day and lava spewing at night from Volcan Fuego. Thankfully, we are 12 miles away, so no danger to us. You’ll also notice in one photo the Israeli flag flying above a consulate, seemingly the only consulate in Antigua. Although a lot of Israelis would pass through Antigua pre-pandemic, it seems more like a political patronage plum for some lucky Israeli political donor to work here. There are also two photos of what remains of the Convento Santa Teresa De Jesús next door to where we are staying.

Antigua's Parque Central - lots of pigeons

A family selling wares and eating lunch

A public laundry station! We actually saw one of these in use when we passed through the Mayan village of Santa Maria de Jesus. Our guide called it the local version of "Facebook."

A clear morning right outside our building with a perfect view of Vulcan de Agua in the background. Notice the cobblestone street!

Some local handicrafts

Notice the smoke on the left peak. That's Vulcan de Fuego - and its pretty active these days!

Fuego seems to erupt three-four times an hour recently. No one seems particularly concerned..

On Thursday afternoon, we took a field trip with our Spanish school to San Juan Del Obispo, a neighboring pueblo that is home to a well-regarded but small chocolate maker, where we learned about how chocolate is made and also visited a local resident who makes wine and vinegar using locally grown fruit. Perhaps the most fun part of the trip was taking a chicken bus to and from the pueblo.

What is a chicken bus, you ask? Guatemala’s local bus system is all privately owned and operated and uses repurposed discarded schools buses from the US. Guatemalans call them camionetas, but foreign travelers refer to them as chicken buses because their cargo sometimes includes chickens or other live animals hitching a ride from town to town. They are often highly decorated in unique ways with chrome and colorful paint colors. Ours was pretty plain, but you can see some wonderful examples here.

We are on a chicken bus!

Cacao beans!

Explaining the process

Additional ingredients: cinnamon (canela), coffee beans (cafe), ginger (jengibre).

Before we left San Juan Del Obispo. We took a couple of panoramic photos from the plaza in front of La Iglesia Católica San Juan Del Obispo, one of the first catholic churches in the Americas in 1547, from where we were able to overlook Antigua.

We ended our week with a two-hour workshop at the Choco Museo, a retail chain that also provides demonstration workshops about how Cacao grows and is harvested and processed into the chocolate we know and (most of us) love. It was a fascinating learning experience for all of the senses.