All the guide books make the 2-hour hike sound like a stroll in the park, and besides, we’ve climbed the 4-day Inca Trail over Dead Woman’s Pass. So we donned our good hiking boots and hopped in the van with a gaggle of mostly twenty-somethings – all of whom seemed to be at least 6 feet tall – for a ride to the base of Volcan Pacaya.
Irving, our guide, made sure we all had good torches (flashlights), told us our group name was “Tigres†and urged us to stay close together. He also made a point of telling me, no one else, to let him know if I had any problemos. Ha! I walk the dogs to the top of Calle Cerro everyday. Granted, it’s not a long walk and we move at old dog pace, but it’s steep, and, afterall the guidebooks all said this was an easy hike…
Horse’s Ass
The trail was immediately steep and rocky. We lost sight of the 6’4†Austrians within minutes. Suddenly it seemed as if I had done that Inca Trail 30 years ago. (It was only 3 years ago.) But I knew if I could just keep a slow, steady pace, breathe deeply and rest when necessary, I would be fine… It wasn’t fine. It was fricken’ HARD, by any standard. To add to both my relief and humiliation, young men on horseback rode along at the back of the group and called out – taunted, really — “taxi, taxi, lady you want nice taxi caballo?†I’m sure these guys take bets every day as to how many overly confident hikers will succumb to their equine offers. So now my goal was to just stay ahead of the pack of horses snorting hot air at my ass. Eventually, the trail became too steep and narrow for the horses and it was clear that lack of oxygen had prevented me from making the less painful decision to ride the remainder of the way.
Midway to the top, we happened upon a group of middle-aged Israeli women, resting at the side of the trail. I made some comment about how this was a more appropriately paced group for me and we all had one of those moments of instant bonding and understanding. Then one of the women said, “What, you don’t have a (hiking) stick?†I replied that I was fine as long as I went slowly. “No,†she said, “you should have a stick. Get yourself a stick already.†At this point, the little boys selling flashlights and bamboo hiking sticks and horse taxis are long gone, but now I’ve got Jewish mothers on my ass. Oy.
Very Hot and Very, Very Cool
Finally reaching the summit, we looked across the field of pumice to see great falls of magma streaming down the mountainside. Then we carefully made our way along the black waves of cooled lava to the slow flowing rivers of molten lava. How close were we? As close as we could stand without being incinerated. (Click on the picture at right to see more photos.)
We were on a LIVE VOLCANO for godssake!!! It doesn’t get much cooler (or hotter) than that.
Next up: Coffee