Fuega har udbrud!

The Danish backpackers in our dormroom stands in the hallway and jumps exitingly up and down. "Fuego is erupting, Fuego is erupting!" It's way past mightnight and we had been asleep for a few hours only to now get out of our bunkbeds and up on the roof to really see, an erupting volcano! It's far away but sure, there is lava running down the side of the mountain and smoke and fumes spewing out of the top. And all this on the same day as we are supposed to climb an active volcano ourselves!!

After another day in Xela just sightseeing, buying breakfast at the market and eating it on the rooftop and bumming around the city we headed out on the nightmarish chickenbus-ride from Xela to Antigua. It takes four hours which is just more than my legs are comfortable being crammed up and squashed and it didn't even take ten minutes before a third man decided he wanted to sit next to us too, and then we were three on the tiny bus seat. But we got there and headed straight to A place to Stay Hotel (I follow my own Guatemala advice), and Raul was a darling as always. He gave us a dorm room with four bunk beds, booked us on a volcano trip the next day and fixed a shuttle for us to the airport early Saturday morning. Everything was taken care of! We walked around the city and had some dinner before going to bed early only to be woken up to see the mountain melting before our eyes!

Later on Friday it was time to ascend Volcán Pacaya. It is one of Guatemala's three active volcanoes (Fuego and Santiago are the other two) and we were a big group of around 50 people heading up the narrow tracks. It was pretty crammed and I felt like the ultimate tourist being guided around, but all grudges disappeared as we saw the lava. We came to a hilltop and the valley below had been filled with lava after the previous eruption last year. We then went on a 15 minute hike across the lava, some places where so hot our shoes nearly melted, other places it was like a sauna door had just opened, it was amazing! We got to the lookoutspot where you could really get a good view of the river of lava and burning rock was constantly falling out of the crater. We then saw the most magnifiscent sunset over Agua and Fuego (still spewing smoke and ashes) and walked down in the dark. We got back to Antigua late, packed our stuff and headed home to Norway early Saturday morning. I've now spent the first day back at work being home sick in bed, but it has been a fantastic trip from start to finish and I can't wait for the next adventure!

Suerte!