Today, January 26 was our second day in Antigua. Breakfast was from 8:30 to 9:30, which was a relief from the usual wake up time 7 am. We could only have breakfast three by three since the table in the small hostel was only for three people. Ernesto volunteered to help out Father Kirk to make breakfast. They made pancakes with eggs. Breakfast tasted like glory since all we had for breakfast in San Lucas was oatmeal with beans.
At 10 am there was a van waiting for us outside the hostel. My classmates and Father Alvin hopped in the van. We headed out, it was an hour and a half journey to volcano Pacaya. The roads were in good condition and there was no traffic, so it was a good journey there. When we finally arrived, there were about twenty kids trying to sell us sticks for five quetzals. Father Alvin was smart enough to bring his own. We headed down to buy the tickets and everyone got his ticket in and we met our tour guide. He asked us in the beginning if anybody wanted a horse since it was the same price in the beginning as it was ¾ up the volcano. Everyone rejected the offer. We all felt strong enough hike it all the way up.
The Pacaya volcano hike was 2.5 kilometers long. It was steeper than we thought it was going to be. As we were 10 meters in we all thought, how am I going to be able to hike 2.5 kilometers with this steepness. To add to the difficultness there were a bunch of tiny rocks that made the hike slippery. The first rest stop was 0.25 kilometers up. By that point we were out of breath. Ernesto asked the tour guide for a horse and as he was making the call his phone ran out of credit. Ernesto was out of luck. In the rest stop there was a magnificent view of the lake and Guatemala City. Shortly after we continued the tour guide saw his brother and asked him for a horse. Ernesto was back in luck. They brought his horse and everyone was jealous, but they all felt strong enough to continue walking. Julio couldn’t take it anymore so he also asked for a horse. The hike was long, steep and slippery it was difficult but the vegetation was amazing and it gave us some shade. As we reached the top where there was no more vegetation we all felt a feeling of success and accomplishment. The view was amazing; I have never seen anything like it. It is hard to explain how beautiful the panorama was. There was a shop at the top that sold volcanic jewelry. There are only three places in the world that sell that and it was the only one in all of America. We weren’t allowed to go to the crater because 5 people died two years ago when the volcano erupted but it was still amazing. The hike down was long and tedious. We were all very tired from the hike up. When we finally reached the bottom everyone rushed to the store to buy water and Gatorade. We got in the van and headed back to Antigua. Most of us fell asleep on the way back since we were exhausted. When we arrived at Antigua most of my classmates stayed at the hostel to watch movies. I didn’t want to waste the day so I went with Julio and Mario to take pictures and grab snack. At 6 pm we all met at the hostel and we went to a nice restaurant. The food was exquisite and plentiful. As an appetizer it was either a bean soup or a salad. As an entry we had a variety to choose from. I ordered “un poco de todo” which means a little bit of everything. It had beef, chorizo, chicken, guacamole and beans. For dessert it was either mole or cheesecake. The food was delicious but it was too much I couldn’t finish everything. After we ate we went back to the hostel and watched movies. It was a great day
No comments:
Post a Comment