In Antigua and at the Volcano Pacaya, Guatemala - 13 April 2007

April 12th I took the long bus trip from Copán in Honduras to Antigua in Guatemala. Quite a different climate and culture. Antigua is a colonial city and looks more like the colonial buildings in Madrid than to the rest of Guatemala. Lovely town and not as hot as Copán (moderate temperature).

After a nice and well deserved breakfast, I went for a daytrip up the Volcano Pacaya. It's still active and there's still lava coming out. This is one of the most thrilling experiences you can have. You can almost feel the fibers in your fleece starting to melt. The landscape is filled with fractal shaped black rock. Almost a moon landscape. The sight (and feel) of the glowing lava is something to never forget.

To see where these photo's were taken exactly, have a look at the interactive map and zoom in and out for a better overview.

Breakfast at Fernando's Kaffee

The previous day I had a long bus journey from Copán in Honduras to Antigua in Guatemala. So I thought I deserved a nice breakfast. Fernando's Kaffee in Antigua is a great place for breakfast. Good atmosphere and excellent liquados (fruit shakes). Don't forget to take the panqueques con Nutella, chocolate & banana pancakes!

Map of the daytrip from Antigua to the volcano Pacaya

Legend:
Red = travel by bus
Green = travel by boat
Pink = travel by plane
Yellow = Daytrip / excursion (by bus or car)
Yellow with green dotting = Daytrip / excursion by boat

Sitting at some volcanic rock

After climbing the Volcano Pacaya for an hour or 2, we encountered the first parts of the where the volcanic rock had flown. Almost fractally sharp, black rock. Strange stuff. Look at the structure of the rock.

Lava coming down the volcano

This was the first peak we had at the top of the vulcano. You could see the smoke coming out and the hot lava coming down. An out of this world sight!