Who needs Gold's Gym when you've got PACAYA? :)

This morning, at 6 AM, Teryn, Liz, Emily, two brothers we met at school (Robert & Michael), and I loaded onto a bus with a bunch of other people and headed to Pacaya (a volcano in Guatemala). We arrived at the “park” around 7:45 and began our 3 km climb at 8 AM. It was a tough climb; I’m not going to lie! There was only about a 100 m stretch that was flat and the rest was all up hill. There was also A LOT of horse poop on the trail, so we had to be very careful to not step in it! It took us about an hour and fifteen minutes to get to the base of the volcano. And then it took another 20 minutes or so to climb to where we were right next to hot, falling lava. The climb up to the lava was the hardest part. The rocks were not always sturdy/stable and they were very sharp, so it’s not like we could have used them to support ourselves as we climbed up. It was pretty cool to be so close to the hot lava, but it also made me a little nervous, especially when I looked down. And the volcano was constantly making noises. Sometimes it sounded like it was shooting missiles towards us, and than at other times it sounded like dinosaurs. The other interns and I kept commenting on how being at the volcano made us feel like we were in a scene from Lord of the Rings. On one side there was the black volcanic rock (like after a fight scene) and then we would turn around and there would be beautiful green mountains (like when Frodo and the gang were peacefully traveling the hills to get to some important destination). Anyways, I hung out at the lava for about ten minutes while I ate my apple and then I headed back down. Oh and it was SUPER hot near the lava (obviously) and the rubber on some people’s shoes melted a little. The climb down went a lot faster than the climb up. It only took us about an hour to get down. My legs were shaking the entire time (from both nerves & exhaustion) and my knees were aching. We made it back to San Francisco (the name of the village where the “park” was) around 11:30AM and were more than ready to get back to Antigua! It was DEFINITELY worth the Q100 (about $14) we paid for the tour guide, transportation, and park entrance fee, though. AND my tiny bladder survived too. I purposely didn’t drink anything this morning and I used the bathroom right before we started, and I didn’t have to use the bathroom once during the climb. It was amazing & a miracle! Praise be to God for a safe trip AND not having to go to the bathroom during it!!!