Volcan de Pacaya

well, it proved itself more difficult than anticipated. everyone said it was easy. they lied. they don't know what easy is.

first the time changes from 5 to 3:30. we pack in a van like sardines, 13 or 14 of us. we drive for a little while, and then we hit a traffic jam. it takes an hour to move one mile. not kidding. it was a mess. we finally get out of that and turn onto a road that, in America, would have been closed because of it's condition. we blaze it like it was an interstate. there were horses in the road. there were dogs in the road. then, out of nowhere, there's a village. people, children, houses, stores selling Pepsi and Snickers. finally, we arrive to our destination, the part where the walking starts.

the people we were with were mostly early 20s. even in MY 20s i would have struggled. these people acted like marathon runners, all 12 of them. the first part where i struggled was ... um ... straight up. no kidding. straight up. after about 10 steps i knew i was in trouble. my lungs started freaking out. for normal lungs, sure, out of breath, but for MY asthmatic lungs, forget about it. how the heck am i gonna get up this mountain? i still have 2.99 kilometers to go!

when we reached the top of this semi-paved area that was straight up, we stopped for a minute. well, i did. to catch my breath, contemplate the situation, and wait for Marlene and our driver. it was at this point Marlene decided to go back. i asked several times, but finally decided to leave w/o her. i felt bad, but i wanted to try. we hadn't walked far, so for her to go down on her own was safe. i carried the rear of our group, for sure, but i made it. our group was led by a Guatemalan guide ... old man ... very fit. they stopped periodically to rest. i caught up just in time to watch them leave. finally, we were there.

oh, by the way, our entire walk was in the dark. it shouldn't have been, but because of the traffic jam, we had no choice.

so there it was ... lava.

more at breaktime...