4th Oct. 2016
In order to catch the best of the day before the clouds and rain set in we have opted for the 6am tour to see Pacaya Volcano up close. Dave was worried about his early morning coffee fix but luckily the hotel had a pot on the brew. We chambered into a half full minibus which continued to fill up with predominantly Aussies until all fifteen seats were full. We had selected this tour, which was not the cheapest we had seen, as we had been assured that the maximum number would be ten and their guide would take us. Wrong on both counts then but even at £10 each for a half day trip it was good value for money!
Once the minibus was full, there was one last stop in town to grab coffee (a second of the day for Dave and all before 7am [Ed. – But who’s counting?]). We then settled into the hour and half journey to the Pacaya Volcano Park and paid up our £5 entrance fee each. My walking poles had their first outing of this trip but there were local lads on hand with wooden poles to buy/hire if required.
Carmin was our guide for the trip up the volcano and off we all headed. The younger ones of the group were soon out of sight and, yes, I was old enough to be mum of all the others on the trip! Still I was determined not to be at the back of the group as we were followed by men leading horses calling “taxi” and then after a while “ it is much harder from here”. This was easy compared to Dead Woman’s Pass on the Inca Trail, but I was still breathless and a sweaty mess by the time we reached the summit – along with some of the young ones too I was glad to see.
None of our group resorted to the horse taxi, but many other tourists did and so the walk was made more difficult by these loaded horses squeezing past on the narrow, steep path to the top. En–route there were a number of viewpoints in which to enjoy the view and catch our breath. By now the sun was up and it was getting quite warm. Time for the hiking trousers to become shorts!
As we approached the top the terrain changed from forest to green bushes and finally to grey volcanic rubble and the expansive cauldron came into view. I forgot to say that this is an active volcano and in researching later, I discovered it was also currently erupting and activity increased in June. As in activity below ground and the occasional ejection of gases. It last erupted seriously, as in spewing out molten lava, in 2014 and we were able to see the resulting lava field.
We descended onto the lava field and walked across to where another group were huddled. Fun time! Carmin produced a bag of marshmallows and a pile of sticks and we were able to find hot pockets of heat in the lava field and toast them. Gratuitous pics of us toasting and eating marshmallows along with Ollie were then required.
Soon we were being hustled back down the volcanic ash path which we had slogged our way up. I was grateful for my walking poles as going down was trickier than coming up and the ash was quite slippy. Again the young ones descended like mountain goats. I may feel 21 still, but my body reminds me I am not!
By the time we reached Antigua ,we were ready for a decent lunch as breakfast had been a croissant whilst waiting for the minibus nearly seven hours ago. Luckily, the Brewing company bar/restaurant next door provided a good Caeser salad and a hearty pulled-pork sandwich which we washed down with local beer. A good choice and we returned there later in the early evening to sample their cocktails. We heard American voices there and it turned out that the local Democrats Abroad were holding an event which included watching the Vice Presidential debate. Dave, who has joined both the Conservative party and the Labour Party this year thought he should support anyone who was against Trump and so bought a Hillary T shirt, but we did not stay around to watch the debate. He modelled his T shirt for me today by the pool in our hotel in Flores.
An evening stroll around town produced some good photo opportunities as buildings light up one by one. There was some sort of event going on with people dressed up in olden day costumes but we never found out what.
It is our last night in Antigua, and we sat out on our claimed sofa outside our hotel room overlooking the courtyard, winding down to end the evening. Our peace was shattered by the sound of fireworks coming from the main square and we had an excellent view from the hotel rooftop. A good way to end the day and not a chance of setting the alarm tomorrow morning.