Guatemala / August 2019
Guatemala, you put on an out-of-this-world show for us! Eruptions, lava flows and a spine-chilling electrical storm.
A couple weeks back, we arrived in Guatemala to explore the volcanoes of Fuego and Pacaya. We ended up getting caught up in a massive electrical storm which made global headlines. We’re all safe and back home.
We left NZ for a short stop in Houston to visit NASA before arriving in Gautemala City. Completely sleep deprived, we made our way to Pacaya Volcano for what turned out to be the first of many climbs.
Turns out our first climb was a complete waste of time. There were lava flows – plenty of them. Could we get even remotely close? Not even. The “company” guiding our party decided to keep us over one hundred meters away from the activity. Why? For our “safety” of course.
As we stood behind this arbitrary line of hell, five year old kids waltzed passed. For extreme explorers, we were shamed.
Day 1: Extreme Pursuit shamed as children get closer to lava
Rather frustrated, we decided to leave Pacaya for now and attempt Fuego. Day two saw us climb to base camp (approx 5 hrs). Yes, it’s at altitude (almost 4000m), but we found it a relatively easy climb. Base camp provided stunning views of the volcano erupting in the distance.
That afternoon, we made the climb to get a close as possible to the summit. Fuego is notoriously unpredictable. The 2018 eruption killed almost 200 people. We pushed even our own limits and got closer than most people would ever dare and were rewarded with an out-of-this-world show.
The night was cold, near zero degrees. The morning was calm and we were treated to more stunning views.
We made our descent and decided to try for another attempt at Pacaya. We spent the entire day planning with some local guides and finally had breakthrough. We received permission to get close to the lava AND summit of the volcano. Watch out kids, the extreme pursuiters are coming! 😉
The climb up Pacaya (at least to the lava viewing area) was easy. Took us 45 mins. You really don’t want to hang around here though, unless you want to be among hordes of tourists toasting marshmallows. We continued upwards and with a few careful steps over newly hardened lava, we were a meter away from flowing lava. We were happy bunnies again. A huge wall of lava was tumbling down the flanks of the volcano. Occasionally a molten boulder the size of a car would come shooting passed us.
We continued our climb and in unfortunate (or fortunate?!) timing, a massive electrical storm hit. With lightning ground strikes and lava pouring down the flank of the volcano, we ended up running for our lives. We’ve chased many a storm, but this was truly spine-chilling. If we’d been up the summit, the chances of survival would have been slim. The storm made global headlines.
Another challenging and successful expedition and another country ticked off.