Diana climbs Volcan Pacaya

There's nothing quite like the feeling of choking on sulphuric gas while looking over a flimsy ledge into the hot magma of a volcano's core. It was certainly pay-off for having climbed two hours up a crumbly trail of lava rocks at a 45 degree angle. I was sorry to leave Michael and Shalom behind, but since the school sponsored a bus for the new teachers to visit the active Pacaya Volcano, I wanted to take advantage. Anyway, it's about time I got to see some hot magma and lava as this was my third volcano climb--Mt. St. Helens had some sweet little icebergs for sliding down and Ganung Agung in Bali provided panoramic ocean views--but no hot magma! From below, Pacaya looks like a picture-perfect, triangular, smoking mountain. The first part of the hike is up a wooded path. Then, I reached the bottom of the lava flow. It looks like a giant mudslide, only the rocks are dry and brittle. A little further up the lava flow, I saw where some magma is bubbling up red hot and turning into lava (Thanks Aaron for the geography lesson on magma vs. lava). Many visitors end their hike in a nice meadow near the bottom of the lava flow. I however, proceeded to hike up a steep, rocky path for another 45 minutes in order to reach one of the volcano's vents. If it is not scary enough to see the swirling gases flowing out of the earth's core, the noise of the volcano's pressure BOOM BOOMing against the earth is plenty frightening. I asked our guide a few times if the volcano was always like that...or if it was about to erupt! He said it was always like that. I climbed a bit further, past the gaseous vent and up to the top so I could peer down into the core and see the pool of magma. At this point, the sulphuric gas swirling about made it hard to breathe and see, so as soon as I looked over the edge, I turned and RAN OUT OF THERE! It is pretty cool looking into a volcano...but I'm not sure I'll do it again. -Diana P.S. The strangest part of my day was seeing one of the caballeros (local men offering horse-back rides up the volcano) wearing a "Willard School, Evanston, Illinois" sweatshirt. All you Salvation Army donors know that your old clothes are finding new wearers among the Guatemalan peasants!