My oh my was this weekend ever an adventure.
Today was the first day that all of the J-term students were at language school, but we've been spending time with two of the guys from the J-term group that are taking just Spanish (the others are doing more 'tourist-y' things, but the guys are sticking it out at La Union) and because they only have two weekends for tourist adventures, we're packing it in with them!
Friday after class we visited two travel agencies where Libby helped us book trips to two different places, Monterrico y Pacaya.
Friday morning we got picked up at 8:00 and took a two hour ride to La Playa de Monterrico. It's south south east of us, near the southernmost part of Guatemala. The waves were massive, so we had to be careful, and the sand was almost entirely black because of the number of active volcanoes in the area... so basically, it was a beach of itsy bitsy lava rocks resulting in the same texture as sand.
We spent a good part of the day out by the ocean, then we had a late lunch at a resort with free beach access and then sat by their pool for a bit. Side note: the smoothies there were incredible...so obviously I had two. One was mixed fruit, the other papaya y piña (pineapple). The ocean was so warm (I'm a wimp with cold and I ran right in with no problems) that cooling off in the pool and sitting in the shade was a relief!
Today was the first day that all of the J-term students were at language school, but we've been spending time with two of the guys from the J-term group that are taking just Spanish (the others are doing more 'tourist-y' things, but the guys are sticking it out at La Union) and because they only have two weekends for tourist adventures, we're packing it in with them!
Friday after class we visited two travel agencies where Libby helped us book trips to two different places, Monterrico y Pacaya.
Friday morning we got picked up at 8:00 and took a two hour ride to La Playa de Monterrico. It's south south east of us, near the southernmost part of Guatemala. The waves were massive, so we had to be careful, and the sand was almost entirely black because of the number of active volcanoes in the area... so basically, it was a beach of itsy bitsy lava rocks resulting in the same texture as sand.
We spent a good part of the day out by the ocean, then we had a late lunch at a resort with free beach access and then sat by their pool for a bit. Side note: the smoothies there were incredible...so obviously I had two. One was mixed fruit, the other papaya y piña (pineapple). The ocean was so warm (I'm a wimp with cold and I ran right in with no problems) that cooling off in the pool and sitting in the shade was a relief!
We all got varying degrees of burnt (for once, I did pretty good...the front of my thighs are fried and the back of my calves, but that's it...go figure!) and we came back around 6:30 super tired and ready to grab food and sleep!
Yesterday we went to Pacaya, which is an active volcano about an hour's drive from Antigua. This ride was an adventure because we had 16 people crammed in a 15 passenger van (the extra seat was between driver and shotgun), and more than 2/3 of us were Gringos. Thankfully our guide at Pacaya was willing to speak very slowly and clearly for us, so we got most of what she was saying(:
The hike was really hard because of the high altitude and then even higher altitude as we climbed. In total, we hiked about 6km, but a lot of it was climbing, sliding, rock-jumping, and precariously stepping on well-worn paths.
The most recent sizable eruption of Pacaya was in March of 2014, but it's an active volcano with minor eruptions and vents happening pretty much constantly. Consequently, there's a 'safe zone' that we climbed to (about 2/3 of the way to the main crater), and then we hiked down and around to find places to roast marshmallows in the vents.
It was super interesting to hike up the side and see (and even hike through) places that were lava rivers less than a year ago. We also got to see wild horses and get some beautiful views.
Overall, it was an awesome trip, especially after the first half of the hike or so when we got used to the altitude and shook the fear that our legs were going to fall off and we were all going to die of exhaustion on the volcano. The ride home was interesting because we got stuck in some pretty bad traffic and Guatemalans are notorious for crazy driving. There were some places our big van went through that I'd be afraid to take a motorcycle through in the states, and at one point we crossed over the garbage/sewage/collect-all ditch on the side of the road to get back into traffic after passing a bunch of people. I was sitting in the back at that point, so I got some air while we sped over speed bumps and cobblestone streets.
Yesterday we went to Pacaya, which is an active volcano about an hour's drive from Antigua. This ride was an adventure because we had 16 people crammed in a 15 passenger van (the extra seat was between driver and shotgun), and more than 2/3 of us were Gringos. Thankfully our guide at Pacaya was willing to speak very slowly and clearly for us, so we got most of what she was saying(:
The hike was really hard because of the high altitude and then even higher altitude as we climbed. In total, we hiked about 6km, but a lot of it was climbing, sliding, rock-jumping, and precariously stepping on well-worn paths.
The most recent sizable eruption of Pacaya was in March of 2014, but it's an active volcano with minor eruptions and vents happening pretty much constantly. Consequently, there's a 'safe zone' that we climbed to (about 2/3 of the way to the main crater), and then we hiked down and around to find places to roast marshmallows in the vents.
It was super interesting to hike up the side and see (and even hike through) places that were lava rivers less than a year ago. We also got to see wild horses and get some beautiful views.
Overall, it was an awesome trip, especially after the first half of the hike or so when we got used to the altitude and shook the fear that our legs were going to fall off and we were all going to die of exhaustion on the volcano. The ride home was interesting because we got stuck in some pretty bad traffic and Guatemalans are notorious for crazy driving. There were some places our big van went through that I'd be afraid to take a motorcycle through in the states, and at one point we crossed over the garbage/sewage/collect-all ditch on the side of the road to get back into traffic after passing a bunch of people. I was sitting in the back at that point, so I got some air while we sped over speed bumps and cobblestone streets.
Even though it was crazy, everything about this weekend was beautiful.
I'm thankful to be doing life alongside these crazy, sassy, phenomenal human beings and, to use one of my new phrases from language school, estoy aprovechando cada minuto [I'm taking advantage of, getting the most from, every minute.]
I'm thankful to be doing life alongside these crazy, sassy, phenomenal human beings and, to use one of my new phrases from language school, estoy aprovechando cada minuto [I'm taking advantage of, getting the most from, every minute.]