Blatts in Guatemala: Roasting Marshmallows on Lava - Pacaya

Written by Marina

Roasting marshmallows on lava... That was the first thought that went through my head when my parents told me we were going to hike the volcano Pacaya! So of course, we rushed to the grocery store and and bought all of the marshmallows we could find and a lot of chocolate. Then we drove the hour ride with our new friends: Laura and M.G. to Pacaya.
When we got there the officer told us we needed a guide to go up and wanted to charge us 200 quetzales per guide, but we went back to the road and got our own guide for only 100 quetzales. The hike was a super easy hour and a half. We saw awesome views of the neighbor volcanoes and our guide told us that  a clear day you could see the Pacific Ocean.


Soon we started to hike on a black sea of lava rocks! Sometimes we would get to a spot where the lava would emit heat and we felt like were in a natural sauna. Near the top of the volcano the trail ended and we sat down to take a lunch break. We ate avocado, frijoles and tomato sauce all rapped up in a tortilla.

Finally it was time for dessert! Our guide led us to and area littered with tiny sticks to roast marshmallows. It wasn't like what we expected; the read lava flowing around our shoes, but instead we stuck our marshmallows deep holes in the ground breaking apart the hot chunks of lava. It wasn't long till our feet started to get hot and we had to go stand on cooler land. Luckily none of our shoes burnt but Dad did have a pretty scary experience: he was leaning over the lava holes and must have taken in too much of it's fumes.  He later explained to us that he had slowly blacked out and come back to consciousness little by little.
          Once we were all marshmallowed and photoed out, we hiked back down to our car.  Later on the plane back home, we ate our left over marshmallows!