March 18: Volcano hike, thermal pools and Easter precession in the streets

Today we woke up mighty early and had a delicious buffet breakfast next door to the hotel at Fernando's Cafe. We had a long and quiet bus ride to the volcano which took an hour and half.  As the bus pulled in we were swarmed by little children that demanded we "rent" their walking sticks. We started the long and steep trek up the Pacaya volcano. We started at 9:30am and by the time we got to the top it was 12:30pm. Our tour guide, Nelson, was a riot. He was always running up the volcano and always beat us down the hill. We swore he was a ninja! We took a bunch of group pictures once we reached the top and also roasted marshmallows in little warm holes of the volcano.  Unfortunately, we never saw any real at the volcano. 

Following this, we drove to hot thermal pools for lunch and a swim. It was nice to cool off and get all the dirt off from the hike. On the way back from the pools we saw beautiful flower carpets on the streets. They were there for the Easter Precession and were gorgeous. Then we came home for dinner and had empanadas for dinner at Fernando's. Afterwards we watched the Precession from the balcony of our hotel. It was beautiful! They carried huge floats on the streets. It was experience for everyone.

Taylor and Olivia (Sahali Secondary)
DWC Participants
Guatemala, March 2012