Let's climb a Volcano

Sunrise & fisherman
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What a great idea. Climb a Volcano.  How hard could it be??  Nice gentle path that takes a couple of hours of leisurely walking with great views, fresh air and exercise - right??

Daph and I had read about climbing a San Pedro Volcano (an inactive volcano).  The guide books suggested getting a guide to avoid running into any armed robbers on the climb up the Volcano so the $20 per person for an English speaking guide seemed very reasonable.

Where did all the oxygen go??

Pedro and Daph at breakfast
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At 6:00 in the morning our bus driver picked us up at our hotel in Panajachel to drive us to the boat launch.  We got on the local boat that was to take us across lake Atitlan to San Pedro (another small town on the lake popular with backpackers, artists and people learning to speak spanish - and volcano climbers :)  The lake was beautiful and glassy and the sun was rising so it was absolutely stunning.  As we rode along we could see the sun rising over the volcanos.

The boat was very full when we started out so we figured that it would be a matter of dropping people off as we stopped at each little town along the way.  However, as we approached each dock it was obvious that there were more people lined up to get on our boat then there were to get off.  After the fourth stop the boat was low in the water and pushing through the water instead of floating on top of it.  But we made it there safely and it was all part of the fun.

At the viewing point
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When we arrived at the San Pedro our guide named Pedro (no joke) met us at the dock.  Our tour included breakfast so we sat down at the water front cafe right beside the dock and ordered breakfast.  San Pedro is on a beautiful sheltered cove.  There are beautiful views of the surronding hills and the water is glassy.  We could have sat there for the rest of the day and enjoyed the view. But we were there to climb a volcano.  Pedro got a taxi for us to take up to the starting point.  Although Pedro could not speak very much english sign language the little spanish we knew (Daph more than me) allowed us to communicate with him very well.  The taxi dropped us at park entrance station. The entrance station looked like it was brand new and they claimed that things on the paths were much safer since they implemented a park entrance fee .  The fee was included in our tour fee so it wasn't very much.  (Later in the day we met a young woman coming down the path on her own so the path did seem to be safer than the guide books had suggested)

Daph at lookout half way up
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We headed off with some water and began our hike.  At first it was a gentle path climbing through avocado plants and winding up the hill.   Along the way we say people harvesting the plants on the side of the hill.  They have to carry everything down on their backs in mesh bags.  Occasionally you would see the bags at the side of the path - they looked like they weighed about 50-60 lbs a piece.

After about half an hour the path turned into steps.  The steps got progressively steeper till we were on a never ending step master -- which incidently I avoid like the plague when at the gym.  After two hours of these stairs we reached the look out station roughly marking the half way point.  We were both glad for the rest -- and amazing views.

Sun rising over volcanos
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As we sat recovering a Guatemalan man came walking down the hill with an entire load of wood balanced on his back and held in place with a head strap.  He plodded along as though it was something he did every day - which he may well have.

After a while we headed back off up the path.  The stairs continued to get steeper and it seemed that the air got thinner.  After about another half hour it seemed like I was stopping every 10 steps to catch my breath.  Daph is in great shape and didn't seem to be having any difficulty.  Thinking that we had another half hour to go I asked Pedro how much further?  Sadly he told me it was another hour and half to two hours!!  Rather than saddle Daph and Pedro with the responsibility of dragging my lifeless body down the hill after my impending heart failure I decided that it would be better to turn back.  Apparently this is fairly common but still well worth the effort and a lot of fun.

Still room for more on boat
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Once back down the Volcano and in San Pedro Daph and I went exploring around San Pedro and then for a well deserved beer overlooking the lake.  San Pedro seems like a very layed back little town and great little place to hang out in.

Before the sun went down we caught a direct boat back to PanaJachel.  Had a great dinner and then a great sleep.  All round a fantastic day.