speak up! i'm in the caldera!

 

 

 

 

so i did it. i conquered paçaya. it probably wouldn't have been such a taxing ordeal except i unfortunately encountered some very unpleasant symptoms on the way to the volcano. we were packed into a travel van and i was the one guy that had to ride sideways on a raised partition in the van and not in a seat. so that coupled with some sudden head and stomach malaise had me tasting that saltiness in my mouth and looking real pale. but good ol zanman couldn't be beat and i trekked those 3km straight up and found myself motivating those who weren't as quite steadfast in hiking strength as yours truly. i started whistling europe's final countdown during a particularly steep climb and one by one, about 12 people started humming, beatboxing, and singing along. a british woman behing me asked "who started that round of the final countdown?" i said "i didn't know but wasn't it sweet?" anyway, we had a real good group of young folks that traveled pretty well save these two nurses from philly who kinda flipped the switch once we were traversing through loose dried magma and minor cuts and bruises were starting to amplify. but the cool thing was, we had this guide josé who selectively spoke english and i think he just ignored the complaints; he just plainly said "it's ok, ven, ven arriba, ok?" also, all the folks that couldn't hang with the hiking could pay 50Q, like 6 bucks, to ride a horse...which in my weakened condition would have been nice, but i wasn't about to be the only guy on a horse. it was fairly lame that fog and and low cloud cover hindered the view a bit but there definitely was lava seeping out here and there. one guy's shoes starting melting. what a wuss! the other crazy thing was, since we headed back around 7:30, it was basically pitch dark as we went down this steep mountain. so if you plan on taking a trip to an active volcano, i could probably give you some pointers....it was kinda great because the guide would just nonchalantly point to all the places we could easily die if we stepped wrong or went too close to this or strayed from the group in anyway. but for $10 i wouldn't be holding hands and giving back rubs either. today i haven't eaten much but i am feeling better. i'd hate to think because a teaspoon of tap water got in my mouth in the shower i could be reduced to this fragile wimp, but so goes being american. saludos.