Wowwwawweewa, what an awesome day! I dragged my butt out of bed at 5am this morning to climb a volcano with 7 other people from the group. It was absolutely stunning and perfect weather for the hike. The volcano is called Chicabal and is about 45 minutes outside of Xela. It had a huge eruption in 1902 but has been dormant since then (phew). The volcano is about 2800 metres high, and I could definitely feel the altitude even at the change of a few hundred feet...it was a challenge to catch my breath for sure. Not that I am out of shape or anything... (note the lovely back sweat in the picture...definitely didn't notice that until I uploaded it on here. oops. sorry.) The top of the volcano is basically a huge crater from the 1902 eruption, with a lake in it that is an astounding 900 feet deep (and is maybe 100 feet across, very small). The lake is a sacred Mayan site with all sorts of Mayan altars around the perimeter of the lake- swimming is forbidden as it 'dirties' the water. Our guide was really cool, and we learned lots about the eruption, the volcano and the Mayan community around it. We were back in Xela by around 1- just in time to take part in the massive festival that is happening this weekend! Each town in Guatemala has kind of its own patron saint, and the festival for ours (something about a Rosaria....sorry for my ignorance...) is this weekend. Basically this results in a MASSIVE market in the Parque Central with all sorts of cool street food and trinkets...little rides (for guatemalan size people, I avoided getting stuck in them)....and endless entertainment!
I just thought it was so awesome that all in one day I climbed a volcano, went shopping at a huge festival market, and was back at home in time to do my readings for class tomorrow. Ahh Guatemala.
Hope you all had a good weekend!
xo Caroline
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