Yesterday I tried to climb a volcano...what did you do?

Take out the "tried to" and that's what this blog was supposed to be called.

Yesterday I woke up at 3:35 am to hike the Acatenango Volcano. We rode a van up a mountain for an hour and a half (which felt like a bumpy county fair-quality roller coaster the whole way). When we started hiking, the altitude hit me really hard. I got really dizzy and my heart was racing. I seriously considered sitting the rest out, but after some encouragement from my friends, I kept going at a slower pace. I was pretty sure that I could make it to the top, but then disaster struck. Our guide, Luis, found that the path was blocked because of recent eruptions at the volcano next door (Fuego Volcano) and lots of rain. So what did we do? Hike back down, of course.

By the time we got down, Luis said it was to late to go up using another path; by the time we came back down the afternoon rain would have made it unsafe to hike.

So then we went to wait for our shuttle...in the pouring rain. I will NEVER forget the time I sat under a tree in the rain in the middle of nowhere Guatemala for 2 hours.

Other adventures I've had since my last post include:
- Visiting a cacao farm where they make their own artisan chocolate. Turns out I'm actually a pretty good chocolatier...backup career?
- Toured the colonial church ruins in Antigua.
- Went to a local bookstore where the cashier was from Knoxville! Then, he got a phone call and had to leave. In a bizarre turn of events, I was put in charge of the store for 10 minutes while his assistant ran across the street to get my change.
- Visited the Saturday market in Antigua where they sell everything from nail clippers to live chickens.
- Took a chicken bus (old schoolbus painted extravagant colors for use in Guatemala) to Pastores, a local town that specializes in leather goods. I bought custom-made cowboy boots for about $30! What a deal.
- Started salsa lessons! There's not really a whole lot of instruction at my studio, but hey! I'm totally fine dancing with a guy who can REALLY salsa for an hour a week...no problem!

Next weekend we're hiking the Pacaya volcano....maybe we'll actually make it to the top of this one!