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Pacaya
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| In short |
Every time I climb the Pacaya volcano, I find the peak has changed completely. At times, lava ejects from the crater, falling down like cowpats. Lava runs down the flanks, slowly filling a large former caldera to the north with a maze of frozen guts.
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| Get there: |
From Antigua(, 6:00 hrs.)
El Barco (, 7. Ave Norte #3, Antigua, 5210-2585, 5363-8422, barcoagency@hotmail.com):
See activities section!
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| What to pack? |
boots, warm clothing, hat, sun block, food, torch
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| Activities offered: |
El Barco (7. Ave Norte #3, Antigua, 5210-2585, 5363-8422, barcoagency@hotmail.com):
Two options: a 2 hour ride and 45 min hike (one way) to the new lava streams, and a 1:10 hrs ride plus 1:30 hrs hike (one way) to the top of the old caldera.
Notice that you have to pay an additional $7 of entrance fee. Bring your own food.
| 1 pers. | | | | | | Trip to lava rivers (total 6 hrs) | US$ 15 | | | | | | Trip to old caldera (total 6 hrs) | US$ 10 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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Parque Natural Calderas (Laguna de Calderas, Volcán Pacaya, Amatitlán, 2369-7318, www.parquecalderas.com.gt):
8:00 to 18:00, this private sanctuary includes 10 hectares of virgin forest (now heavily affected by the recent eruption of the volcano) and half of the Caldera Lagoon. Activities offered: camping, swimming, snorkeling, canopy, rapell, giant swings, horseback riding, mountain biking and guided tours to the volcano.
| 1 pers. | | | | | | swim in the lagoon and use swings | US$ 9 | | | | | | additional use of | US$ 13 | | | | | | all services | US$ 19 | | | | | | camping | US$ 5 | | | | | | | | | | |
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| Description: |
The hike:
You should start early because the air is clearest in the morning and from nine o’ clock onwards the peak may be in a cloud cap. The total ascend takes about two and a half hours and leads from 1850 to 2550m in altitude, a total difference of 800 m. Many guided tours from Antigua or Guatemala do not even climb the peak. You can buy a very useful walking stick from local children. Please turn back the walking sticks in order to avoid unnecessary deforestation.
From the visitor center the path leads steeply upwards through sparse forests on volcanic sand. Since the last strong volcanic eruption on May 27th, 2010 the forest looks devastated. A heavy rain of hot ashes burned every single leaf.
After an hour we come to a cow pasture, where you must walk around a spectacular solidified lava river. You can take advantage of the relatively smooth top of a solid lava river in order to hike up almost to the summit. You often feel that the interior is hollow, as during the formation of these boulders the crust first solidifies while the contents spill further downhill.
Great views of the Agua, Fuego and Acatenango volcanoes. Fuego’s smoke formes a crescent-shaped cloud. To the north you can see the Amatitlan Lake (a former crater).
On the summit it is very cold and windy, so windy that my children were afraid of being blown away, and began to cry bitterly. You must be careful not to fall into crevices or inhale toxic gases. Whoever has been to hell and back, will find the sulfuric odor, heat and smoke familiar. During an eruption you should keep distance.
To the south you can make out the Pacific Ocean and the remnants of a massive landslide from 900 years ago. On the other three sides of the volcano you can see the strong industrial growth of central Guatemala. The population does not seem to worry about the heap of basalt rubble piling up above their heads. Its base is an explosive magma chamber. It is only a matter of time before a new gas explosion will roll off all this debris to the surrounding business centers.
On the way back experienced hikers can ski down a three hundred meter long rubble field, rather than laboriously descend again over sharp basalt boulders. Reaching the old caldera you are likely to find lava rivers. It is very worthwhile to take a guide, as the lava flows do not show from far during daytime.
The occurrence of lava flows is a matter of luck. These rivers can be several hundred meters long, but even dry up completely.
Scientific background
The Pacaya Volcano is part of the Guatemalan volcanic chain. This latter has its origin in the fact that the Pacific Cocos-plate slides below the Central American Plate. Rocks, limestone sediments and water slide down to great depths and are transformed to magma. The limestone sediments convert to fluid CO². Even the water becomes a fluid gas and further increases the pressure. So along the coastline below the volcanic chain we can imagine a zone of increased pressure captivated in a series of underground vaults full of magma and liquid gas. These liquid gases open their way to the volcanic vents. When they finally turn into gas, we talk about volcanic eruptions. Planet earth burps, too. These explosions tear magma up into the air, which then falls like cow dung on the volcano cone and increases it bit by bit.
Without this process by now all the CO² from our atmosphere would be below the ocean floor. The plants of this planet would no longer have the stuff of which they make sugar and cellulose. The volcanoes thus keep us alive!
300.000 to 23.000 years ago there were nine huge gas explosions that formed the caldera of Lake Amatitlán. They weighed down the southern part of Guatemala by 70 cubic kilometers of magma. After the last of those explosions the volcano Pacaya started to grow out of the south shore of Lake Amatitlán. In 1100 AD the volcanic cone of Pacaya slipped down to the south coast in a huge landslide. You still can see the old caldera (see photo), which by now is almost filled to the top with lava. The remains of the volcanic landslide extend 25 km south of the Pacaya towards Escuintla. These hills are now overgrown with coffee plantations and subtropical dry forests with a fascinating avifauna.
The vast amounts of material which continuous volcanic eruptions spat on the south coast made it grow and grow. Thus the Cocos-plate got pushed down further and the zone of high pressure shifted once again towards the coast. Therefore, each volcano in Guatemala has northern "Ancestors" and southern "daughters". There is the older Amatitlán Crater lake, the old northern caldera with the lagoon, and the present Pacaya cone. Other examples are Acatenango and Fuego, Tolimán and Atitlán, and Santa Maria and Santiaguito. Always the southern cone is the newer, active, more dangerous one. There is the assumption that the magma chambers beneath the volcanoes are associated synchronizing their activity.
During the last eruption on May 27, 2010 huge quantities of ash were hurled into the air. Strong winds deposited them as far off as Flores. Guatemala City was covered by an inch-thick layer. Corrugated iron roofs collapsed, the airport was closed, sewers were clogged. The population of the capital had to shovel the volcanic sand into bags, which were waiting weeks for their removal. The fall-out on the capital was about 3 million cubic meters, equivalent to approximately 300,000 truck loads. For the rest of the country the ashes mean a billion dollar fertilization for free.
Safety on the Pacaya:
The constant lava flows on the flanks of Pacaya make no danger as long as you only pee on them and do not want to surf them. However, there are miles of unexplored basalt caves on the Pacaya slope, be careful not to fall in.
During eruptions you should not climb to the top because you can be killed by hot basalt boulders, as happened on May 27, 2010 to Anibal Archila, a reporter for Guatemalan TV. Anibal was struck by a chunk of basalt and lost his consciousness. His cameraman was just able to save his own skin. Anibal, a popular young television reporter, was left behind near the volcano peak and was stoned to death.
In the eighties and nineties, there were raids on Pacaya, but since then the local people have been involved in tourism which has resolved the problem. I remember the attack on three friends: during the descent two armed men emerged from the bushes and demanded money. One friend had one thousand Quetzals hidden in his sock. But he pulled out only Q80 from his pocket. The robbers thanked him, whereupon my friend complained that he had no more money for gasoline to drive home. The thief was kind enough to give him back 30 Quetzals. To our knowledge there have been no raids in the last months.
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