heat lightning
i am sitting in the computer lab at the school, which is pitch black and silent as a grave. it is weird how empty this place becomes at night. i know there are other students staying here, but hardly see them after class ends. the heat lightninig keeps lighting up the sky and illuminating the volcano in a way that seems otherworldly. seeing this, you understand why the mayans saw divinity in nature.
i am waiting for ben to arrive. he unfortunately flew through miami in the middle of the tropical storm, and was delayed for 6 hours. he should be here in an hour, and i just returned from a lovely day of sightseeing, studying and hanging out with friends. i will get to that, if time permits, but what i want to write about is my visit to volcan pacaya yesterday. pacaya is the only active volcano close to antigua, although there are other active volcanos throughout the country. i booked a trip through a local travel agency, and was packed into a van on a pull-out seat that flipped to the right every time the van rounded a corner quickly. this happened at pretty much every turn, since the driver drove like a bat out of hell. i almost fell into the lap of the guy sitting next to me more than once, and i do not how we made it to the volcano alive. the minute we reached the entrance to the hike, we were beseiged by guatemalan children selling walking sticks. they were so insistent that they were able to annoy many of the tourists into buying them, which is how it works i suppose. i went stick-less and was fine. the hike was about an hour and a half up, and started very steeply. it eventually leveled out a bit, and there were a lot of rest stops along the way. the guides even brought horses as taxis for people who decidedly half-way through that they could not handle the trip up.
i dont know what i was expecting. i think my idea of volcanos is similar to what little kids draw -- pointy mountain, fire bursting out of the top. the volcano was emitting sulfur smoke out of the top, something i failed to adequately capture on film. the most amazing part was when we reached the lava fields surrounding the volcano and climbed over the slippery rocks. unlike a childs drawing, there were many places in the volcano where fire was either coming out or just directly below the hot rocks, boldly visible through the gaps. it was incredible. people much smarter than i actually thought to brought marshmallows to roast, and those people became my new heros. i think the volcan pacaya guides could really launch a successful small business if they opened a marshmallow stand at the top of the volcano. i think i took some good pictures of the black lava fields, contrasting against the green hills surrounding the volcano. we hiked up in the afternoon, so it grew dark by the time we were walking down. again, people smarter than i brought flashlights, and i befriended those people. yesterday was one of the few days that did not rain in the afternoon, so we got very lucky. climbing down in the rain at night would have been treacherous.
i have met some really interesting people while i have been here. it is unique having the connection come from a desire to learn a foreign language. it is useful to get other peoples perspectives on how their classes are going. more than once i have regretted not doing a homestay for the extra practice and home-cooked meals. usually this goes feeling subsides and i am happy with what i decided to do. you hear both positive and negative stories, and it really is luck of the draw. i have decided to find a spanish tutor when i return to nyc, instead of taking a class, because the one-on-one approach is so helpful and necessary.
ben should have landed ten minutes ago, which means he should be here in about an hour. tomorrow we are taking a bus to san pedro de laguna, the town on lake atitlan where we will be staying for the next week. i have another week of spanish, and in the afternoons will boat between the other little towns on the lake, visit a nature preserve, go to central americas biggest market and hopefully learn more spanish. i will try to make it through this post without mentioning again how annoyed i am for not doing this for three weeks, to really reinforce what i am learning. you take what you can get.
there is a cadre of mosquitos attacking me in the computer lab and i am dramatically out-numbered, so i am going to wait for ben in my room. so much more to tell....
i am waiting for ben to arrive. he unfortunately flew through miami in the middle of the tropical storm, and was delayed for 6 hours. he should be here in an hour, and i just returned from a lovely day of sightseeing, studying and hanging out with friends. i will get to that, if time permits, but what i want to write about is my visit to volcan pacaya yesterday. pacaya is the only active volcano close to antigua, although there are other active volcanos throughout the country. i booked a trip through a local travel agency, and was packed into a van on a pull-out seat that flipped to the right every time the van rounded a corner quickly. this happened at pretty much every turn, since the driver drove like a bat out of hell. i almost fell into the lap of the guy sitting next to me more than once, and i do not how we made it to the volcano alive. the minute we reached the entrance to the hike, we were beseiged by guatemalan children selling walking sticks. they were so insistent that they were able to annoy many of the tourists into buying them, which is how it works i suppose. i went stick-less and was fine. the hike was about an hour and a half up, and started very steeply. it eventually leveled out a bit, and there were a lot of rest stops along the way. the guides even brought horses as taxis for people who decidedly half-way through that they could not handle the trip up.
i dont know what i was expecting. i think my idea of volcanos is similar to what little kids draw -- pointy mountain, fire bursting out of the top. the volcano was emitting sulfur smoke out of the top, something i failed to adequately capture on film. the most amazing part was when we reached the lava fields surrounding the volcano and climbed over the slippery rocks. unlike a childs drawing, there were many places in the volcano where fire was either coming out or just directly below the hot rocks, boldly visible through the gaps. it was incredible. people much smarter than i actually thought to brought marshmallows to roast, and those people became my new heros. i think the volcan pacaya guides could really launch a successful small business if they opened a marshmallow stand at the top of the volcano. i think i took some good pictures of the black lava fields, contrasting against the green hills surrounding the volcano. we hiked up in the afternoon, so it grew dark by the time we were walking down. again, people smarter than i brought flashlights, and i befriended those people. yesterday was one of the few days that did not rain in the afternoon, so we got very lucky. climbing down in the rain at night would have been treacherous.
i have met some really interesting people while i have been here. it is unique having the connection come from a desire to learn a foreign language. it is useful to get other peoples perspectives on how their classes are going. more than once i have regretted not doing a homestay for the extra practice and home-cooked meals. usually this goes feeling subsides and i am happy with what i decided to do. you hear both positive and negative stories, and it really is luck of the draw. i have decided to find a spanish tutor when i return to nyc, instead of taking a class, because the one-on-one approach is so helpful and necessary.
ben should have landed ten minutes ago, which means he should be here in about an hour. tomorrow we are taking a bus to san pedro de laguna, the town on lake atitlan where we will be staying for the next week. i have another week of spanish, and in the afternoons will boat between the other little towns on the lake, visit a nature preserve, go to central americas biggest market and hopefully learn more spanish. i will try to make it through this post without mentioning again how annoyed i am for not doing this for three weeks, to really reinforce what i am learning. you take what you can get.
there is a cadre of mosquitos attacking me in the computer lab and i am dramatically out-numbered, so i am going to wait for ben in my room. so much more to tell....