Volcan Pacaya, Antigua, Guatemala

A day trip from Antigua today was to climb the Pacaya Volcano, one of only 3 active volcanoes in Guatemala. Up until 2 weeks ago it was possible to climb to the top and look into the crater, but now a new vent has opened in the side of the cone and is spilling out a slow river of lava.









We decided that, good walker though she is, it was a bit much to expect Princess Romany to keep up with an adult tour party, so we hired her a horse (for $5) to carry her 2/3 of the way (and very happy she was too).













When we reached the highest point to which you can safely climb, we were amazed to find ourselves looking down on lava outflow. We climbed down to it and were able to walk on the cooling crust in places.






The anxious face you see is Ciaran wondering how long he can stand the radiating heat from the lava behind him. Blair nearly singed the hairs on his legs poking the stick in, which instantly burst into flame.
Lawlesses have had a long history of fascination with volcanoes and Susie and Ciaran particularly were very excited with such a close encounter.
The cone above us also spewed out a few flying rocks for our entertainment.

Antigua for Easter (Guatemala)

We made it to Antigua just in time for Semana Santa (Easter week) along with the other 59 000 visitors (foreigners and locals). There is (as always) a good reason why so many people make the effort to be here. There are multiple parades every day culminating in the spectacular all night preparations and all day parades on Good Friday.


As the pictures show the streets are carpeted in elaborate multi-coloured intricate sawdust carpets. The people spend the entire night laboriously constructing them and we woke to this spectacular view.


There are 2-3 parades going on simultaneously from dawn each one taking 10-12 hours to wend its way through the streets of the town. Each parade demonstrates part of the passion story with hundreds of devotees colourfully dressed and often accompanied by Roman soldiers, Pilate and Herod. They sometimes stop at corners to enact aspects of the story. The final part of each parade is a giant tableau with Christ on it at some part of the crucifixion carried by up to 100 worshipers. The Christ

tableau is carried over the top of the carpets destroying them in the process. This is certain after a band playing funereal music and women carrying the Virgin Mary follow behind, trampling any remnants. A group of street sweepers then brush the whole thing away within minutes.

It is all an amazing spectacle and one of the highlights of the trip so far.