Liquid Hot Magma!!! Climbing Volcano Pecaya and Entering Honduras

Today´s entry will have to be cut somewhat short because the internet cafe we´re at closes in about 30 minutes. However, the last three days have been just short of amazing and also pretty action packed.

We booked an excursion out of Antigua, Guatemala for a guided hike of the very active Pecaya Volcano. This was well worth the time and money as we got to get very up close and personal with the mountain, including coming within 50 meters of the molten lava coming out of the mountain. The hike was pretty cool and we climbed up above the cloud layer and got to see an amazing sunset, then climbed down the volcano in the dark with headlamps. Another cool thing about the hike was getting to charge full speed down a big hill of previously hardened lavarock. See the photo below. By the way I believe if you click on the attached photos it should bring up the pic in full size on your screen.

We sadly had to leave Guatemala the next day but the trip must go on of course. There was no way of avoiding Guatemala City on our way out of the country which is somewhat similar to Mexico City in that it is a huge, smoggy, sprawling city that was very confusing to navigate and left us wondering where we were several times. But we finally made it out and it was well worth it because we crossed the border into Honduras outside the town of Copas Ruinas. This border crossing was a stark contrast the that of the Mexico/Guatemalan mess we mentioned earlier. We were practically the only ones at the border because it´s not on a major highway and is somewhat out of the way. This worked out well in our favor because it was quick and easy with no headaches whatsoever.

Copas Ruinas, Honduras is a very cool little town which we started exploring after booking a room at one of the hotels recommended by the Lonely Planet book. We ended up spending a good portion of last night playing some Texas Hold´em at a bar called the Red Frog which is owned by a guy our age from Chico, California. He bought the place a few years ago for $4,000 US Dollars and seems to be doing pretty well.

Anyways, gotta run but wanted to mention today was awesome. We visited the nearby archaeological sight of the Mayan Copas Ruinas which Kyle will have to eventually upload some pictures from. Then we took an hour long Tuk-Tuk ride to some nearby natural hotsprings and went for a dip.
Sorry so short and boring but I´m getting booted from the cafe. More insight into the last few days to come. Tomorrow we´ll put in a pretty big riding day and start heading towards Nicaragua. I´ll leave you with a quick shot from Antigua, a beautiful town.


Clay