At first there are holes in the volcanic rock with gases coming out. For some reason, there was not a strong sulfur smell, which surprised me. But you could see the colors of the rocks around the gases with yellow and white streaks where the minerals had dyed the rocks. And in some of these holes, you could see the molten rocks like a little hole with red-hot coals. And you could put your walking stick in the hole, which was not very deep (the walking stick is something that the local kids sell over and over again- when you are walking down the hill at the end, they are there to collect them from you to sell to the next group! "stick rentals"). And the sticks would catch fire (wooden sticks, of course).
But the most amazing thing was you could see the lava!! A river of lava rolling down the hillside. And you could walk up as close as you wanted, but the closer you got, the hotter it was, of course. I could fee the heat of the rocks near the lava through my shoes, and so you actually could not quite walk up to it. But you could watch it! Spectacular. One of those things you cannot really capture well in a picture, although I will try to post somesoon.
It was a great trip- met lots of people, which was nice. A guy who is half Palestinian! Surprise to meet anyone else from my part of the world! Unfortunately, everyone spoke English the whole time except for our guide (a young local woman who went up twice a day!) and two policemen (for security).
Today is my last day in Antigua. Pretty sad, but I am starting to poop out, too. Off to Tikal tomorrow and back to the US on Monday! I will have more to say when I get back, I'm sure.
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