{"id":803,"date":"2005-12-24T15:12:51","date_gmt":"2005-12-24T04:12:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/travellingtruths.wordpress.com\/?p=803"},"modified":"2018-04-18T16:02:48","modified_gmt":"2018-04-18T06:02:48","slug":"pocaya-volcano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slingadventures.com\/destinations\/guatemala\/pocaya-volcano","title":{"rendered":"Climbing Pocaya Volcano, Guatemala"},"content":{"rendered":"Christmas Eve. What better day to climb a volcano.\r\n\r\nA 6am start as the pre-arranged bus arrives\u00a0at the door of the Yellow House. Martina and I hop in having been waiting in the darkness for the past 10 minutes wondering what we have gotten ourselves into. Allison the brains of the group is still enjoying her bed, opting to chill in Antigua for the day.\r\n\r\nSoon we are whisked from guesthouse to guesthouse filling up on passengers as we go. Then we were on an hour long drive to the end of the road at the base of Pocaya. Pocaya is a mountain visible from Antigua distinguishable due to the plume of smoke consistently streaming from its summit.\r\n\r\nMartina meanwhile has mentioned she is not feeling the best. By best she really means she is feeling quite sick. Remembering my same predicament some weeks earlier I know the feeling. She decides to soldier on though and we disembark the bus and begin the trek up the path with our guide and security detail. The trail is known to house a few 'banditos' who like to pluck valuables from adventurous tourists at knifepoint.\r\n\r\nThe trek starts innocently enough below the tree line and about 12 of us trudge up. Martina\u00a0beginning to lag as she confronts the reality of being likely too sick to continue. At a small clearing at the edge of the tree line Martina succumbs and decides to wait with the security guard until we return from the summit.\r\n\r\nOnwards and upwards we eventually hit a steep scree slope where it is a case of two steps forward one step back as the light loose stones beneath our feet constantly give way. The black pumice stone reflecting back the heat of the sun and it is quite roasting being exposed out here, and we aren't even near the molten lava yet!\r\n\r\n