San Pedro La Laguna The Heart Of Lake Atitlan

By

-

San Pedro La Laguna is located on Lake Atitlan’s shores at the base of the San Pedro volcano. The heart of Lake Atitlan, San Pedro, offers plenty for the weary traveler. Known as a backpacker’s paradise to the young of heart. In addition for those of us that just want to lay back and relax. There are plenty of options to do just that.

San Pedro’s downtown lakeshore area offers many options to the backpacker who visits and wants to cut loose a little. You will find bars and hostels complete with a party type atmosphere. Further away from the downtown core, the quieter it gets, and the more you are immersed in the local living.

Antigua To San Pedro Forms of Travel

Our short stay in Antigua was coming to an end, we needed to figure out transportation to get to San Pedro. There are really only three options, the first is to take a taxi, as you can imagine this is expensive. But it is also the quickest option.

Secondly, is to book a shuttle, which takes approximately 4 – 5 hours. Cost-effective, the positive! They don’t tell you about the shuttle because it drives all around town (Antigua), picking passengers up. So if you are the first picked up, you get a tour of the city for an hour before you actually leave. Unfortunately, this also adds to the time that you are stuck in the shuttle. Besides, the shuttle is loaded to capacity, meaning approximately 11 people fit into this sardine can. Poor air circulation adds to the experience, you’re lucky if the driver stops for a nature break on the way. Just keep telling yourself it’s cheap transportation. As you can probably guess, we took the shuttle.

Thirdly, is you can get to San Pedro by taking the chicken bus. Very cost-effective, yes, but it takes the longest as there are many stops. As the name may suggest, this is a local form of transportation. Expect to be crowded and very adventurist to the ordinary tourist. The drivers know one speed, fast. We thought of taking it while in San Pedro but were advised not to. Your option.

Getting to San Pedro From Antigua

Shuttle only have one thing on their mind, dropping you off and picking others up, so the speed is the key. Our shuttle was to take us to San Pedro directly. Other shuttles can take you to Panajachel and then take a boat across to San Pedro. I would not recommend this route as the road into Panajachel is extremely curvey. The boat crossing could be upsetting to some as you never know what the lake conditions will be like.

Our shuttle was to take approximately 4 1/2 hours from Antigua. Our driver was only concerned about getting there quickly, not passenger comfort. Consequently, after about 3 hours of driving, my wife was beside herself, needing to visit the lady’s room. Considering we had passed several potential locations in which she could have relieved the increasing pressure on her kidneys. Furthermore, tears had started to swell from the increased pain. In asking the driver to stop, his response was we are almost at our destination. My rebuttal to this was this is not a request but a necessity. The driver found a location that would serve the purpose of a restroom. After getting out of the shuttle, it was revealed that most passengers were also under similar discomfort as my wife. So speak up if the need arises.

Just outside San Pablo near Lake Atitlan that the road was closed due to road construction. We were told that there could be a 30-minute delay (actual was 6 hours). It was suggested that we take a TukTuk into San Marcos and catch the boat taxi across to San Pedro. So this is what we did.

Arriving In San Pedro

Arriving in San Pedro, we caught a local TukTuk that took us to our Airbnb stay. This was going to be home for the next 8 weeks, sort of. Initially, we’d stay 4-weeks, then a week in El Paredon (Guatemala’s Westcoast) followed by another week in Tikal and Flores. Then back to San Pedro for our last couple of weeks, which included Christmas and New Years’. After which, we were heading to Mexico. Starting point Mexico City, and then another 3 months exploring the Gulf of Mexico areas.

Our Airbnb accommodations a one-bedroom unit (Cedella’s Guesthouse #2) with a kitchen (stove with oven), living room, bathroom, and dining area. In addition, a large deck looked over Lake Atitlan. An incredible place to call home for a total of 6 weeks.

Our guesthouse was located approximately 2 km from downtown San Pedro. The location was ideal as it was quiet, away from town noise, and a nice walk to downtown. We are a couple that likes to walk; we try to get a minimum of 10,000 steps a day. San Pedro added another level of activity as it has very steep streets. We’re always going either up or down; it’s was easy to get 10+ floors in a day (we use Samsung Gear Sport watches to track our activity).

San Pedro The Center Of Lake Atitlan

Having settled into San Pedro it was time to make time and explore some of the other towns on the lakeshore and see what they had to offer. San Pedro can be considered the center of Lake Atitlan as you can get anywhere from here. Hop a boat and go experience somewhere new for the day or longer if that is what suits you.

Panajachel

Panajachel (Pana for short) is known as a tourist town. Larger than San Pedro it offers more for the tourist, shopping, excursions. We only visited Pana for the day and found it an interesting place but too busy for our liking.

San Juan La Laguna

We heard of San Juan from our Indian Nose tour guide Matt’s Geo Travel; he told us that it had an excellent weaving demonstration at one of the local Co-ops CASA FLOR IXCACO. San Juan is a very laid back community strong in its Mayan heritage. Beautiful murals painted on the sides of downtown buildings tell of Mayan stories. San Juan is a good hike from San Pedro as well, which we made several times, including a hill that leads to San Pedro, an excellent workout.

Mayan women extracting cotton onto spindal

Santiago

Santiago is a short boat ride from San Pedro. We spent a day there viewing the town with its church and the local Mercado. It was told that the Mayan men of Santiago are the best dressed in beautiful pants; they do not like to have their pictures taken.

Scorpion in the bed Story

Traveling and living in countries that have warmer climates than our own you never know what kind of creature you might end sharing space with. One evening I was reading a blog about a woman’s experience at a hostel in San Pedro. This particular part of her blog told about an encounter she had with a scorpion. Evidently, she was stung several times in the leg while in bed.

This woman went into great detail about this scorpion sting along with her anxiety about the consequences of being stung. Her story was hilarious and her attention to detail painted a picture of every aspect as she told it. Telling about her incredible pain, concern over her life or death paralyzes, and the fact that she knew nobody there that could help.

Finishing the story and relaying the details to my wife, I turned to notice a scorpion crawling across the floor of our living room. With a dustpan and broom, I quickly took care of our intruder. Thinking what an odd coincidence after just reading about a scorpion.

Shortly thereafter it was time for us to go to sleep ourselves. Early the next morning I was awakened by Cindy shrieking and convinced that she had been stung in the leg. We talked about what she had thought could have been a scorpion sting. Within a short time, Cindy had calmed down as it was more the story of the scorpion than actually getting stung by one.

Scorpion Reveals Itself

After getting out of bed, we decided to change the sheets to be safe and reassure Cindy that there was nothing to be concerned about. No scorpion here, I was certain. Well, sure enough, after removing the bedsheet, low and behold, we had our own scorpion in the bed story. This scorpion was indeed on Cindy’s side of the bed. Needless to say, the bed was checked for critters on a nightly basis for the next week or so. So be careful what you laugh at; it may come back and bite you in the ass. Here is a picture of the scorpion, not the best, but the priority was to take care of the present situation.

A follow up to this scorpion story is that we ended up with a similar experience in El Paredon. You can never be too careful

Mercado

Once settled into our apartment, we needed to find the market (Mercado). Talking to our host Maria, we got directions to the Mercado. Shopping at the local market is something that both Cindy and I enjoy. Simply put, it’s quality and the freshness of the vegetables, meats including seafood. In addition to the vibrant colors, different varieties of fruit, vegetables, and the smells (this one can be tough, I’ll admit).

Finding the Mercado, we needed a little help from a local, but we were close. Our initial purchases included produce and meats (pork chops, chicken, hamburger, chorizo). Well, the only meat we repurchased at the Mercado after our first purchase was the pork chops as they were delicious. The hamburger meat had an off taste to it, the chorizo was not good and the chicken was a tough old bird that resembled more shoe leather than chicken. The fruit and vegetables were fresh, plentiful, and tasty.

Lady selling tomatoes vegtable market San Pedro Guatemala

Mercado is an interesting place to people watch. Seeing the girls and women dressed in traditional Mayan clothing was beautiful. In society today, this is rare; most youth rebel against anything and everything. Walking down the streets, you see women with baskets on their heads carrying their wares or the staples they had picked up at the Mercado. You see the young up to the very old at the Mercado. Traditions are nice to see.

Orange Juice Lady

Walking the San Pedro streets was a constant pastime of ours as we needed to fill our days with activities. In town, you would find Mayan women selling fresh, squeezed orange juice. Although we were never really sold on the juice until one day we had no bottled water with us, we decided to give it a try.

This sweet older Mayan lady was selling freshly squeezed orange juice, so we bought a cup and thoroughly enjoyed the taste. The juice was refreshing, sweet-tasting, and truly a delight. Consequently, we were hooked; we switched to the 1-liter size. That way, we could take it home and enjoy it with our breakfast.

There are several places in San Pedro where you can buy fresh-squeezed orange juice. Besides, we had established a connection with our juice lady, so it was hard to go anywhere else. The orange juice lady had a partner that sold smoothies; it wasn’t long before we would stop for a refreshing smoothie. Just goes to say that you never know what you’re missing until you try it.

Pappas Fritas (French fries) & Cerveza

What’s a trip to town without stopping at your favorite watering hole for an order of Pappas Fritas and Cerveza or Cuba Libra. Our favorite place for a mid-afternoon Cerveza was a little hole in the wall called Jakku; it seemed like a place where locals liked to hang out.

Order of Pappas Fritas (french fries) at Jakuu is the best anywhere that I have experienced. In addition to a couple of Cervezas or Cuba Libras, you are on top of the world, literally. The plate of fries is large, enough for two, always heaped and freshly cooked. Just like the homemade fries, my mom used to make, but sorry to say better (sorry mom).

Furthermore, Guatemala has this green sauce called Picamas. Let me say that this Picamas sauce adds another level of heaven to these french fries. I now know what people who eat ketchup feel like as this Picamas adds that bit of zing that adds to everything it’s added to. We would use that Picamas hot sauce like ketchup, giving the French fries a nice zing. We wanted to buy some to bring home, but because we are backpacking, we didn’t want to pack it around everywhere we go as this was the beginning of our time away. P.S. once we got to Mexico, we found out that you can only get it in Guatemala!

New Years Eve

On New Years’ Eve, Greg and I were on one of our walks around town and stumbled upon a parade. People dressed in costumes danced down the street at the far end of the market. They were dressed in the day of the dead, misc characters, superheroes, etc… They danced up and down the street to loud music while the community watched on. After about 20 – 30 minutes, they moved on to a different part of town.

Street parade old Mayan lady character costume

Support Our Blog And Its Unique Travel Content

You can support our site by using the links through our Travel Essential links. If you purchase items through our links to Amazon and others we will receive a small commission on each purchase. There are no extra or hidden costs to you. These commissions assist us in our travel so that we can provide unique content to you through our blog posts. So thank you.

Recommended Travel Essential

Cindy and I call ourselves nomadic so with this lifestyle, we use certain essentials to make this way of life easier and more comfortable. With this in mind, we have composed a list of what we feel are essentials and some tips you might use to plan or take your next travel adventure.

Travel Packing Essentials to help organize and make this task less stressful
Travel Safety Essentials to make your life on the road a little safer, giving you peace of mind
Living Essentials to make life a little more comfortable, be this resting, working, or playing.

Accommodation Options While Traveling The World

Booking.com is one of our go to’s when we are looking for a place to stay for a couple of days or longer
Agoda.com we find is best to use when in Southeast Asia, but hey you never know what you might find
Airbnb.com used to be our go-to but some of their cancelation policies are reasonable, give them a try as well

Travel Insurance

We always travel with some sort of travel Insurance be it just medical or complete trip coverage. We use Heymondo as we find their costs reasonable. Remember don’t travel and without coverage, the savings are not worth the possible costs.

Some links on this page are affiliate links, meaning if you buy a product using our link, we may earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Disclaimer.

Flores Jumping off into the Mayan World of Tikal

By

Greg and Cindy Johnston

-

We left Jungle Lodge and Tikal sharing the lodge’s shuttle with another couple. The girl had a difficult time getting into the van as she wasn’t feeling well and proceeded to get sick several times. Cindy had just been in the same situation a few days earlier so she had our sympathy. We had 4 days in Flores before heading back home to San Pedro.

Flight + Hotel Deals: Save on Mexico, the Caribbean & more!

Exploring Flores

The thing about Flores it is on a small island and after we settled into our hotel (Hotel Villa del Lago). The hotel we booked we would recommend, simple but comfortable with friendly, helpful staff. We explored around town, only to find out this didn’t take long. This is when we realized we didn’t do our homework about this location. It is very small with not much to do as people use it for a jumping off point heading or returning from Tikal and usually spend one night here. The lake around Flores fluctuates over several years and this year it was higher then normal. They had to barricade a couple of the streets as the water had over flowed onto some streets and pooled. We regret we had booked ourselves in for 4 nights. Live and learn as the old saying goes. .

ARCAS Wildlife Rescue Center

So we made the best of it. We took the boat taxi across to San Miguel from Flores and walked the distance to ARCAS Wildlife Rescue Center (we heard about this place from another couple in Tikal). Once there we were not in the correct location but were guided by the friendly staff to the center itself. Animals here were either injured, part of the illegal pet trade or confiscated from persons that had them as pets. The concept here is to release the animals back into the wild but that doesn’t always work for miscellaneous reasons. At the time of our visit there way an array of birds, monkeys, jaguar and other jungle wildlife. All interesting to see but there circumstances are not ideal.

High Point Of Flores

El Mirador del Rey Canek observation deck was near San Miguel, so we were off to find it. We found it but it was not easy, great views of the lake from this vantage point. Let me add that it was a good hike with many steps walked and stairs climbed. After some pictures, we were off to catch a boat taxi back to Flores.

Should’ve But Didn’t make it to Semuc Champey

The one thing we didn’t get to see in Guatemala that we wished we had was to visit Semuc Champey near Lanquin. There is a series of turquoise pools that cascade down the Chabon River. All people that we talked to highly recommended visiting Semuc Champey, the downside is it’s a 10-hour shuttle ride from any near location.

Refugees At The Airport

Some interesting and provocative pictures on display at the Flores airport make you think about the refugees. Take the time to open your eyes to the view of others. The world is not perfect.

Refugee art, tearing up their roots to find a better life

Refugee art, the family, running from terror with only clothing on their back

Support Our Blog And It’s Unique Travel Content

You can support our site by using the links through our Travel Essential links. If you purchase items through our links to Amazon and others we will receive a small commission on each purchase. There are no extra or hidden costs to you. These commissions assist us in our travel so that we can provide unique content to you through our blog posts. So thank you.

Recommended Travel Essential

Cindy and I call ourselves nomadic so with this lifestyle, we use certain essentials to make this way of life easier and more comfortable. With this in mind, we have composed a list of what we feel are essentials and some tips you might use to plan or take your next travel adventure.

Travel Packing Essentials to help organize and make this task less stressful
Travel Safety Essentials to make your life on the road a little safer, giving you peace of mind
Living Essentials to make life a little more comfortable, be this resting, working, or playing.

Accommodation Options While Traveling The World

Booking.com is one of our go to’s when we are looking for a place to stay for a couple of days or longer
Agoda.com we find is best to use when in Southeast Asia, but hey you never know what you might find
Airbnb.com used to be our go-to but some of their cancelation policies are reasonable, give them a try as well

Travel Insurance

We always travel with some sort of travel Insurance be it just medical or complete trip coverage. We use Heymondo as we find their costs reasonable. Remember don’t travel and without coverage, the savings are not worth the possible costs.

Some links on this page are affiliate links, meaning if you buy a product using our link, we may earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Disclaimer.

El Paredon, Burn On The Beach

By

Greg and Cindy Johnston

-

El Paredon is located on the west coast of Guatemala, a sleepy fishing village. Its beaches are a marvel as they are made from fine black volcanic sand. In addition, if you are not careful, you will burn on the beach (specifically your feet), as this black volcanic sand gets extremely hot in the midday sun. So wear footwear.

This is a backpacker’s stop for sure, as many come here for the surf. El Paredón is a town well on the way to becoming Guatemala’s surfing capital. Waves here average 1.8 m, with the best breaks between December and April. Many if not all the accomadations located on the beach offer surf lessons or board rentals. Here is a place to start The Surf House.

person walking along beach carrying surfboard

Flight + Hotel Deals: Save on Mexico, the Caribbean & more!

Tours that are available in El Paredon through La Choza Chula are varied and many. They include visiting the Mangroves, sea turtle feeding grounds, Guatemala cooking, homestay, bracelet making, or make your own package. La Choza Chula – is a social enterprise seeking to ensure local communities and the environment benefit from the growing tourism of El Paredón.

Getting To El Paredon

There are several ways to get yourself to El Paredon, the most common would be a shuttle which you can book from Antigua or other touristy towns. The chicken bus would be another option, being a little more adventurous.

Cindy and I booked our transportation through Matt Geo Travel in San Pedro. We had used Matts’s services prior in San Pedro when we had booked an Indian Nose tour, which we had thoroughly enjoyed. The first part of the trip was to hike Pacaya Volcano, then proceed to El Paredon and our 8-day Airbnb accommodations.

looking out on to pacific ocean from beach

Our El Paredon Lodging

For our accommodations, an Airbnb called Casa de Papaya, is located a couple of blocks off the black sand beach. This would be home for the next 8 days; included was a simple 1 bedroom with toilet, thatched roof, and outdoor kitchen that we used sparingly. Additionally, an incredible outdoor shower that we quite enjoyed. This was true outdoor living at its finest.

One of our first visitors to our thatched home was this huge spider; needless to say, that it was evicted (mind over matter). This wouldn’t be the last uninvited guest to our home. Apart from the first guest, we had an even larger spider that we could not evict as it was up in the thatch ceiling that we could not reach. We know that it was a female because of the large sac of eggs she carried.

The last unwelcome guest was a scorpion that we found in the bathroom in the middle of the night. He was quickly and not so quietly evicted as well. Needless to say that we were very grateful to have a net over our bed as it gave us a sense of protection from the nightcrawlers. True or false, we will never know.

Not trying to scare anyone away. I just wanted to remind people that you may share space with creators unfamiliar to you when exploring faraway locations with warmer climates. Most want their own space. Just keep your eyes open.

Turtle Hatchery

The Turtle Hatchery is an amazing experience, heartwarming, spirit-lifting, and it’s free (donations accepted). Located on the beach at the north end of El Paredon. You need to arrive at the turtle hatchery by 6:00 am. You can watch and participate in releasing the baby turtles that hatched overnight and still are emerging from the sand when you arrive. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we went again the following morning.

Truly a once in a lifetime experience, not sure why, but it makes you feel closer to nature. Sea turtles are such incredible creatures with their life and breeding cycle.

We were in El Paredon at the beginning of December, near the end of the Turtle hatching season. Just a heads up as this is an experience you do not want to miss. Remember to donate as the hatchery can always use the money to fund this program.

Turtle release video YouTube.

newly hatched turtles scurrying toward ocean

Bodyboard surfing

El Paredon is known for its surfing; unfortunately, we do not know how to surf and were unsure what we wanted to learn. Fortunately, we found an alternative, bodyboard surfing. While walking along the beach and by the many beachside resorts, we noticed one place that rented bodyboards. Having body surfed before using a board; we knew this is something we could do. We were able to rent a bodyboard for $150 Q for 3 days at one of these beachside hostels, next door to the Driftwood Surfer. Super nice and trusting gentlemen as he asked for no I.D. or where we were staying.

With our newfound freedom, it was time to tackle the waves. Taking turns riding the bodyboard because trying to catch a wave is exhausting work, and someone had to video the failed attempts. Besides, the waves are continuous one after another. Admittingly it took many failed attempts to equal one amazing ride. Nevertheless, we got better to almost a 50/50 success rate.

We had three days of wonderful fun, enjoying the freedom this simple bodyboard gave us. Regardless these two baby boomers felt like teenagers again riding those waves. So get out and enjoy—wander over to our video.

While playing, one had to be careful walking the beach as that black volcanic sand gets extremely hot (burn on the beach) during the mid-day sun, and I’m sure we burnt our feet, so make sure that you wear foot protection.

Wanting to get out Fishing

Cindy and I both love to fish. In the past, during some of our vacation spots, we have tried hooking up with locals and trying out our luck. As of yet, we remain skunked, but we will keep on trying. We communicated to our host Jessica that we would be interested in taking a fishing trip. Asking her if she knew anyone that might be interested in taking us out.

It turns out that her neighbor’s dad was a fisherman and that he would happy to take us out fishing, agreeing on a price of 400Q. it sounded like a good deal, he could take us out in the morning for 4 hours. So in the morning, we meet him at his boat. Setting off in his boat to try our luck, we traveled down the river short ways to where the surf meets the river.

Fishing with a Local

Getting past this pounding surf looked like it might be interesting, never have I experienced something like this before. Demonstrating the skill of many years of experience in shooting the surf, it was fun with a little fright thrown in.

Altogether it was a beautiful day to be out on the Pacific Ocean fishing this fine morning. We saw dolphins rising in the distance, baitfish that appeared to fly great distances, but no fish, not even a bite. As they say that it is why they call it fishing and not catching. Nice to be out on the water just the same. The boat ride into the surf was just as exuberating as the ride out. Reaching the dock our captain invited us up for some coconut and a bite. Even though we were again skunked we had a very nice on the water, with no regrets.

A small note is that the fishing is supposed to be excellent off the west coast for billed fish on the larger charters, so if you got money.

El Paredon Sunsets

The sunsets and sunrises were incredible and the funny thing was they were both over the Pacific Ocean.

Leaving El Paredon

Leaving El Paredon, having purchased our shuttle tickets at the Driftwood Surfer for 90Q each. In the morning, we would be off to Antigua. This would be a 3-hour ride; the interesting part of the trip was we drove right past the active volcano Fuego. Fuego had erupted in June of 2018 killing 200 nearby villagers. It was amazing to be driving so close to the volcano Fuego. You could see the effects of the June eruption; it was a very solemn feeling knowing that these people had died near where you were driving.

Final Thoughts On El Paredon

We very much enjoyed El Paredon, would definitely recommend

Our Positives

Great beach & ocean
Friendly people
Turtle Hatchery
Quite, laid back
Outdoor living

Our Negatives

Sorry can’t think of any

Would have, Could have, Should have

Wish we would have done the sea turtle feeding with La Choza Chula Tour

Next Stop

Fly to Flores and visit Tikal’s Mayan Ruins

Support Our Blog And It’s Unique Travel Posts

You can support our site by using the links through our Travel Essential links. If you purchase items through our links to Amazon and others we will receive a small commission on each purchase. There are no extra or hidden costs to you. These commissions assist us in our travel so that we can provide unique content to you through our blog posts. So thank you.

Recommended Travel Essential

Cindy and I call ourselves nomadic so with this lifestyle, we use certain essentials to make this way of life easier and more comfortable. With this in mind, we have composed a list of what we feel are essentials and some tips you might use to plan or take your next travel adventure.

Travel Packing Essentials to help organize and make this task less stressful
Travel Safety Essentials to make your life on the road a little safer, giving you peace of mind
Living Essentials to make life a little more comfortable, be this resting, working, or playing.

Accommodation Options While Traveling The World

Booking.com is one of our go to’s when we are looking for a place to stay for a couple of days or longer
Agoda.com we find is best to use when in Southeast Asia, but hey you never know what you might find
Airbnb.com used to be our go-to but some of their cancelation policies are reasonable, give them a try as well

Travel Insurance

We always travel with some sort of travel Insurance be it just medical or complete trip coverage. We use Heymondo as we find theirs costs reasonable. Remember don’t travel and without coverage, the savings are not worth the possible costs.

Some links on this page are affiliate links, meaning if you buy a product using our link, we may earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Disclaimer.

Pacaya Volcano, Poof it’s Invisible

By

Greg and Cindy Johnston

-

Matt from Geo Travel holding photos of what Pacaya volcano should look like

Pacaya volcano near Antigua is one of Guatemala’s most active volcanoes, the other being the Fuego volcano. Pacaya and its frequent eruptions are often visible from Guatemala City. With its almost continuous activity, the volcano has been a popular tourist hike. Pacaya is easily accessible from Guatemala City or Antigua. Many tours will take you to Pacaya or some of the other volcanos in the area. Pacaya volcano and surrounding area lie within the Pacaya National Park, which was created to supervise and protect tourism in this region. The Pacaya Park generates its income from tour groups charged a small fee to enter the park.

Bring Together Pacaya

We elicited Matt Geo Travel once again, we used Matt’s services before when we did the Indian Nose Sunrise tour out of San Pedro. Besides his knowledge of volcanos made for an added bonus plus he cares about the overall experience that he is delivering to you.

Matt had agreed to drive us to El Paredon in part because it would provide him a nice relaxing day on the beach. Furthermore, the Pacaya hike was another tour package that Matt offered as well. The drive and Pacaya hike would make for a long day but we were excited to see and hike Pacaya.

We talked to our San Pedro Airbnb host about our upcoming trip to Pacaya and El Paredon. A friend/co-worker of our host who stayed with them had been listening to the conversation and was interested in joining. Lauren was on her own and had not booked any excursions as of yet.

We told Lauren a little more about the trip, including costs, and with another person coming along, the costs would be divide 3 ways, which made the excursion and transportation a real good value. Lauren decided to come along and continue her travels after El Paredon.

Getting To Pacaya

The four of us set out to discover Pacaya, it was an early start. Approximately a four and a half hour drive to the base of Pacaya where the hike would begin. Matt drove the back route through to Santiago from San Pedro. Matt knew that this route could be dangerous as bandits like to stop vehicles where the road got rough and you had to slow down.

We had nothing to fear as Matt stopped in at the police station before leaving San Pedro and asked for a police escort once we got to the area of concern. It was all good and we made it through without a hitch. On the drive to Pacaya, Matt took the time to explain about the different areas we were driving through. Coffee plantations, Feugo’s destructive lava flow the topography and the rivers and how they were a conduit for lava flow.

Cindy and Lauren standing outside rest stop — Cindy And Lauren

Pacaya the Hike

Arriving at the base of Pacaya, Matt looked at the low lying clouds and warned us that we might not see the volcano in all her glory. Asking if we still wanted to do the hike. We concluded that we were here to hike Pacaya, maybe we might get lucky, and the blanket of clouds might dissipate.

So with another guide provided by the park, we set off up the trail toward the volcano’s peak; the hike would take 1 1/2 hours to get to the lava fields. Ascending the trail, we were coming to terms that we would not be seeing Pacaya in all her beauty today as the clouds were thick. Making the viewpoint, all we could see was the low clouds completely blocking any view of Pacaya or the lava flow itself. We could hear the volcano lava and rocks rolling down the hill and the gases escaping but could see nothing. Pacaya volcano, poof, it’s invisible. I can’t lie….we were all disappointed, but that’s the chance you take. Mother Nature, at times, does not flaunt her beauty but only teases.

3 people sitting on bench at Pacaya volcano — Matt from Geo Travel