June 8 & June 18, 2008
Volcan Santa Maria, Guatemala
It takes a really good reason to want to climb Volcan Santa Maria twice in relatively rapid succession. I was motivated heavily by the fact that the first time I trudged up to the top, there was no view at all, save for my friends who were being extraordinarily silly. It must have been the altitude, because there seems to be no other logical excuse!
Since the Guatemalan skies usually cloud up in the late morning/early afternoon, I decided that if I were to go up Santa Maria again, I would make sure to get my butt up there early. As it turned out, the Quetzaltrekkers had organized a midnight hike during the full moon, which guaranteed that I would be on top of Santa Maria by sunrise. At midnight it was threatening of rain and lightning with no full moon in sight, but luckily nothing of much consequence arose. Upon arriving at the summit, we looked down in time to see the nearby active volcano Santiaguito spewing lava and smoke into the dark skies while roaring like a jet engine. The morning sun rose slowly over the mountainous landscape and finally offered up amazing views of beautiful Guatemala.
Xela, Guatemala. This is the city that I have been studying Spanish in. Admittedly, the weather has been terrible, but this place really has some of the most amazing clouds I've seen in my life!
Volcan Santa Maria, Guatemala. There she is in the distance... it doesn't look like much, but part of that illusion is the lens I used for this photo.
Volcan Santa Maria, Guatemala. A view of the clouds rolling through the valley.
On Top of Volcan Santa Maria, Guatemala. A beautiful view of the sky and the sacrificial Mayan altar... I'm just kidding.... I think...
Volcan Santa Maria, Guatemala. The sun rising over the mountain ranges.
Volcan Santa Maria, Guatemala. More clouds engulfing the valley.
Volcan Santa Maria, Guatemala. The still active Santiaguito seen spurting lava... or is it magma... as seen just before sunrise.
Volcan Santa Maria, Guatemala. The volcano beginning to erupt and belch smoke.
Santiaguito, a still active volcano that spews smoke every half hour or so.
On Top of Santa Maria, Guatemala. Myself, Trevor... and Tom and Frog getting friendly.
On Top of Santa Maria, Guatemala. Top-of-the-world Trevor...
On Top of Santa Maria, Guatemala. The only excuse for this is the altitude...
On Top of Santa Maria, Guatemala. Trevor and Tom.
On Top of Santa Maria, Guatemala. Tom doing a Top Gun fly-by...
On Top of Santa Maria, Guatemala. Trevor getting his hand taken off by 'Rocky', the local mountain dog who climbs the hill for food.
On Top of Santa Maria, Guatemala. Well, I've got a couple questions about this... but what in the world are you doing with an umbrella on the top of a mountain, Mary Poppins??!!
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