Hey so I have been up the infamous Guatemalan volcano Pacaya today. What an accomplishment.

We got in the shuttle and was joined by 2 german guys and 4 norweigen girls then me and Kerry. It took roughly an hour, 15 minutes to get there and along the way the driver stopped at the side of the road and bought a loaf of bread that looked like a crocodile, its incredible. you must see the photo. Driver spoke no english so we translated for the guys inthe bus!

So continuing we meet our guide in the little town called San Fransisco at the bottom of the volcano. He introduces himself as Carlos. He lives in the village. Some children are trying to sell us sticks or make us hire sticks. silly me thinks no i wont need a stick! i live to later regret this thought! Carlos tries to talk to us in Spanish but me and Kerry are the only ones that can understand so we either translated for the others or he said it in english and looked to us to see if he was correct! Its unusual people asking us to translate! My spanish is rocking at the mo, had a few conversations with Carlos!

We hear about the village. All the crops of maize and coffee were totally destroyed last year and most of the houses in the village were flattened, as the volcano erupted on 27th may 2010 and it rained rocks in the villages surrounding. I remember seeing this on BBC news at home back in may. It was devastating and some people lost their lives. At the moment Pacaya is smoking but at the time she was spitting lava and the top crater just collapsed into it and therefore she erupted. The village is looking ok now, they have rebuilt their lives again. The top is a 3km walk.

Our journey begins at some already high altitude and we climb steep concrete first. then the concrete turns into old volcanic dust and rocks. It gets steeper and steeper. Breaks are needed often too but not as much as i could have done with. Its so hot and humid too, i swear we chose the hottest day to go up Pacaya. anyway, we continue on. already after 15mins of climbing i can feel my calves dying. Me and children on horses are following us, offering us horse taxis up and back Pacaya. Its so tempting but i was determined to climb it by foot. sugar and water breaks are often too for me! We get half way there and we'd been climbing almost an hour on steep stoney and dusty terrain and at 1600m. we get told we have 800m of very steep climb, then 400m downhill then 400m almost flat. The almost flat was actually walking over set lava from the latest eruption. some of it was warm still the closer we got to the top. the group seemed to be walking at a stupid pace and i wondered how the hell they could be taking in the surroundings...we're climbing a blooming volcano...enjoy it! so we took our time and got left way behind.

We stopped at a place where there was a group of people toasting marshmallows. i had one and it was lovely and hot. Carlos laid some sticks over a large long hole in the surface and within seconds theyd caught fire. one guy lit his cigarette off the rocks.

We continued and made it to the top! We went into what Carlos called the sauna. This was a cave created by the eruption last year so still new and so hot inside. it has a hole to the surface so light is in there too. This was incredible. We sat down and the dogs from the village came begging for food. They came a bit too late to us as we'd munched through our crisps already but the cute puppy ate the crumbs out of my hand! those fogs live in the village but go to the top of the volcano everyday for food from tourists and go back down at night. its sad cus along the way we saw a dog that looked like it had died in the past week up there. not nice but the stupid norweigens took photos and laughed at it. I didnt find that funny at all.

We sat up the top for a good 20mins and chatted in spanish to carlos. I told Carlos not to go so fast on the way down so he made me go first after him and he took my hand as it was so steep and i followed his path all the way, which i found so helpful otherwise i wouldve been left behind and wouldve even still been there now or been mugged and taken by the locals that hang around in the edges when it gets dark! Yes we spotted u! haha! so i was glad of the helping hand. it took about an hour to get down with no breaks so my legs are so dead. and itll be hell tomorrow to walk but it was worth it. I conquered an active volcano :)

Tips for mum and dad: Take your camera, take plenty of water, take a torch, a jacket, preferably waterproof as itll be rainy season when u arrive, dont take money that u dont need. entrance to the park is 50 Quetzales and if your guide is good, a tip is welcomed. and you'll have paid already for transport. Hire a walking stick from the children in the village and when they say es neccesito, believe them as youll slide down massive areas of rock. wear grippy and sturdy shoes. take snacks to keep your sugar levels up as it is hard work and so hot that you use all your energy straight away. if you decide to go by horseback then strike up a deal with the locals. a return you can barter a price, maybe 150Q but one way is 100Q.

We got back to Antigua at around 7pm and decided to get a dominos to supliment my dinner which i expected to be vegetables and rice again, but it was pasta with a bolognese sauce again, but i had no meat. winston ate all the meat i reckon haha! it was buy one get one free at dominos too! muy mal para mi!

So 2 days left of Spanish. I have decided to leave on the weekend to go to a town called San Pedro in Lake Atitlan and do 2 more weeks of spanish classes as im really hitting my stride. I began the past tense today which i was suprised i got onto in 2 weeks!

Anyway hope everyone is good, will be waiting to hear if baby Tate makes an appearance today as i predicted. We'll see!