Volcan Agua and several other active volcanoes loom large in the skyline around the small town of Antigua, the smoke rising from their peaks a constant reminder to the people living below of the enormous power of volcanoes and the fragility of human life.
Unfortunately, 3,760 metre volcanoes can be difficult for Scottish travellers to locate amidst the mid-afternoon rainclouds of a Central American day. The volcano was definitely there when I arrived from Guatemala City yesterday and checked into my 8 pounds a night Antiguan Hotel, however just a few hours later, Agua had managed to disappear from the skyline when I resurfaced from bed (fully recovered from my overnight bus journey the previous night) and went out to take some photos of it.
I looked up and down the calles and avenidas of Antigua for the large volcano unsuccessfully, an increasing suspicion that my poor sense of direction had failed me yet again. Then the sun fell behind another volcano, and it became too dark to search for Agua, even if it was still there. In the end, I put Volcan Agua´s disappearance down to the enormous (magical) power of volcanoes that I have already mentioned, and went had a couple of Gallo beers.
On an altogether more positive note, Volcan Pacaya was exactly where it was supposed to be today when I went to climb it, allowing me to get face to face with a river of molten lava, or rather, as close as I could put my face to it without singing my eyebrows.
