Guatemala Guide
Around Guatemala City
Volcán de Pacaya
Down the valley towards the Pacific Coast is the highly active Volcán de Pacaya, rising to a height of 2250m. The volcano regularly spits out clouds of rock and ash in the country's most dramatic sound-and-light extravaganza. The current period of eruption began in 1965, and colonial records show that it was also active between 1565 and 1775. Today it certainly ranks as one of the most accessible and exciting volcanoes in Central America, and a trip to the cone is an unforgettable experience (although sulphurous fumes and very high winds can make this ascent impossible some days). The best time to watch the eruptions is at night, when the volcano often spouts plumes of brilliant orange lava.
Though it is possible to climb the cone independently, virtually everyone chooses to join a group as part of a tour, escorted by a guide. Antigua is the best place to organize a climb; Gran Jaguar Tours, 4 Calle Poniente 30 
7832 2712, handles most tours (US$5–7 per head) and there are many other adventure-sports specialists which run more comfortable and expensive (around US$40) trips that include food and drink. Most cheap tours leave Antigua around 2pm and return by about 9pm. Safety on Pacaya (once the site of regular attacks by bandits) is now much less of a concern since park guards, who accompany groups, were posted on the volcano's slopes.
Tour minibuses drop you off in the village of San Francisco de Sales. It's a steep but steady hour's climb up a good path through milpas and thickish forest until you suddenly emerge on the lip of an exposed ridge from where you can see the cone in all its brutal beauty. In front of you is a massive bowl of cooled lava, its fossilized currents flowing away to the right; opposite is the cone itself, a jet-black triangular peak that occasionally spouts rock and ash.