There´s Nothin Like Makin S´MORES Over Lava

Two weeks ago was one of my teammates birthday and we decided to hike up a volcanoe for her birthday. We hiked up Volcan Pikaya which is an active volcanoe in Guatemala. It was truly an amazing experience. I have never seen a prettier view than on the top of that volcanoe. The last half hour was so difficult because it was almost a straight vertical climb through dry crumbled lava. It was like climbing up mountain of sand. I would take three steps and still be in the same spot. It took so much just to get five feet. Our calves were killing us and we had to take several breathers just to get rested up for the next five steps.

As we were getting closer to the top we saw lava coming down near us.It scared us a little but it gave us the burst of energy we needed to get to the top. Once I finally made it to the top I was speechless, and if you know me that is very rare,haha. The wind was so viloent and the heat from the lava was burning my eyes.There aren´t words to describe what I saw. It was truly a spiritual moment. It reminded me of when I was in elementary school learning about volcanoes and looking at pictures of them in my textbook. Never would I have thought that I would be on top of one, let alone roasting marshmallows in the lava!
I like my marshmallows burnt (ppp girls) so I put mine in the lava to get it crispy like I would a fire. Yeah, they immediately went up in fames. Thankfully I had a little black crispy left for my cookie, and if you squint really hard you could see a little white left from the marshmallow.

I have to admit my highlight of the trip was when we began treking down the volcanoe and Lori and I let the group get way ahead of us so we could surf down the dry lava. We were going pretty fast and we got a couple cuts from the sharp lava but it was worth it. Arfter a couple spills we stopped and looked out at the sunsetting over some mountains and we just began singing and praising God. It was truly amazing.

Overall the trip was awesome and it wasn´t until the end that we found out that a week prior to our hike the volcanoe erupted while a another group was climbing up and they were all sent to the hospital. Yeah, I won´t be hiking up any more active volcanoes. One is enough, but it was worth it. Thankyo so much for all of your prayers. As you can see now they are beign answered.