Recently I had the opportunity to climb Vulcan Pacaya here in Antigua, Guatemala. We drove to the small mountain town of San Francisco and started the near hour hike up to the lava field. Having somehow caught a head cold in the past couple of days, I wasn’t entirely sure that climbing a mountain was the best move for me, but I most certainly was not going to come all the way down to Guatemala just to not climb the volcano! So I made sure I had lots of tissues and cold medicine packed and started the hike. We enjoyed some beautiful scenery and views then we reached the lava field.
We climbed over the cooled lava rock down to where we could find the red hot lava. With every step I was declaring my trust in the Lord and praying that our feet would truly be on solid ground. Every time I stepped and heard a hollow sound a small sense of panic would rise in me, but I would pray more fervently and be ok. Finally we found a good place to roast marshmallows. It was HOT! You had to be careful where you stood because the cracks in the rocks would release the heat. But one thing I did find out was that volcanic red hot lava makes a very tasty toasted marshmallow. 
As my friend Ashley put so well, this experience is one of those things that “you didn’t know it was on your list of 1000 things two do before you die until you heard about it.”
