We boarded the bus at 5:45 a.m. and, for a lack of sleep, failed to notice that the driver had a shotgun.
Dario was his name, and he drove our entire squad toward our first adventure — to hike Pacaya, one of three volcanoes that surrounds Antigua. It is rainy season here, and I slept soundly despite the bus' sways. When we arrived, the rain fell harder and we began a slow trek to the top — testing our rain jackets and our patience on the path.
The rain came harder and harder still, and the locals with ponchos and horses tried harder and harder to sell dry rides to the top. For many, the hike was difficult and the offer was tempting. I was hanging with the group farthest back, and it was in a break from a broken Spanish conversation I was having with one of those salesmen that I noticed Dario and his gun.
"Is that our bus driver?" I asked another squadmate … "And why does he have a shotgun?"
"Senor, porque tiene la arma?" I asked him.
I think that means, "Sir, why do you have a gun?"
"Don't worry, it's safe," he said.
Reassuring.
It turned out that Dario spoke less English than I did Spanish, and we continued to talk in Spanish. He brings the gun because there is a particular type of animal he likes to hunt at the volcano, and being a generous man, he invites his whole village for a barbeque when he kills it. And being a generous man, as you see, he also allowed us to take pictures with his gun.
After the photo opp, we realized that we had fallen far behind the other group. Fortunately, Dario knew some shortcuts to the top.
As we reached the summit, the sky cleared and allowed us to take in a magnificent view of Guatemala and the active volcano across from us. The hours in the rain seemed short compared to the minutes basking in the sun and the heat of the volcano.
We roasted marshmallows and explored caves, and as the rain resumed, we returned back to the bus, safe and thankful for the day.
As we pulled out of the park and into the puebla, Dario nearly drove into another bus coming around the corner. He slammed on the brakes. We screamed.
But that was the closest the man with the gun came to killing us.
