Easy Lava

Climbing and cooking on Pacaya, the active central American volcano

Though things look very different wherever you go on the planet, one thing stays the same: we're all bobbing about on molten stone. Even though it might make you feel slightly unsteady on your feet, it's worth remembering that only a wafer of topsoil and rubble stands between you and a planet-wide pile of deadly, burning magma and all its accompanying fumes.

Of course, we're too busy gazing at ships passing through an idyllic harbour scene, or passing through the thick canopy of foliage in forests to really notice. So what happens when your destination, your entire plan, revolves around getting as close to this toxic brew as you can?

We're in Guatemala. The beautiful, unspoilt little Central American country, great for coffee, sugar and rum is also home to some of the world's premier volcanic action too. WideWorld are guests of the country's premier rum firm, Zacapa, who have agreed to take us up into the hills and climb Pacaya, an active volcano that weeps fresh lava and last exploded only a couple of months previously. A good job we're taking a bottle up with us - not just for courage either. It's our plan to cook some Zacapa-steeped steaks, using the volcano as a cooker. Probably the largest cooker in the world, in fact.

A van takes us up to the base of the volcano. Part of a series that straddles the country, Pacaya is the most active of the group. It's 2,552m tall (around double the height of Ben Nevis), near the old colonial city of Antigua in the cooler highlands of Guatemala, the hills that house the Zacapa ageing facility to the great benefit of the rum.

A tourist station has been built at the trailhead: local boys hawk well-polished walking sticks and a few glum-looking ponies scratch their flanks against the walls. Chickens peck around in the dust at your feet. There's a shop and a bar here, but to get to the top takes a few hours, so visitors tend to save the facilities for their return.

The initial hike is gentle and pastoral, between farmed foothills and through the sparse jungle that skirts the base of the volcano group here. After around two hours, the gradient shifts: hikers find themselves hauling on tree branches, or finding footholds in exposed roots, to stop themselves stumbling and falling on the black soil.

A break stop arrives in the form of some pretty Spartan toilets in a functional concrete cube: the view across the way is, however, spectacular. A vista opens up along the highlands, seeming to sharpen up the spectacular heights of dormant volcanoes in the distance and their slumbering villages below.

From the rest stop, the going becomes yet more difficult. First a scramble down a fine scree slope, which leads to a hard crossing over a dried lava bed. This 200m section was laid down only a few months before our visit, and the razor-sharp edges of rock defy you to touch them – and make havoc with your boot soles.

Once across, there's the real climb: a shifting slog up movable piles of granular pumice, every step becoming more and more shrouded in the cloying stink of sulfphur. Then, just when you forget why you're here, you see it: a live lava stream, frighteningly close. You're ready for the sight, of course, but combined with the smell (the fumes create mild sulphuric acid in the lungs, nose and throat) and the noise, it is a startling experience.

A rumbling underfoot. Intermittent hissing and sighing from the cracks in the graphite-coloured stones. A gurgling, even. The heat is intense, even from three metres away: a solid wall of discomfort that's more even, more thick, than the heat from a fire. It's something quite else entirely.

Our guides make worried noises. We're spending too long up here, they say. The fumes are poisonous, and they know this better than anyone. Pacaya wakes regularly and showers the whole area in rock and ash. We get out our equipment and begin to cook lunch.

A frying pan. A sweet Guatemalan steak. Douse it in Zacapa rum and leave it to fry on a volcanic vent two thousand metres above sea level. It's surprising how fast you can cook when you're sitting on the world's biggest cooker. Although the fumes don't do much for our steak's flavour, at least we've got the rest of the bottle of rum to toast our success in conquering the volcano.

WideWorld would like to thank the team at Zacapa rum for their assistance in Guatemala, including giving us the ingredients for our volcano cookout! Zacapa is dedicated to producing their premium rums in a way that benefits Guatemala and its people. For details see their site www.ronesdeguatemala.com

Volcano adventures around the world

Volcano sledding

For an extreme sports experience that's hard to beat, try sledding down Cerro Negro, 1,600-foot volcano in Nicaragua. You can either have the sit-down or stand-up boards provided by Va Pues Tours (505-315-4099; www.vapues.com; $33 a person) and Tierra Tours (505-315-4278; www.tierratour.com; $28 or $30). Bring gloves and plenty of band-aids.

Eruptions

Want to guarantee seeing a proper eruption? Go to an expert. John Seach is a vulcanologist who runs Volcano Adventure Travel, and has dozens of locations for amazing trips. We'd recommend Yasur in Vanuatu, which has erupted at least ten times an hour for the last 800 years!
Find out more at www.volcanolive.com

Lava Lagoon

You don't need to knock your pipe out with activity. Why not go to Iceland - the world's youngest country was created by volcanic activity, and is still peppered with geysers, vents, mud pools and the famous Blue Lagoon, a volcanically-heated pool outside the capital Reykjavik where you can lounge in toasty waters and appreciate the finer side to seismic adventures.
See www.icelandexcursions.is for more details.