Vagabond Tales: How to roast marshmallows over an active volcano

Filed under: Stories, South America, Guatemala, Ecotourism, Budget Travel

This may sound strange, but one of my favorite aspects of international travel has to do with liability, or rather, the lack of it.

Although the age of personal responsibility seems to have gone the way of the cassette tape and litigation is now just another part of business, believe it or not, there are still a refreshing amount of countries out there where common sense and an acceptance of the risks involved are all that are required for most activities.

This is why you won't see many people roasting marshmallows over slow-moving lava at Kilauea National Park in Hawaii, but you certainly might see the same at a place such as Volcan Pacaya, an active volcano in central Guatemala where I once dined over the 1500 degree Earth.

Set just outside the colonial outpost of Antigua, a town whose cobblestone streets bustle with Spanish language immersion students feasting on flan and savoring fresh local coffee, Volcan Pacaya has been actively erupting for the past 47 years. The undisputed highlight of the Pacaya Volcano National Park, roasting marshmallows over the active eruption has for years been a cheap thrill of travelers scaling the side of the mountain, and seeing as you could never get away with something like that back home in the US I was understandably keen to try it.

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Vagabond Tales: How to roast marshmallows over an active volcano originally appeared on Gadling on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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