Herds of Herds

High on a hill was a lonely goatherd.

This morning I experienced the pastoral side of Guatemala. Before dawn, Monica and I met a shuttle to the trailhead of a dormant volcano. Along the hike, we encountered people from the village located at the base of the mountain, including shepherds of various sorts. It started off normal, an encounter with a goatherd and his flock. I resisted the urge to yodel a line or two from “The Sound of Music.” Later, we passed a young man who was trailed by what can best be described as a herd of dogs. It is not an exaggeration that he had at least a dozen mutts faithfully tagging along at his heels. At the end of the trail, we rested at a point overlooking a second volcano, this one quite active. While we resided at the vista a gaggle of study abroad students appeared, ushered by their guide who giggled in amusement as the barely post adolescents snapped selfies of themselves with an erupting volcano in the background rather than watching the spectacular phenomena.

Monica and I patently spent almost an hour at the lookout and caught three substantial eruptions. In this case, the volcanic bursts were not spouts of smoldering lava, but belches of smoke forming a column above the volcanic cone.

Clockwise from left: The eruption of Santiaguito volcano. Monica and I at the vista point on the side of the (dormant) Santa Maria volcano. Panorama from the vista point as Santiaguito erupts.