Pacaya National Park is the protected area around a volcano with the same name situated about 50 km south of Guatemala City in the Guatemalan Department of Esquintla. The cone of the volcano has a height of 2552 meters above sea level and around 65.000 visitors visit the National Park annually.

The volcano first erupted and came to exist over 20.000 years ago. Pacaya is part of the Central American Volcanic Arc, a chain of volcanoes stretching along the Pacific coast of Central America. The Guatemalan Institute for Tourism (INGUAT) has published a bulletin stating the National Park will be closed to visitors until further notice. The volcano has been active for over 50 years and lightly increased its activity since March this year, together with volcanoes Fuego and Santiago nearby. In April a fatal accident occurred when tourists went beyond the allowed paths and were surprised by a sudden eruption and rock avalanche. In May part of the National Park was temporarily closed due to increased activity on one side of the volcano.

On Wednesday May 26th however, the volcano’s increased activity caused Guatemalan authorities to send out an alert to villages on the volcanic slopes. The volcano’s activity kept increasing over Thursday with several explosions, quakes, lava spurs reaching heights of 400 meters, and 1500 meter tall clouds of gas and volcanic ash.  Pacaya National Park was closed to visitors. At around 7 pm local time the lava reached heights of over 1000 meters and was spread as far as a 100 km radius, covering many towns including Guatemala City with volcanic ash that came down together with heavy rains produced by a depression in the Atlantic. Small rocks were being launched from the volcano which forced over 2000 people to evacuate despite their fear of loosing left behind belongings. Classes have been suspended in 3 Guatemalan Departments and the International Airport Aurora of Guatemala City has been closed down due to the heavy ash fall.

The Guatemalan Institute for seismology, volcanology, meteorology and hydrology (Insivumeh) informed this morning May 28th that the volcano will remain active and that another eruption like last night should be expected. Thousands of villagers woke up in devastation on the morning of May 28th, as the volcano’s sand, ash and rocks have left their houses and roads in ruins.  Many are still on their way to safer places while the volcano rumbles in the distance and covers the region with a persistent sulfur odor. The mist and heavy rainfall caused by a depression in the Atlantic makes evacuation even more difficult, paths and roads are blocked by volcanic sand, the villages have no running water or electricity and burned trees are not an uncommon sight. Guatemalan police patrols are helping out with vehicles to transfer people to refuges.   Some villagers stated: “At first we where not worried thinking it was the volcano’s regular activity, but later we saw burning rocks falling on our houses and cars.” They plead authorities to provide them with replacement roofs as they will otherwise loose their belongings to the rain.

Pacaya Volcano erupted near Antigua in Guatemala. One day later on May 29th, 2010 Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras were hit by tropical depression Agatha; a natural disaster which brought even more damage to the country’s highlands. 

In the mountain region of Guatemala many people live near a river or in valleys, they have cut away the forest to plant corn and heavy rainfall has caused the land to slide from the hills as no natural vegetation is maintaining the soil. These problems are on the Pacific coast of the country in the Southern part of Guatemala.

Guatemala’s International Airport La Aurora was reopened to normal flight traffic on Tuesday June 1st and other regions of Guatemala have not been affected at all.

The Northern Jungle Department called El Peten lies on a different land plate and is naturally protected from earthquakes, landslides, hurricanes and volcanoes. The jungle region is currently enjoying beautiful weather with little rain.

The region can be visited through the airport of Flores or over land from Mexico or Belize. The region offers Adventure Tours through the jungle and along great Mayan Ruins.