Warning, I am not a writer I just thought it might be fun to try my hand at it. This was written stream of conscious with very little revision. Hope you enjoy it, it is based VERY loosely on real events -meaning I once hiked Pacaya... that's about it.

Jen, August and Pacaya __________

We were halfway up and she wanted to turn back. The sturdy rock beneath us had transitioned to a slippery molten silt. We were tired, we could only lean against one another for rest. We couldn't sit on the boulders beside the trail. They were sharp like coral and already our knees and hands showed the evidence of their lancing touch.

Looking at her, it was hard to believe that we had just left the ceremony. "I'd like to turn back," she said. I pretended not to hear her, a tactic she was on to. "Honey, I think my shoes are melting." Again, I said nothing.

All around us the rocks jutted out, making it difficult to see more than a few meters in front of us. The steam cut through the cracks in the stone and sent the hot sulfuric air up our shorts and warm sweat down our legs. The sweat and the silt had begun to form a crust around the trunks of my legs. I would use the tip of my walking stick to pry away the build-up. "Hey Jen, can you believe we are here?" I looked back at her. She had her hands raised in front of her face examining her palms. She was quietly crying.

__________

The ceremony was only 30 minutes long which frustrated her father, but then we never wanted to get married like this. We had wanted to elope. We had wanted to do this our way, but her father, being a staunch disciple and elder in his church, insisted that his daughter have a "proper wedding." We agreed under one condition, that this "proper wedding" take place in Antigua. He agreed so long as we payed for the accommodations.

I met Jen while working for the CDC in Guatemala City. We both lived in a gated ex-pat community on the same fenced-off street and attended the same ex-pat parties. We bonded one night over a cigarette, laughing at the realization that we both hated the term "ex-pat" and, in fact, disliked most ex-pats themselves. We were different.

She was in Guatemala to cover the disputed presidential election between General Molina and Alvaro Colom, which meant she would soon be leaving and I would still be there. We had become fast companions and the thought of not having her there to keep me company was an unpleasant one. I needed to make an impression. I needed to create the strength of a six-month, romantic relationship in four weeks.

__________

The church where we were "married" was at the outskirts of Antigua.

Her father's church was an old veterans hall, that had been converted in to a "house of worship". He was not expecting our vows to take place in a church so dilapidated, so old, and so "churchy." More than once he asked why there were "so many Virgin Marys."

But we had kept our end of the bargain. Not only were we getting married in a church, but we had allowed him to fly his pastor to Guatemala to perform the ceremony. I was not looking forward to meeting Pastor Dan, but I'll admit that I was pleasantly surprised when I did.

__________

The afternoon before Jen was supposed to leave Guatemala City, we sat where we did most evenings to watch the sun set. The patio of my rented home held the only thing I would someday miss about Guatemala: the view of Mount Pacaya.

That afternoon was different though. The normally quiet Pacaya decided to wake up. The mountain started to spew a thick dark smoke and within a few hours, it had all but shut out the afternoon sun. Within five hours we could see the soot in the air and on our clothing.

Jen's flight was delayed for seven days. In those seven days, I was able to make months of emotional progress with her. By the seventh day we had decided to get married. Under one condition, we had to get married atop Mount Pacaya.

__________

Jen's trembling hands were dripping blood, "I don't think I can do this", she said. I took off my long-sleeved t-shirt and attempted to rip off the sleeves to use as bandages. This proved to be easier said than done, and my gesture of chivalry ended up a gesture of ineptitude. By the time I had my first rip in to the cotton, Jen was already ascending ahead of me, still bleeding.

We had been planning this hike for months and were advised by a native of Escuintla of where we should perform our ceremony. "There is a small clearing on the south face of Pacaya that is flat but is surrounded by beautiful fissures. I remember it well from my childhood." What he failed to tell us, or perhaps realize, was that a volcano by nature is a continuously changing landscape. There was no way that his "flat" area still existed. Fissures? Those were everywhere we looked. To either side of us on the trail were 4-5 inch cracks glowing red with molten tributaries. Beyond the cracks were full-on rivers of lava. When the tip of my walking stick touched the lava, it was instantly afire. This was at first amusing and eventually terrifying.

"Remind me again why we didn't rent the horse?" Jen asked. "Because we would have had to abandon it by now anyways. You know our goal, to find the flat spot and make our vows at the top of the mountain, and we're almost there." She didn't seem satisfied and again said, "I think my shoes are melting."

__________

Pastor Dan walked with a limp in his left leg, wore a white suit with a black tie and looked so much like Ricardo Montalban, I half expected Tattoo to show up and excitedly announcing the arrival of the next plane. "Nice to meet you Pastor. I'm August, this is Jennifer."

__________

Jen stopped, turned to me and in a loud but quivering voice said, "If we don't turn around now, I'm divorcing you." The thought of turning around this close to our destination was not acceptable. Jen's tears had cleared paths in her sooty face and I almost laughed, it looked clownish. I took her hand and said,"Jen, if you quit now, you'll always regret it and I can't let you do that." I walked up beside her, put her left arm over my shoulder, and half-heartedly attempted to bear her weight. She realized that this wasn't sustainable and shook me off, "I can do it", she grunted. We walked on.

Jen stopped, pulled out her canteen and took her last sip of water. "Remember the Shire?" I said, "Remember the taste of ale?" She didn't laugh. She hadn't laughed for hours.

__________

Pastor Dan insisted on interviewing us saying, "I will not feel comfortable endorsing this union if I don't know you two first." I suspected as much but hadn't expected him to insist on conducting the interview at the hotel bar. When we arrived he had already finished a Caipirinha and was working on his second.

We were prepared to answer his questions with what were obvious lies, Yes we believe that Christ was sent to forgive our sins. Yes we will raise our children in the faith.... We all knew these were lies but now the liability was on us, not him.

Once he was satisfied, the conversation shifted to our common denominator, Jen's father. "So how long have you known Donald?" I asked.

"We met a few years back at a leadership conference," at this question Pastor Dan suddenly blushed, with a guilty smile that he hid behind his drink.

Jen and I were perplexed with the comfortable nature of their relationship. Donald had been familiar and affectionate in a way we had not witnessed before and Pastor Dan was all too receptive.

__________

Jen paused, looked down and then back up at me. "See", she said. "See what have I been telling you? Now what am I supposed to do?" She raised her right foot up in front of her and showed me what was left of her shoe. The soul had been melted away and all that could be seen was fabric and foam.

"I can't wear these," she said while getting out her sandals from her pack.

"Didn't you just buy those?" I asked.

"Yes, but they aren't volcano proof"

"Let me take a picture so we can get a refund", I said.

She looked at me like I was insane, "are you serious?" She asked laughing, "Do you really think they're going to refund us? Don't you think that walking on lava might just negate any warranty the shoes have?"

I took the picture and then tossed the shoe into a crevasse only six-feet away. We watched the shoe burn and melt. We decided we had gone far enough. I took the portable stool from my pack and set it up on the flattest surface available, "this will do," I said.

Jen began to take off her clothes. I did too.

__________

Pastor Dan agreed to keep our "church wedding" brief and to the point. After the wedding, we had lunch with Pastor Dan and her father. We all agreed to meet later that evening for a more formal dinner. "Any plans for the day?" Donald asked.

I felt like saying, "Just to make love to your daughter on top of a volcano," but thought better of it. "We thought we'd take a rickshaw tour of the town and then take a long nap," Jen said.

Jen and I agreed that we would appease her father with the "wedding" but that we would hike to the top of the volcano and recite our true vows while making love. It seemed like such a romantic idea. What could go wrong?

___________

I was sitting on the stool, with Jen straddling me. We had rehearsed this many times. The stool was uncomfortable where the aluminum was exposed through the canvass. It wasn't anything I couldn't handle but then we hadn't rehearsed this at the mouth of a volcano before.

Jen's face was gray with soot, aside from the lines from her eyes to her chin where her tears had cleaned a path. While making love we recited our vows as we had practiced. Aside from our shoes, we were nude. The aluminum of the stool was made painfully hot by the rock below it, so much so that I could feel the flesh of my ass begin to burn.

We had both completed our vows, had kissed, and made it "official." I just needed to finish. "August, I love you but I have to stop. It's just too hot. I think I'm going to pass out."

"I'm almost finished..."

__________

Pastor Dan booked himself a room at the Hotel Pacaya because of its view of the volcano. At lunch he had invited Donald to his room for a cocktail and to share the view. They sat next to one another on the patio and looked at the magnificent mountain. They could see thick black smoke begin to come out of Pacaya's point. There was a knock at the door, Pastor Dan got up and returned with two glasses of white wine. "The boy at the door said the volcano was waking up."

Donald looked out at the smoldering mount and asked, "are we safe here?"

Pastor Dan set down the wine and put a reassuring hand on Donald's shoulder, "yes my dear, we'll be fine, just enjoy the view".

With that, they both sat and watched in astonishment as the volcano erupted and quickly turned the sky black. Donald put his hand on Dan's, "it's beautiful, isn't it?"