I ate an excellent breakfast by the hotel fountain. It consisted of a cheese omelet, French toast, orange juice, and wonderful coffee. Having no word from Stan, I decided to walk to the plaza and check my email. Soon after leaving the hotel I was treated too the sight of a small eruption on Fuego. I had never seen Fuego erupt before. It had had a major eruption in 1974 just a few months prior to my arrival in January 1975. In fact, once we arrived in Guatemala, Carl Nelson and I were chauffered down to a sugar finca near escuintla where we met Lindsey McClelland who was doing his Master's work on the 1974 eruption.

At the internet cafe t here was a message from Lynda, Stan's wife, saying that he missed his flight and would arrive today. I phoned the rental car company and told them of the change in plans. Lynda and I had overlapped at Dartmouth for my first year in the doctoral program. Afterward, I went to the bank to change money at 7.45 Quetzals (Q)/ $.

Back at the hotel, I arranged for a driver to take me down the valley between the volcanoes and left my baggage drop-off voucher at the desk in case my bag arrived while I was gone. The driver, Rene, arrived at 1:00 on the dot and we headed south through Antigua and Ciudad Vieja. Volcán de Agua was shrouded in clouds but Acatenango and Fuego were in broken clouds so we got some views of their summits. Fuego has grown a small, nipple-like cone since I last saw it.

We followed the steep national highway toward Escuintla, looking for a large quebrada and a road to access the south flank of Fuego. The quebrada was easy to find. It contains the ashes from the 1974 eruption that Lindsey McClelland studied. Just below San Jacinto Miramar we took the road to Rodeo because it looked like it went where we wanted to go. After a couple of km we stopped and asked two young guys on their way to the fields, Juan and José. They assured us that this was the best route. They said it was about a 6-hour hike to the active flow. They also told us where the best view is. I got José's phone number. We may hire them as guides.

We returned to Antigua and I paid Rene Q250. I watched a movie until dinner time and then walked toward El Centro until I found a restaurant—it was a nice place. I ordered a chicken and rice dish which was excellent, but then I looked down and saw a screw in my rice. I called over the waiter and asked if it was included or an extra. He was mortified. They didn't charge me for the meal.

I walked to the plaza and checked my email before returning to the hotel. I watched a couple of dumb shows. Around 11:00, there was a knock on the door and Stan arrived. We sat around drinking beer for an hour before going to bed.