Volcán de Acatenango: The Trek Pt 1

We left Panajachel for Antigua with plans to hike the infamous Volcán de Acatenango to watch smoke and lava explode from its neighbor Volcán de Fuego!

Auryn, as per usual, found us a great deal on a guided overnight hiking tour that included our gear, food, and transportation costing us Q375 (quetzales), or about $60 Canadian dollars (including a tip for the tour guide).

We were picked up by a large tour bus from our hostel around 9:00 am and lumbered our way around the tight cobbled streets of Antigua to retrieve our gear before ascending up to the base of the volcano to begin our hike. I generally take anti-nausea medication before embarking on any bus ride, but being that they make me drowsy, and I was about to embark on a nearly 6 hour strenuous hike, I decided to skip this step. Unfortunately this first leg of our journey was very windy, speedy, and bumpy which caused me to become quite ill and resulted in me having to get the bus to pull over for me to throw up. Once we arrived to the trail head I ran out of the bus to throw up again all while the rest of our hiking crew took pictures of the beautiful rural vista. It was quite an interesting start of our journey. 😂

We started our hike at around 10:30 am. The beginning of the hike was definitely the most difficult; it was composed of very steep hills of loose gravel that tested both our mental and physical endurance. Thankfully the most challenging part of the hike lasted only about 30 minutes and we took a water break next to a farmers field and a small restaurant. During this break I consumed a little too much water than my stomach could handle and I immediately started throwing up... again. 😩 At this point I was afraid that I may stall everyone too much to be able to make it up to the top, but thankfully our tour guide, Louis, gave me a small cup of alka seltzer that helped ease my stomach and stopped the puking for the rest of our journey.

The hike was stunning! We were initially surrounded by beautiful farmers fields, which transformed into a lush biodiverse tropical jungle, and then mixed into a more alpine-esque forest as we approached the chilly top.

We were accompanied by two stray dogs who were loyal to us until we went to sleep, at which point they made off with our bag of marshmallows leaving a trail of them heading away from the camp. One of these dogs we named “Stinky,” and the other we named “Marshmallow,” two very self-explanatory names. They were both very friendly and lovely to have around. Marshmallow eventually made his way back to our camp in the morning to join us for breakfast, but he did not follow us back down. We briefly met up with Stinky about halfway down the volcano, but he must have known that we didn’t have anymore food because he also didn’t accompany us on the way down. 😂

The trek down took us about 2.5 hours opposed to the 5.5 going up, however, Auryn and I both agreed that going down was much more strenuous than going up due to the steep descent. I decided to take my shoes off near the end of our hike because my toes were very sore from being squished into the front of my shoes. Auryn had to walk backwards to try and alleviate some of the pressure on his knees. When we got back to Antigua we immediately ordered a pizza and took a long nap. 😂

The strain was well worth it for the beautiful views and friends that we made along the way, and I’d do it again in a heart beat... but maybe after I recover first. 😊Read more