Volcán Acatenango

After reaching our limit at the Tourist Police camp spot we had a choice of either the coast or the top of a volcano, so we chose the difficult option! Volcan Agua had been hovering over the city with a permanent cloud cap so we knew it was was going to be a bit of a change of climate.

It was only a short drive so we arrived in the afternoon & arranged with our guide Hector to start the next morning, so we had a night to acclimatise to 2300m. Our crazy Estonian friends arrived a bit later but they decided to go up starting at midnight!

We set off in lovely morning sunshine although carrying many layers of clothes as we were warned to expect extreme cold - in fact 6 people died on this mountain in January from hypothermia and we didn't want to take any chances! We were lucky enough to have as guides not just Hector but his 10 year old son Mina, who was on Easter school holidays and was climbing the volcan for the first time. Of course he & Maya virtually skipped up as we trudged arriba arriba arriba (up up up) first through farmers fields, then into cloud forest & finally through barren volcanic landscape. It was a hard hike & we were relieved to get to our campspot, quickly setting up our tent which Maya immediately crawled into and nestled into our sleeping bags, as sun had been replaced by freezing fog whooshing down from the top of the volcano above us. Hector told us we were facing Volcan Fuego & the fog should clear at night... fingers crossed.

Héctor made a big campfire & we all chatted with some Guatemalans from nearby Guatemala City who were also doing the hike. We ate our pasta 'n sauce dinner & huddled into our tent with all our layers, plus with Maya in the sleeping bag :), and still felt cold. After managing to get maybe an hours sleep I woke to see that sure enough the fog & clouds had lifted, the wind had died & the smoking peak of Fuego was in front of us surrounded by twinkling stars & lit by the full moon - stunning.

In the dark at 4:30 we started the brutal final ascent, pretty much straight up some very loose volcanic soil. We were rewarded with a spectacular sunrise at the top of Acatenango & to top it off a big smokey eruption by Fuego only a kilometer or so away.

As you can imagine going down was much easier, apart from one little tumble! We said goodbye to Hector and his son (who immediately went off to play football with his mates!) & drove to Antigua dreaming of a hot shower. The shower nearly didn't materialise as the hostel we usually have one in was full so turned us away... (even seeing our filthy state & desperation). Luckily the next hostel we tried took pity on us & we had a wonderful hot shower which they wouldn't even accept any payment for.Read more