Acatenango

Acatenango is a world-famous hike on the active volcano of the same name. Despite this, the excitement comes from the neighbouring volcano, fuego, that is almost always active and spitting out smoke, ash, and lava. This means that the view from atop Acatenango gives amazing views of all of Guatemala while also being able to watch an active volcano. Despite this, you have to work for your view, and the hike is meant to be brutal. As such, we had to ensure we had all the kit to get up there safely, and luckily, our hostel, which also organises the hike, has plenty of gear to borrow. I grabbed a more suitable backpack and some pants and began to pack. They gave you food and water to drag along with you, and before we knew it, we were on the bus on the way to the base of the mountain. Although we paid slightly more to do it through this hostel, we are the only group to cut 45 minutes out of the beginning of the hike and start higher up the mountain. Something i was very grateful for at the end. We then completed about 4 hours of gruelling uphill walking through dirt, rock, and dusty volcanic ash. The people coming down kicked up all the ash, and you had little choice but to breathe it in as you're constantly gasping for air at the high altitude. We had plenty of rests to break up the constant and intense uphill climb, sometimes needing to use our hands to scramble up the mountain. It was all worth it when we first broke through the tree cover and realised that we were already significantly above the clouds and could look out over the constant white. This was also the point of the hike that was no longer uphill. All flat from here. This is also the point where we were walking along pure black volcanic ash, hinting at the fact that we were close to the final destination. Then, as we rounded the volcano, we got our first glimpse of fuego, and in fitting fashion, it was spitting out a huge cloud of volcanic ash. Excitement grew, and we forgot about the pain in our legs and lungs and pushed through to camp. The viewpoint from our campsite was amazing. We were incredibly excited to spend the night watching it erupt. We were then given the option to complete a hike that takes you within 200m of the lava as it lands on the face of the volcano. Although I would have been keen, I was exhausted, and the additional 4 hours of hiking would be all up and downhill. Half of which in the dark. I'm glad I decided against it as those who did it, wouldn't return until well after 10pm, and wouldn't sleep for another hour or so. Many of who didn't make it to the sunrise hike. Meanwhile, in the relative comfort of the camp fire, we could watch the volcano splutter and occasionally explode in a massive display of earth power. I was much happier enjoying that view than suffering in the pitch black. We then enjoyed some noodles for dinner and went to bed earlier enough to ensure we wouldn't be too tired for the sunrise hike. I didn't sleep great, as 10 of us were crammed into a little shed thing, but I didn't expect much else.もっと詳しく