Antigua

The border crossing into Guatemala went pretty smoothly. I was shocked by how much pollution there was near the border, though. At some points, it was so bad I almost threw up driving past certain sections. Thankfully things got a lot better about an hour in.

My first stop in Guatemala was a place called Antigua a really cool town just outside Guatemala City. The main draw there is the active volcano about 30 minutes away. The day after I arrived, I decided to tackle the mountain. I spent the morning hunting for a sleeping bag to buy or rent since I had mailed mine home after reaching Texas. No luck, but I ended up sneaking my blanket out of the hostel, and it actually did the trick.

I decided to do the trek solo to save some cash. I took an Uber to what I thought was the starting point, but it turned out to be the wrong spot. I had to hitchhike a couple of times to finally get where I needed to be. The hike itself was pretty tough—I was racing the sunset and managed to finish it in just three hours. By the time I reached the camp area, I was way too tired to make the extra two-hour trek to the edge of the volcano. So, I set up my tent on the side of the mountain instead.

The eruptions were amazing—there were smaller ones every 10 minutes and big ones every couple of hours. It felt completely surreal. Around midnight, heavy clouds rolled in, so the show ended until the next morning.Læs mere