Volcán Acatenango

I really feel like I've been on top of the world!

Everybody I met recommended doing the hike to volcano Acatenango as from there you have amazing views to the 2 neighboring volcanoes Fuego (which is still active) and Agua. Everybody said although it's pretty exhausting and freezing cold it's definitely worth the trip.

I was most afraid of the cold. At night it can have minus degrees. Knowing 6 people died up there just a few weeks ago because of the cold didn't really help. But they were unprepared. So I just had to prepare myself. I brought tight, leggings and jeans. 2 pairs of socks. 2 shirts, one longsleeve, 3 hoodies and a winter jacket I rented at my hostel. Gloves, 2 scarfs and a woolen hat. Additional to that I had to carry a sleeping mat, a sleeping bag and my share of the tent. Also all the food and water I needed. It was actually the first time that I went on a proper hike with my travel bag pack.

We were picked up at our hostel in the morning (just 45 minutes later as we were supposed to 😉) and drove to the beginning of the trail. At this point we were already at 2400m above sea level. The final elevation on top of Acatenango should be 3950m.

The hike up was partly pretty steep and the volcanic ground didn't make it easier. But we took regular breaks and I found my pace to walk and just put one foot in front of the other (even though in the deep volcanic earth one step forward meant sometimes half a step back). I was surprised my backpack didn't bother me more. I guess we are a good team after 12 years of traveling together.

We were 5 people in our group plus our guide. The group was really nice - unfortunately the guide was pretty annoying. For one he had his own kind of humor. Making funny animal noises or repeating the same stupid jokes all along the way (even if no one would be close enough to listen). He would blow his whistle really loud and give us a yellow card if we didn't remember something he had told us. But I could have ignored that part.
What was really upsetting was that his only goal was to get up there first. He was tracking our time and instead of staying with the slowest person in the back he would just run ahead and tell her to hurry up. Going up I was with him in the front most of the time and he would say things like our group was a tortuga (turtle) even to other people. Seriously, what does it matter if we get to our camp half an hour early?

It took us exatly 5 hours and 7 minutes (tracked by our guide) to get to our camp from where we would leave early the next morning for the last bit to catch sunrise from the top. I don't remember exactly how high the elevation was here and I couldn't be bothered to ask our guide - didn't want to get another yellow card 😉

The view from the camp was already amazing! Fuego was really close right in front of us and Agua just a bit further away to the left. And it was so crazy to be above the clouds. Everything else felt so small.
We took millions of pictures, set up our tents and our guide started a fire to prepare our "dinner" - hot water to pour into a cup with instant noodle soup. I never thought instant noodle soup can satisfy you so much. But it doesn't when you are craving something warm!

The temperature changing quite rapidly. When we started going up it was still pretty hot. The higher we got the colder it was. But when we got above the clouds and back into the sun it was warm again. But up in the camp we got cold really quick as we weren't moving anymore. And as soon as the sun was down we all put on all our close and gathered around the fire.

When the sun was down also the clouds disappeared. Now you could see the lights of all the different citys down there and you could even see all the way to the pacific coast. We just sat there and watched the lights down there and the stars up in the sky.

The only thing that was missing was Fuego erupting. But after his big show a few days ago he was only making a little smoke. Instead Pacaya, another active volcanoe a bit further away was shooting a lot of lava.

We went to bed around nine as we had to get up the next morning around 4. With all the clothes I brought it actually wasn't to cold in my sleeping back. But I didn't take anything off.

I slept kind of ok but woke up around 2:30 and couldn't really go back to sleep anymore. Suddenly I heard a loud and roaring sound. It was something I had never heard before but I knew immediately what it was: Fuego erupted! I jumped out of the tent and it was really impressive. There was still no lava but a huge cloud of smoke and ashes. It got bigger and bigger and you could still here this roaring sound.
I sat there for a while watching it as I knew I was to excited to go back to sleep now anyway.

Around 4 we got up and actually just brushed our teeth (as we were already wearing all the clothes we brought), grabbed a water bottle and our cameras and started hiking again. On this last bit the volcanic earth was pretty deep but as we didn't have to carry our luggage up there it was actually a little easier.
After one and a half hour we had made it to the top!

It was pretty windy and definitely the coldest part but we sat really close together and waited for the sun to rise. In this moment Fuego erupted again! The smoke was kind of covering the sunrise for a moment but it was still pretty cool to see it again this time with a bit more light.

After sunrise our guide wanted to rush down again but we took our time to take each others victory pictures in front of Fuego. When we were finished he was gone.
But we followed the other groups down and saw how this was going. Instead of taking a long path around a huge surface of volcanic earth we would just run down sinking with our feet really deep into the ashes. I got faster and faster jumping deeper and deeper into the earth. It was so much fun till the moment I realized I had no idea how to stop again. I kind of just let myself fall backwards. And what took a long time to climb up was behind us after just a few minutes.

Back in the camp we had breakfast and then packed everything back together to start the descent. Forme this part was a lot harder. My shoes weren't the best and I had a lot of trouble not to slip and fall all the time. So going down I should be the tortuga. Again our guide couldn't be bothered to wait and just told me to run. "It's easier that way!" - maybe for him.

We were back in Antigua around noon and the first hot shower was amazing! Like everybody had said, it was cold and exhausting. But definitely worth the trip!

I saw the rest of my group again later that night for dinner and even though we had just met one day ago it felt a lot different. We had climbed a volcano together.

The next day I went to the rooftop of a cafe in Antigua and took a picture of volcano Agua from there. It's peak was stuck in the clouds. It was a weird feeling to know that we had been above these clouds. Really like I had been on top of the world.Read more