Acatenango Volcano, Guatemala

So far all I have done in Antigua is Spanish school and a fair amount of getting to know the bars. The Terrace (hostel) gets people up and moving place to place, which makes it hard to stay in at night. Anyways, surrounded by volcanos it was time for me to hike one of these sons of bitches.

Surrounding the town of Antigua, there are 4 solid volcanoes. Some you can hike in an hour, the others are full or multi day trips. The small hike is to a volcano called Pacaya. Years ago you could hike this up and see lava flowing around you! Sounded rad...but today its just heats the old dried up lava. When you get to the top you roast marshmallows on the lava bed (no lava = boring). So I decided to do the gnarmax hike and bite the bullet. At this point I can't say I'm in the greatest lower body exercise shape. I can paddle all day but legs haven't done much except walk every bit of Antigua multiple times a day.

My decision was to hop on a multi-day trip to Acatenango. This was supposedly the hardest hike in the area. 5 hours straight up a volcano to 4,000 meters up in the sky. 3 levels of climate change: farmland, cloud forest, and the peak). The night before the large group of 14 had to meet at the lodge and go over gear and equipment. The owner of the place talked to everyone like we were 5 years old and knew right off the bat this guy sucks. So made a point to not engage with the dude as much as possible. I judged the book by the cover but this guy was a real prick. The other 2 guides seemed cool, so that was a easy way to by-pass the weirdo.

Meeting ended and I grabbed some old gear: fleece pants that was made for a midget, a pair of gloves that showed the cotton out of the thumb and a sweet old school puffy jacket, plus a cool beanie that was made in the 70's. I was in.

Woke up the next day at 5:30 am and heading to the lodge to meet everyone. Cold and tired but a quick coffee did the job. Two vans pulled up and we headed out. The drive was about a hour on some good roads then turned into a bumpy gravel nightmare. We finally pulled up to a trail that literally went straight up. No turns and soft gravel/ash. Everyone got out, prepared there minds mentally and got a group photo before we headed up.

The trip finally began. 14 people stuck together like bees quickly separated within 10 minutes. People were sweating like they were in a sauna and appeared like they were dying. But they are all pussies.

20 minutes in the boss stopped everyone for a break. Supposedly this was the hardest part of the hike. Not warmed up and instantly going straight up. He was right. One of the girls at this point looked like there was no way she was going to make it up. She hired a porter (local to carry her backpack to the top). I guess that helped her even though the backpacks only weighed 10 lbs. Regardless, we pushed forward. At this point we are still in the farming section. Surrounded by lush fruits and vegetables all perfectly aligned agriculture. It was truly a great site to see.

About 1 hour in the farm land changed into the cloud forest. Colder and full of amazon looking giant trees. If tarzan existed this would be his homeland. Large vine-ropes you could swing from one to another. Each tree didn't have your traditional trunk. It was full of small vines. You could walk through some of them they were so big. As we pushed further up the hike the air got thinner and much harder to breath. At this point the trail finally started to cut back and forth, rather than straight up. The dirt was dark brown/black. You knew anything you would plant here would grow. The soil was incredible.

3 hours in we finally made it to the halfway point. This area was called "lunchbox". A nice flat piece of land with a small hut you could go inside to be protected from the winds. A bunch of local Guatemalans were here taking naps and relaxing. Go figure, we all posted up and ate lunch...and took a nice nap. Potentially dangerous b/c when we all woke up, no one could move. All stiff and tired made the initial 2nd half much harder. The view at this point looked over the whole countries farmland and a few cities. Already up 2,000 meters up and a airplane was parallel with us. Plus 2,000 more to go.

We trekked on. The group separated into 3 small klans. I was in the front with some new friends. All of which were Canadian an of course acting like it was the best country (Canadians are good at this b/c they don't want to be associated with Americans for some reason). Regardless, still a great group and made some good friends in the future. We charged up this mountain. Each time the guide wanted to rest we kept pushing further. At this point, my legs are pretty tired. Getting that weird vibrant, jello like feeling everywhere...but kept charging.

Passed the cloud forest and into some extreme winds (no trees protecting us). Above the clouds and walking in slush...well it felt like snow. Each step would drop you down a foot. The soil was so loose and the rock would just fall apart if you stepped on it. The trail turned into multi trails. Each person just picked there own route. Huffing and puffing this whole way, the air was thin and every 20 feet you had to stop. The group dispersed again. If you pushed it too hard you would just pass out from exhaustion.

5 hours in we made it to the top. Well, I thought we did. Walked around for a bit taking photos and then realized we had to walk down the hill for a bit to get to the campsite before we summit the peak. Like I said before, my legs were pretty much dead at this point so getting to camp was a relief. Right next to camp was the giant peak that once again went straight up. We had a half hour break and geared up with are warm clothes and headed up for sunset.

Of all of the trails then one was the hardest. Straight up and full of loose sand. This was a long hike to the top. Some of the spots if you fell, you would rag doll down the hill for a mile. The wind was howling and slow babysteps got me to the top. Finally crawled up to a image I've never seen before.

The scenery was surrounded by volcanoes and popcorn looking clouds. Fuevo ( the active volcano) was right next to us. The peak of Acatenango dipped down into a huge crater. It took 20 minutes just to walk around the crater to get a better view of Fuevo. Best part is, right when we got to that side, the volcano erupted and shot smoke right in front of us! Unreal. At this point, all I can say is pictures don't capture the experience that went down that day. Freezing cold, snot running down my face and a smile that was locked in for that hour. In the distance you could see San Pedro and the 10 volcanoes that wrapped around it. The other side you could see even more volcanoes and both Antigua and Guatemala city. Just look at the photos and ask me some questions b/c I'm not sure how to write down this experience. Just unreal.

Sunset happened and instantly rad down the hill to our campsite. Literally ran down the mountain like your on snow at the resort. My nike's were full of rock but didn't matter. I haven't been this cold in years.

Got down to the camp and the guides passed out wine and whiskey. A much deserved celebration. For dinner was some asian noodle dish. We all ate as fast as possible, shot this shit and drank. Then went to bed. It was probably 6:30 by the time I passed out.

Next morning me and 2 others woke up at 5 am. with our torches in hand and climbed the beast again. This time it was pitch black out and a bit more scary. Even colder than before and we kept on charging up to the top. We made it up and instantly Fuego shot out a a bolting blast of red hot lava! None of us were prepared for this and only our eyes captured the glorious moment. For the next hour, we posted up next to Fuego waiting for it to shoot more lava out. It never did. But it did shoot up a bunch of smoke plenty of times while the sunset came up. Truly amazing.

That morning we came down and ate, packed up the gear and headed back down. A two day hike took us about 3 hours to get down. By the time we got down I was exhausted.

Check it off the bucket list and memories for a lifetime.

San Pedro

Back on the grind! Its been a few weeks since I've been on good old blogger. Here's a update:

After a few weeks of learning Spanish, I booked a trip to Lake Atitlan as a celebration of learning again. Said goodbye to some friends at the hostel and jumped on a shuttle to the lake. Specifically a town on the lake called San Pedro. 

Instantly, the shuttle was full of fellow travelers and a new set of friends was born. The drive out to the Lake was filled with beer drinking and story swapping. The standard: where are you from, how long you traveling for, age, yada yada. After you pass that level, then the good stories come out once people know each other. A quick example of a story is this UK kid got slipped a pill and had some nervous reaction to the drug and watched his right hand wrist loose all control. Now, his hand is paralyzed for life (well, until he flys back home and gets some serious surgery on it. Pretty messed up.

Anyways after a few hours of driving, climbing up and down mountains, we finally arrived overlooking this lake. At that point, the drive down to the lake took about an hour. If you remember the Mazda "zoom zoom" commercials, these roads would put it to shame. Every corner coming down was a switch back. Finally, we arrived in San Pedro.

At this point on the shuttle we had about 11 people who were all friends and no hostel to stay out. We jumped off the bus and got a nice settle bombarding of locals trying to sell us hostel information. Since this town is very small all of the well known hostels get full each night. Its 8 pm. so we already screwed for those options. This dude took us on some trek, in and out of some sketchy thin alleyways. If that guy disappeared we would all be lost. We arrived at some shitty looking hostel that was marketed for $1.50 a night. We were stoked but they only had 2 rooms available so we took off for the next place. Next stop was a upgrade to $3.00 a night so we booked it. Settled in and went off for food and drinks. Ate some fish and we all got lost coming back to the hostel. I say this b/c the town isn't your average one way street, its all rape valley looking alleyways. Once you think you find your way out, theres another tiny road that links to another one. Like I said, a perfect place to get robbed or like they call it "rape valley".

Anyways, we partied that night, found some weird hippy bars (San Pedro is a hippie, expat town) and called it a night.

Next day woke up to this incredible view overlooking the lake. Volcanoes surrounding us and cold, clear water...and no one in it. To my surprise there were no flashy boats, jet skis, or any commotion in the water. Which was good. 

For the next few days, all you do is go from smoothie shop to the next, eating cheap food then drinking cause there wasn't much to do. One of the days we headed to the town San Marcos (other side of the lake). Even more of a hippie town. Filled with massages, shaman readers, and acid. You can walk the town in about 1 minute. Speak with locals to buy fruit from them, while watching some gringo hippie juggle bowling pins in the air behind them. Quite strange, hard not to laugh at them, but a general twilight feeling. Pretty fun for one day.

Back to San Pedro. Cheap, good food but nothing to do. We made the best of it but I couldn't take it any longer. I booked my shuttle back to Antigua. When you go to an incredible city with everything to offer and then switch it over to a small hippie town, its quite a shock.

Antigua Continued

Day 1 and a half

That night after wondering the city with my buddy James, got back to the hostel and the place was packed. On the top floor is the bar which overlooks down. Cheap drinks and lots of good people. Met up with the group I found the night before and got things going. This time two more Aussies joined the group. Similar surf trip itinerary I am doing but they were going from South to North. Anyways, you find Aussies to party with and you know its gonna be an out of control night.

We partied at the hostel until midnight and headed out. The way it works in this town is the bars close at 1 am but then the other after party bars open up and don't really close. We all headed there. By the time we got there, the place was packed. Full of Guatemalan girls and fellow travelers. Super fun! Pretty standard move of mine when abroad, I instantly lost everyone from bouncing around talking to new people. This resulted in me on my own like a dumb-ass. I looked at the clock and it was 5:30 or something. Some absurd hour of the night. Problem is, I still didn't understand the city and knew from the get go I was about to get lost...and lost I did. I walked out the front door and didn't know whether to go left or right. I was screwed. I ended up walking around the city for an hour or so lost out of my mind. Not stressing at all, as I knew I would find the hostel, but frustrating because I didn't mentally map out the city in my brain before we left.

Saw an upcoming cop car heading my direction and thought I was about to get robbed. They pulled over and interrogated me. All in Spanish, so I knew nothing of what they were saying. Luckily, I had a copy of my passport and gave that to them. They searched me top to bottom looking for drugs. Pulled out all of my money in my wallet and even searching in there for drugs. All which, I had none, so that helped me. They put my money back in my wallet. I tried asking them where my hostel was and they wouldn't help, or better yet just didn't know what I was saying. After chatting for a bit we parted ways. No harm no foul. Literally a block away was my hostel! Got in and went to bed. Great night, even though the cops were actually doing there jobs and didn't take my money for the hell of it. This city is pretty safe. Don't worry mom, they do this to most travelers at this time of hour.

Antigua, Guatemala

Conquered El Salvador and decided to move north to Guatemala for the time being, then head south to Nicaragua end of the month to meet up with Garrett. 

So the journey began with a 5 hour mini shuttle bus from El Tunco, El Salvador to Antigua, Guatemala. The shuttle was me, a couple from France and a Aussie. The ride consisted of world travel talk, where to go, where have you been, etc. All three of these people came from South America and all got me pretty excited to go there (If I make it that far)... It was a fast drive, weaving in and out of cars to finally arriving to the border. The border consisted of a few guards, tiny little bridge and no lines. Got my exit ticket / stamp and moved in Guatemala. This was all within 5 minutes, real fast. On the flip side the traffic coming into El Salvador was out of control. Miles of trucks were parked waiting in line as we drove by. Bummer for those guys...we win.

Instantly we started to climb into the mountains. At this point it was dark but a distant thunder and lightning storm lit up the skys for the whole drive. There were some lightning bolts that struck from cloud to cloud shooting a Zeus like football pass across the skys. It was pretty cool.

Finally arrived to Antigua. Rich colonial town, cobble stone and lots of people walking the streets. We didn't know where we were staying but the bus driver said he would drop us off at a hostel. Luckily, the Aussie heard of a joint, so we got dropped off there. This hostel was called Le Tariza. Large, four story colonial house that got transformed into a hostel. Really neat and full of travelers. Instantly knew this place was going to be trouble. Me and James (Aussie) went to book a room but they were full for tonight. They referred us to across the street and booked there for the night. I dropped my bags off and headed back over to Le Tariza to make some new friends at the bar. 

Few hours later I'm with a group of 5-10 of us walking around looking for some other bars to party at. The problem is (actually the coolest thing ever), is there is no marketing in this city. Everything is preserved, no real signs for your business until your at the door. Each small building changes from pastel color to color and each with a castle like door to enter. When I own my castle, Antigua will be the place to shop for my entrance door. They take pride in these things. Seriously unreal doors.

Anyways, we found the bar. Inside was dimmed lighting and nooks and crannies around each corner filled with more people. Mellow environment but great atmosphere. Only thing they sold here was Mariskata and beer (some liquor that makes feel all good inside, you know...like tequila. People end up dancing on tables and laughing hysterically. You get the point).

The rest was history and was the first night with new friends.

Next day, woke up at my hostel and packed my bags to move to Le Tariza. Took a shower and headed out to explore the city.

The city of Antigua isn't huge but the amount of walking and driving traffic is everywhere. Tuk tuks drive all around. Similar to the ones in Thailand but they have soft top rain guards over the top when it rains, and convertible Labron style driving when its sunny. All of the roads are cobble stone, horses are walking around, and old colonial buildings are everywhere. It truly puts you back in time. The twist is, once inside a restaurant or store, there updated and renovated. You may be walking around, stumble across a store and it would be a handy store like home depot. Super random but really cool.

Best part about this city is the ice-cream and popsicles. They truly understand my obsession and fed all of my needs. Literally every corner of the city has 2 or 3 ice-cream shops, and all different. My favorite so far is this popsicle that looks like a football but cut in half. The end of it has the popsicle stick, the other end is the fruit. Hope that makes some sort of sense. All of which has 20 or more flavors to choose from. My favorite so far is Zapota. Its some Mexican/Guatemalian fruit. Taste like a guava mixed with passion fruit. Great texture and will be in the future popsicle book. Good stuff!

The city gets really cold at night but doesn't stop anyone from getting there sugar intake and binging on ice-cream.

Around the city is there market. Which is similar to most markets I have been to: full of fruits and vegetables, exact same clothing at each vendur, and lots of people. Easily getting lost around each corner and having a rabbit whole like feeling. I got stuck walking around this place for hours, having no idea where I was. It was great. I bought a large bag of strawberries for 50 cents and probably saw the biggest carrot of my life.

After walking around all day, I found a Spanish school that I signed up for. Four hours a day from Monday-Friday. I'll be getting my Spanish on and hopefully be able to talk to some people.

Day 1 down.

Overall, I see why people get stuck in the city for a long time.