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.