My Guatemalan journey started in Antigua, a classic central American colonial town. The town square dominates the center of town while churches seem to appear on every street corner. Streets and sidewalks are made of uneven rocks and are very narrow, wide enough for just one car or person.
The town has character which makes it worth the visit but the reason many travelers (including me) come to Guatemala and Antigua in particular is, it is the launching point to hike the nearby Acatenango and Fuego volcanoes. Over the past several years, Fuego has been Guatemala’s most active volcano with small eruptions of magma (just fun to say) and smoke visibly spewing from its cone.
The hike is a short steep hike that takes you up Acatanenga where extremely basic cabins for sleeping await. From there people can additionally hike to a viewpoint on Fuego closer to its cone, for a better viewpoint of the eruptions. In the early morning people hike to the cone of Acatenenga to view the sunrise (and a better view of Fuego).
Periodically Fuego stops erupting and wouldn’t you know it, that happened about three weeks before I arrived. Normally the stoppage does not last long but in this case it did, all the way up through my time in Antigua. The last time it lasted this long was 2018 and a large deadly eruption occurred killing over 100 people (including hikers on Fuego).
Regardless, knowing I had been anticipating this hike for over a year, with a positive spirit I signed up for it soon after my arrival in Antigua. Although I didn’t see eruptions, the volcano did start smoking the day before my hike so I got to see that and a red glow in the middle of the night. Of course, two days after my hike Feugo erupted again, but only for a day or two. It has since stopped discharging both smoke and lava so there is again concern about a major eruption.
Now remember how I said I have not had good paid tour experiences? Well, chalk up another. Besides of course the bad timing with the eruptions, I was expecting my tour to be a small group of around 14 people. It actually turned out to be an intimate group of…40. Then, rather than allowing the group to split up based on walking pace, the guides made everyone stay together. This turned a 2.5 hour hike for me into a 5 hour hike.
When we arrived at the cabins my expectation of 14 people finally came to fruition, but our staying together was amplified even more. My cabin slept 14 people, and not comfortably. Each “bed” was a thin 3” very worn mattress, barely shoulder width wide, and laid directly side by side with the others. 7 mattresses on a first floor and 7 on a platform no more than 3 feet above. Luckily we didn’t have to worry about sleep since we were waking up at 4:30 in the morning to hike to the sunrise viewpoint.
The hike in the dark was short and steep which made it a challenge and fun. And the sunrise was worth it. But, for whatever reasons, like all these tours we left too soon, as the sunrise colors didn’t fully blossom until after they made us start the walk back.
The way I see it, throughout travels you are always going to win some and lose some. I had been anticipating this hike for a long time and it didn’t turn out how I had expected, which is disappointing. But, I am still glad I did it. I made some new friends, I didn’t see magma (still fun to say) but I at least got to see smoke from an active volcano (which people for the three weeks before and after me didn’t), and I got a little hiking in.
Bubbles up!!
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