Acatenango

Acatenango was a difficult and often unpleasant hike. While I managed to take some incredible photos and saw some even more incredible things in reality I was not enjoying myself for much of the trip. In the end it was a worthwhile experience but not an easy one.

Acatenango is a volcano near Antigua, Guatemala. The top provides a breathtaking view of the surrounding area and, most importantly, the nearby Volcan de Fuego. Fuego is an active volcano which is essentially always erupting, regularly producing a burst of ash or visible lava. Acatenango is the closest you can get to Fuego without climbing Fuego itself.

My trip started with a briefing the afternoon beforehand. I met the other participants and the guide covered what we would be doing and the equipment we would need. The top of the volcano gets extremely cold and few people bring all the equipment needed to spend a night. Thankfully the agency provides decent cold weather gear for anyone who needs it.

That evening Fuego was unusually active. The massive, constant stream of lava was visible from Antigua, scary but beautiful. My roommates and I enjoyed watching it from our homestay’s rooftop deck. The next morning I showed up at the agency at 7:00am to start the trip. Upon arrival I learned that because of the previous night’s activity Acatenango had been evacuated and closed down. We wouldn’t be doing the hike that day. I rescheduled for two days later.

Two days later and we were able to start the hike. The group size had changed from 12 to 5 as people chose different hikes on different days. We took a 45 minute shuttle from Antigua to the trailhead. It was misty and wet out in the morning, this weather would stick around throughout the climb. The hike immediately starts with a steep trek and I was breathing hard within a few minutes (not a great sign). I continued to struggle as the hike continued and was starting to worry about how I would make it to the end of the 5 hour climb. Thankfully we had two local porters with us leading horses and after about an hour I asked the guide if they could take my bag. They had plenty of room on their horses and took my bag without issue. Even after loosing the weight of my bag I had a tough time making it up the volcano.

As we hiked the wind blew condensation off the trees, creating a constant shower. It was a little chilly and very wet. We took plenty of breaks throughout the climb, including one at a “coffee shop” run by local farmers. The farmers grow coffee on Acatenango and make it fresh for hikers by boiling water over a fire. Sitting down with a warm cup of coffee was wonderful after the cold, wet hike.

The last hour of the hike flattened out as we switched from climbing up to hiking around the volcano, a relief after hours of constant elevation gain. We reached basecamp at around 2pm. Unfortunately the clouds had stuck around and we couldn’t see out from anywhere on the volcano. The tents were put up and we bought a night’s supply of firewood from a local. We gathered around the fire, ate some snacks, and waited for the clouds to clear.

As the sun set it got colder and colder and I put on more and more layers. I eventually settled on a merino wool baselayer, a merino wool sweater, and my big winter coat I had borrowed from the agency. Even with these layers I was still a little colder than I would have liked to be.

Much later that evening the clouds did clear. The sun had set hours ago and all we could see were city lights and outlines of volcanoes, still a beautiful view. Unfortunately Fuego wasn’t erupting and we went to bed before seeing anything.

A few hours later I woke up to my group quickly putting on shoes and leaving the tent. Fuego was erupting, I could hear the rumbling and after opening the tent flap I saw the lava. We spent the next hour or so watching the periodic 5-10 second long eruptions. We saw the lava blast into the air and occasionally it would land on our side of Fuego, where we could see it flow down and cool.

The group woke up again at around 3:45am, we wanted to reach the summit before sun rise. Two members of the group chose not to go for the summit, they wanted to stay and take photos of Fuego at night. I started the hike to the summit but gave up fairly quickly. I had come down with a cold throughout the previous day and gotten myself an elevation headache as we climbed. At this point I felt terrible and not up for the very steep, hour long hike to the top. In the end I think I made the right call since I got to see a large eruption, the rumbling was audible for miles and the volcano was covered in glowing red lava.

I got to see a beautiful sunrise as the full landscape was revealed. We could see volcanos Fuego, Agua, and Pacaya, and in the distance the Pacific coast of Guatemala all the way down to El Salvador. Although we couldn’t see any lava erupting from the volcano in the day light we did see large clouds of ash.

After sunrise we had breakfast, packed up and head out. The sky stayed clear as we hiked down and we were treated to views hidden the day before. I had a much easier time on the way down, I didn’t come close to needing a porter. Taking a couple of breaks as we went, we quickly descended to meet with the shuttle home. I returned back to my home stay house feeling a little sick and exhausted but satisfied that I had completed a difficult trek.