The quaint town of Antigua in Guatemala is surrounded by no less than four volcanoes (!); volcán Fuego (3763 meters, infamous for its recent eruptions), next doors volcán Acatenango (3975 meters), volcán Pacaya (with its 2552 meters a lot less smaller, yet also subject of eruptions ) and volcán Agua (3760 meters – Antigua is at the base of this volcano).
Aka, this town is a hiker’s dream!
If you stay long enough in Antigua, at some point you will be wondering for sure what the view would be like on one of these tops. Fun thing is that all of these volcanoes are accessible (on the precondition that one of them isn’t terribly erupting at the time – like the Fuego at the time of our visit (December 2018). Agua, Fuego and Acatenango all three directly overlook Antigua, whilst Pacaya is just an hour away by car.
The eruptions from Fuego can be witnessed from Antigua as well ↓
All these four volcanic peaks can be climbed within a day, but to get the best view on and from the top, many travellers choose a hike with an overnight stay. If only to enjoy a marvellous sunrise the next morning and to see that lava flow even better from up close at night.
If you want to, you can even hike some of the volcanoes by yourself. However, as I’d heard some creepy stories of robberies at the volcano slopes I personally figured it’d be best to join an organisation. Also, as we wanted to do an overnight trekking and I wasn’t looking forward to carry along my own sleeping gear anyway. I had the feeling the trekking itself would be hard enough already.
Doubting to hike either the Pacaya (a relative easy trekking) or the Acatenango we decided to go full throttle and opt for the latter one. No pain no gain. If only because Acatenango provides some awesome views on nearby volcán Fuego, which was at the time of our visit (December 2018) erupting fiercely. Acatenango itself luckily is a dormant volcano (its last eruption was in 1972). It’s also the third tallest in the country and even has two peaks to its name.
There are quite some organisations in Antigua that provide this overnight hike, which is great, but it also makes it difficult to choose which one to join.
Although both OX Outdoor Excursions ($89,- USD per person) and Old Town Outfitters ($170,- USD per person, but the price drops when more than two persons join the trip) were highest on the Tripadvisor list, we chose to go with Wicho and Charlie. We accidentally passed by this agency and casually informed about the trip.
Wicho and Charlie had last-minute availability, very solid ratings on Tripadvisor and the price ($57,- USD, with food and accommodation ánd warm clothes included) was just super right. On top of that it seemed to be a favourite among backpackers.
That said, I was slightly afraid at first it would be like a party-hike. I mean nothing wrong with a fiesta from time to time, but after a day of intense climbing and the need to wake up freakishly early in the morning to climb that last devilish bit to the top, it didn’t seem the best idea to get totally wasted on a very high altitude. Just my thoughts.
Luckily it wasn’t like that at all. We had a great (and big) group and everything was organized very neatly. Let me show you how the hike with this organization was like in here! ↓
The start
The first hiking day started at 07:30 am at the office of Wicho and Charlie. Everyone was able to gather some last gear (think of shoes, jackets, headlamps and walking poles) and afterwards a decent breakfast with oats and eggs was served to insert a bit of energy. We had a tough day ahead of us after all!
After a short briefing of what we could expect time wise that day ↑, we took off to with these vans ↓
After the one hour drive we were dropped at the base of the trail, on the slopes of the Acatenango. We were ready to start that ascent of the mountain, hurray!
But soon enough I realized we shouldn’t get too excited. The first hour of the hike was just so so so so super tough. In hindsight I think this actually was the hardest part of the entire ascent to the top for me. “Just don’t look up” was a last tip given to us by one of the crew members. “This will make the hike even harder”. Solid advice indeed.
I was trying hard to keep that in mind, but even with a non-stop focus on the ground you could feel how steep this path was. And we just kept sinking away in that loose volcano sand.
As a lot of people were descending at the same moment that we were going up, I was having a hard time believing I would actually make it to the top. In general I’d like to think that I’m fairly fit, but I surely wasn’t that moment.
After some 45 minutes we were able to catch our breath during the first break. It was 11 am by now, the sun was out and I was sweating like a sinner in church.
The road luckily became a bit (but only just a little bit!) less technical after this stop. Finally I was able again to talk while walking and that makes hiking way more bearable (at least for myself :)).
Another half an hour later we finally arrived in the cloudy forest (shade!). An entrance fee of 50 QTZ was required to be paid in here.
Around noon we took a break: time for sandwiches! In our lunch bag – provided by the tour organisation – we also found a lot of other great snacks, such as chips and peanuts. The brownie in particular was really, really moisty and a great snack for the tougher moments.
Fueled up for the last bit we just had one more hour ahead of us.
I’m smiling and slowly dying on the inside in here ↓
At least the views kept us going ↓
And finally, around 2:30 pm we made it to basecamp! A small plateau, La Meseta, provides a solid campground on the volcano. As far as I could see, all of the organisations camp at this spot. But no worries, they are all spread out along this slope, so therefore it doesn’t feel packed or something at the top.
The views on the nearby (and lower) active crater of Fuego from this area were really epic. While recovering from the hike we just set down and watched the flumes escaping de Fuego.
Unfortunately around 4pm we slowly became surrounded by mist. When the top seems clear, it’s possible to hike to the peak on the same day, to experience a wonderful sunset, but we had rotten luck today. The clouds made it impossible to see anything. At the same time I was already so tired that I was also a tad happy I could skip another steep ascent.
We cozied up by the fire for the rest of the evening; telling stories, drinking hot chocolate and roasting marshmallows.
Later on we enjoyed a vegetarian pasta and some wine, just to get a little warmer.
To top it all off, around 9 pm (I was almost stepping into my bed), the Fuego suddenly gave away a marvellous lava explosion show! It was gorgeous and so high! I didn’t had my camera ready (plus the moment passed super fast), but were all stunned by this awesome treat at the end of the day.
But one person in our group got creative! ↓
Haha!
That daunting last bit
The next morning the guides woke us up around 4 am. We had 15 minutes to get ready. None of us really slept well. Although the blankets kept us warm, it’s just rough sleeping at such a high altitude.
Although it was rather cold, the last trail to the top was so tough that I was stripping layers of clothes within no-time, even tough the wind was blowing fiercely.
I thought this hike to the peak was dreadful. It took a full 1,5 hour hike up, again on very loose gravel and we were totally surrounded by mist. On the way I couldn’t see anything around me, just head lamps of the other people in front of us on the mountain.
And then we made it to the top: mist. No beautiful sunrise. ?
It would be fun, they said. It would be a gorgeous morning they said. There would be no clouds the next morning they said. Nope. White and ice cold sheets of wind, that’s all we had ?. But ah well, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose you know!
Most hikers came prepared. Along with our sleeping bags we were hoping for just one more clear moment at the top. Alas. Thus it was time to descent after some 15 minutes at the peak!
Nobody said it was easy…
Earlier in the morning, somebody of our group decided just to chill in bed and not to do the harsh climb. She probably enjoyed the best sunrise of all… but don’t tell her that, because there will be no living with her afterwards ↓
In general, descents take like half of the ascent time, but as the ash was so loose, everyone was just dropping it like it’s hot. This absolutely was butt-first volcano sliding and it was awesome! If only we had some boards, like we did in Nicaragua.
Totally covered in ash, gravel and dust it took most of the group some 15 minutes to get back to basecamp.
At the top of the mountain we suddenly saw a dog popping up in the mist. As there are so many stray dogs in Central America, in general every mountain or hill seems to have a spirit dog anyway, but it was just bizarre to see this happy fellow welcoming us in the bear cold.
Spirit Dog followed us all the way to basecamp and got very fond of one of the Aussies in our group (and yes, that made me slightly jealous). He (Spirit Dog) was having a great time at the fire with our group, getting cuddles and food from many.
After some oats and a cup of coffee it was time to head back to civilization. And warmer climates.
Jori made one last drone clip from our basecamp. Pretty peaceful right? ↓ And of course it suddenly seemed to be impeccably clear at the top of the Acatenango…
On the way back we spotted many flowers that were beautifully draped with daw like these ones.
The road back took something like two hours.
I was amazed to see how much altitude we had gained the day before! As we were chatting non-stop with one another I barely noticed how tough the hike had been.
Unfortunately I did feel my knees on the way back. I was happy that I’d rented some hiking poles and I would really advice you to do the same.
My knees never hurt while climbing nor descending, but the day after this trekking I really felt them.
And here we are again; finally back at the start of the trail!
Totally exhausted we were dropped off at 11 am in the office of Wicho and Charlie. Although a tad disappointed that we hadn’t seen the sunrise, I was very happy that I had made it to the top anyway! Unfortunately you can never tell what kind of weather you’ll have, but I doubt you’ll have so much bad luck as we did :). It’s impossible!
Still, despite the clouds I thought the hike was absolutely worth it, if only because of the gorgeous views on the valley below and the close up lava eruptions of volcano Fuego.
So who knows, I might go again one day!
Here’s where to find that volcano and that tough trail to the top! ↓
