Acatenango
Saturday, December 9
During our time in Antigua, Guatemala, we also experienced what was probably the biggest adventure of our entire 12-month trip: a hike to an active volcano!
Like in many other countries in Central America, there are so many volcanoes in Guatemala. Of the 37 volcanoes in the country, some of them are still active today. Both the city of Antigua and the lake “Lago Atitlan” are surrounded by (inactive) volcanoes and as you stroll through the city you can marvel at the huge, cone-shaped volcanoes.
About 40 km from Antigua is the active volcano “Fuego” (3760 meters high). Although the Fuego volcano is active and erupts several times a week, the eruptions are “mini-eruptions” that are not dangerous for the surrounding villages. The volcano repeatedly spews clouds of ash and small amounts of lava into the air, which then runs down the volcanic mountain, but due to the small amount of lava, it cools down after a short time and never reaches the villages. Even though Fuego Volcano is classified as „mildly active“ and its eruptions are very small compared to other active volcanoes in the world, the rising clouds of ash and the few splashes of lava look spectacular from a distance! Of course, the eruptions of the Fuego volcano (small as they are) are only harmless as long as you are far enough away from them. Under no circumstances should you try to climb the Fuego volcanic mountain.
Fortunately, there is an exhausting but quite safe way to marvel at the small eruptions of the Fuego volcano: a hike to the nearby „Acatenango“ mountain, from which you have a wonderful view of the Fuego volcano. Since the inactive Acatenango volcano is also a very high and steep mountain, this hike is a 2-day tour with an overnight stay at the base camp of the Acatenango mountain. Christoph and I didn't want to miss out on this unique experience and ended up booking a 2-day tour with guides from a local company in Antigua.
On the day of the hike we took a bus from Antigua to the small village where we started the hike, which was at an altitude of around 1600 meters above sea level. The base camp, which we were supposed to reach that same day, was at an altitude of 3,600 meters above sea level, so we had to hike up a total of 2,000 meters of height. The climb up the Acatenango was very strenuous, as the path was always steep and you mostly walked on scree and sand, but it was still doable for us. As soon as you reach the 3000 meters above sea level mark you notice that breathing is a bit more difficult so we took lots of breaks. We reached the base camp at 3600 meters above sea level in about 5 hours during this hike we passed a wide variety of vegetation zones. You start between wide, flat fields, then you reach a kind of tropical, densely vegetated rainforest, then you get into a dry coniferous forest and finally you are above the trees at an altitude of over 3000 meters and you can see all the trees, mountains and even clouds from above. When we arrived at the base camp all tired and exhausted, we had a great view of the huge Fuego volcano opposite the base camp, which seemed so much closer than expected. The moment we entered the base camp, we suddenly heard a deep, loud rumbling that sounded like loud thunder. However, with sunlight and clear visibility that day, it was not thunder, but rather the Fuego volcano, which catapulted a huge cloud of ash into the air a few seconds after rumbling. What an impressive reception at Basecamp! The volcano grumbled a bit, spewed out more clouds of ash and a few minutes later it was quiet again and the cloud of ash dissolved completely. We spent the next few hours in camp (by now it was afternoon) having lunch and enjoying the sun and the gigantic view. At very irregular intervals, the volcano began to grumble slightly and spew clouds of ash. Between eruptions the volcano was completely silent.
Sometimes the volcano thundered every half hour, sometimes not at all for several hours. Even though we had only spent a few hours next to the volcano at this point, this trip was already the most amazing trip of my life! The view from the base camp of the surrounding landscape was incredibly beautiful and the Fuego volcano nearby the camp was so much bigger and more powerful than we had imagined.
A few hours later the sun had set, which meant that it quickly became very, very cold in the base camp as we were at an altitude of 3600 meters above sea level. Luckily our guides quickly made a campfire, cooked a delicious warm dinner and even gave us a pack of marshmallows and sticks so that we could comfortably grill marshmallows on the mountain at an altitude of 3600 meters. A crazy situation and a luxury considering that the guides had to carry all this food and the water for cooking dinner in their backpacks up the mountain. A few hours passed in which the volcano did not make any sound at all, until suddenly a loud rumbling could be heard again and we could actually see some small lava flows in the dark of the night! The next few hours were the most exciting hours of our entire trip, as we were able to see several small explosions of the volcano and lava fountains, which was a totally crazy, impressive and surreal feeling.
The sunrise the next day was the most beautiful I had ever seen and the view of the surrounding volcanoes and mountains in the orange light was amazing. When the sun had just risen, I decided to sit in front of the hut with my sketchbook at 6:30 a.m. and draw the volcano on the other side of the basecamp. I enjoyed the peace and quiet so much, as there was nothing going on in the base camp that early in the morning. I was able to create my sketchbook drawing in the most beautiful (but really cold) setting ever. That weekend and this peaceful drawing session was the most beautiful experience of our 1-year-long trip.
