Volcano Hiking in Antigua

In the small hours of the morning, we caught a shuttle from Utopia Eco Lodge (near Lanquin) to Antigua in the south of Guatemala. 

This sounds a lot more straightforward than it actually was - we started by jumping into the back of a 4WD, along with about 15 others, and bumping along a dirt road for 45 minutes. Then, once in Lanquin we found our shuttle and the driver spent about 45 more minutes just chatting and aimlessly doing nothing (we have worked out that for any journey is Guatemala you need to factor in at least an extra 1-2 hours for fucking about). FINALLY, the shuttle started driving - this portion of the journey took about 7 hours (including 1 hour stuck in traffic works and another hour stuck in traffic in Guatemala city). Needless to say, we arrived pretty tired and frustrated.  

The following day was spent wandering around Antigua. Antigua actually has a fairly interesting history, it used to be the capital city of Guatemala but after it was more or less destroyed by an earthquake, Guatemala City became the capital. 

Above is San Francisco Church, this has been restored after being mostly destroyed by the earthquake.

Below is the central water fountain at Plaza Mayor (Central Park). This was a really pretty and lively park, filled with both locals and tourists.

Antigua is frequently referred to as a 'Spanish' or 'Colonial' city and it definitely has a very European vibe, which is very different to the rest of Guatemala. The central park, cobblestone streets and bright coloured buildings definitely reminded us of some of the cities we have visited in southern Europe.

We visited the most famous monument in Antigua - the Santa Catalina Arch.

The arch was originally built as a passageway between a monastery and adjoining school - this allowed to the nuns to cross the street while upholding their vows of seclusion

We also visited El Mercado de Antigua (the market of Antigua), which is supposed to be one of the biggest and best in Antigua. 

The market was divided into different sections - there were a lot of stall selling arts, crafts and clothes.

There was also a section for cheap fruits and vegetables. 

I don't think we were here on one of the main market days so it was a little quiet (it was also raining at the time).

Antigua is so unique, in comparison to much of the rest of Central America (that we have visited so far) as it is filled with funky and modern restaurants and cafes - this city is the hipster capital of Central America and there was no shortage of lattes here!

We don't mind a little bit of hipster and visited some of these little cafes - they are all hidden in little inner courtyards and on side streets, so hipster! Above is an amazzzinnnnng turkey and pear salad I had.

One of the main activities we wanted to do while in Antigua was a volcano hike. After a lot of googling we contacted a local guide called Gilmer who organises hikes up Volcano Acetenago.

 Gilmer does not have an official company per say, but runs volcano tours with his brothers, relatives and other local guides. Gilmer is passionate about his local community and a lot of his profits go to community projects - he has helped to build a school and his current project (which he explained that our money was funding) is to build a playground for the local children. Gilmer thanked us all over and over for supporting the local community and economy. He explained that by doing this trek we had given local guides a job - these guys know the volcano back to front, they even do rescues when things go wrong, so we definitely felt like we were in safe hands (even though they didn't speak any English).

We hired hiking sticks from the locals at the base of the volcano and got started. 

I am going to preface this by saying that Volcano Acetenago was absolutely, without a doubt, the most challenging hike we have ever done. The hike starts at 2000m, which is already a pretty high altitude. We began by walking up a really steep track, made of slippery volcanic ash / mud - it was a very tough introduction!

Aaaannnd it pretty much started to rain straight away! I decided to sacrifice my base layers and just let them get wet. Luckily our waterproof back pack covers were suprisingly effective so none of the stuff we were carrying got wet. The hike went for about 4 hours, from 2,000 - 3,700m in altitude. I cannot even describe how tough it was!

Firstly, we were hiking uphill nearly the whole time AND it was raining! The volcanic ash / mud became slippery and it was a challenge just putting one foot in front of the other! Due to the rain / level of difficulty we didn't take many photos - we were focused on just surviving the hike. The guides with us seemed to take this all in their stride, they were all carrying heavier packs but are absolute machines and just soldiered on regardless!

Once we arrived as the base camp of Volcano Acetenago - this wasn't the end of the challenge. It was FREEZING! We had hired some jackets, scarves and gloves from some locals before we ascended and thank god for that - I ended up wearing everything I had brought!

The above photo portrays the end-of-the-world style weather outside of our little shelter. The guides set up a fire and we all pretty much huddled around it for the best part of 3-4 hours. 

We were supposed to have a view of the neighbouring volcano, Volano Fuego, but the rain and cloud completely obstructed this. In this photo, I am looking out towards where the volcano is located - you can see some smoke that has come from Volcano Fuego but you can't see the volcano itself. 

We all huddled around the fire before retiring to our tents at like 7pm - it was just SO COLD we couldn't sit outside anymore! Our guides were absolute troopers, these guys are machines! They cooked dinner for us, fed everyone and cleaned up, all in extremely intense weather conditions.

The night we spent camping here... wow.... I cannot explain how brutal it was! The wind was so extreme that our tent was frequently pushed against our faces - I cannot believe the poles didn't break. It was also completely freezing and difficult to get warm after being wet and cold all day.

The next morning we were supposed to get up and hike further up Volcano Acetenago to get a good view of Volcano Fuego but the guides decided that it was too dangerous (wet and windy) and let us sleep in to the beautiful hour of 5am - haha!

The sunrise was pretty spectacular!!

On the right is Volcano Fuego, which is still very active. On the left is Volcano Pacaya - you can hike up both of these as well.

I think the view was worth a night of suffering but I'm still not entirely sure.

Michael and I, with the active Volcano Fuego in the background. 

A beautiful sunrise above the dense clouds!

Michael above the clouds with Volcano Pacaya in the background - as you can see, the clouds begin to rise pretty quickly.

I was wearing all the layers of clothes I owned!

A small eruption from Volcano Fuego.

I also took a short video of one of the Fuego eruptions that we got to watch: https://youtu.be/LT1d_rIzJo0

It didn't take long for the weather to get the best of us once more - the clouds soon rose and covered both of the volcanoes. Our guides decided it was time to descend so we starting to make our way back down the volcano. This might have almost been more painful then going up - it actually made me realise how far up we had climbed the day before. 

Views of Volcano Pacaya on our descent.

My super attractive (but very effective) waterproof backpack cover on the hike back down Volcano Acetenago. Well - that was definitely a unique experience but certainly one I wouldn't want to repeat any time soon!

After getting soaking wet and enduring a sleepless, long, cold night Michael and I both got quite sick! We decided to take some time off and spent our last day and a half in Antigua attempting to rest and recuperate.