Acatenango

Antigua, Guatemala

Thursday 05/07/2018
07:35 - We arrive at Wicho & Charlie's Tour Agency. Our big backpacks are half-empty with only our warmest clothes (which is not a lot), spare change of shirts and underwear, and the camera. The rest is soon to be filled with; 5 liters of water, windbreakers, winter jackets, rain ponchos, hats, buffs, gloves, plates, cutlery, cups, and food. We are preparing for something big here. And though we know where we're going and how to get there, we have no idea of what we have just gotten ourselves into.

09:00 - After a sturdy breakfast of coffee, eggs, toast, and a godforsaken bowl of oatmeal, we left the "office" and set off with two shuttles filled with 18 other anticipating backpackers. About an hour later we arrived at the start of our trail that would take us up to the summit of Acatenango, a dormant volcano (with a not-so-dromant neighborg, Volcán de Fuego). We are already at a 2400m elevation, but we had to go up to 3300m just to reach the basecamp where we will spend the night before climbing to the summit of 3976m. It should take about 4-6 hours depending on your ability. Great.

Ready to start hiking! (Jackets came off quickly, it was very warm in the beginning..)

10:00 - The hike begins. The first part goes between fields of corn, they said it was the steepest part in the beginning, then it will get easier. Dan and I are in the lead just behind the first guide. It is steep, steeper than I thought it would be, but we're going fast. We can do this!

10:15 - We stop for our first breather. Dan and I are already in the back, gasping for air, leaning on our walking sticks. We meet people who are on their way down, giving a quick smile that says "man, you got some way ahead of you". I secretly want to join them. We begin to walk again.

Through the cornfields. Cheers to our awesome "Not the last group"- members!!

11:30-ish - Time has no meaning anymore, just walking and breathing. The stairs that are sporadically placed are the worst. My legs are so tired, and then using the little power I still have in them (with more than 10 kg on my back) to heave up a step, is torture.
  Dan and I found ourselves walking together with two other girls and one guide, whom we walk together with for basically the rest of the hike. We are far behind the others, but not the last ones. We are proud of this fact.
  We reach a small shed and some benches where the rest of the group has stopped. It is the entrance to the national park that surrounds Acatenango, and so we are waiting for everyone to pay their fee. It is quite beautiful here, a bit earlier the cornfields had stopped and we entered a forest. It is lush, with a mix of trees and bamboos. It becomes quite mystical as the clouds roll over and around us (like the Forbidden Forest in Harry Potter 🤓)We cool down quickly and have to warm up with our windbreakers for a bit. 15 minutes later the walk starts again.

Climbing spooky tree!

Resting in spooky forest!

12:00 - We reach the second part of the hike, we're still in the forest but now it is a bit less steep. Or that's what the guide claims. It's really just the same, but in zigzag instead of straight up. Our little group powers on. We walk to one end, and when it turns, we stop to catch our breath, and then we walk to the other. We walk like this, 10 meters - stop - 10 meters - stop, for the next hour.

13:00 - It's time for lunch! Also time for the only drizzle of rain that we will encounter on the hike. Typical. So we eat our surprisingly delicious baguettes in rain ponchos. We also eat some of the snacks we got given on the start. We want to get as much energy as possible, to get through to the third and last part which is claimed to be flatter, easy even. But until then we have about another hour hiking. We begin again.

13:30 - We have hit an all time low point of the hike. Both Dan and I are deep in struggle town. It feels like it is steeper then ever. I fell. Our pace of 10 meters - stop - 10 meters - stop, has been reduced to a mere 4 steps - stop - 4 steps - stop. The small group we had is spread out with 20-30 meters between us. It is so cloudy that we can barely see each other. Me left thumb starts to tingle weirdly, then my hand, and then up through my whole left arm. It is also starting to get cold. And being cold and sweaty has a history of being not-so-great. I keep looking at the guide that sticks with us. How does he do this a few times a week? He looks completely unbothered. Whats wrong with you?

Actually don't remember exactly when this was, but i think it was just after the hardest part 😰

14:30 - Luckily, as our guides promised, the trail flattened and straightened out. It came just in time, I don't know how much longer we could have kept going for, and still find it somehow worth it in the end. The third part of the hike went through a nice pinewood forest, and this was really more like a walk in the park. Like this, we could have kept walking for hours. We enjoyed it a lot, and talked about how this is how you want to do a hike. Our mood had changed drastically.

15:20 - We arrive at the basecamp, at around 3300m above sea. It was a glorious scene. Three large tents with seven beds in each. Two smaller tents for the guides and kitchen. A campfire, under some tarp, already lit with logs and camping chairs around. The last 5-10 minutes up here had taken a little bit extra out of us. It was almost worse than any of the previous, but it was so short, and the end so rewarding, that it did not bother us. We stripped out of our sweaty clothes and put on all the gear that we had prepped back at the "office". It was very cold up here. After a little while we were presented with a hot cup of chocolate, and we finally began to relax a little.

Basecamp!!!

Can't have hot chocolate without marshmallows!

16:00 - The clouds that had been all around us for the last 4 hr started to drift away. And we got our first look of the actual view. It was breathtaking. Within 10 minutes it was like a wall had been erased next to us, and now we had a sea of forest, towns and villages, roads, and fields beneath us. I can't remember being that high up before, looking down. But the best part, a full clear view of Volcán de Fuego. Seeing the constant eruptions of smoke and lava from this volcano was the main reason for many peoples strenuous hike up here on Acatenango. 

Only photo i can find of the view.. But you can see the clouds beneath us and how small those houses are in the town!

Volcán De Fuego! Can you see the old lava that ran down on the left side?

  It was beautiful. But as many of you might remember. Last month Fuego had an eruption so large, it buried and surrounded whole villages, killed about 300 people, and put thousands out of their homes. It's been catastrophic for many people surrounding, but something else that it also effected were the tourism industry. Travelers became scared of new eruptions, and avoided coming here altogether. It has been better and better since then though, but the hike to Acatenango has changed. The lava and smoke you would see, and hear, constantly before, now happens maybe every three days. We saw some steam rising from Fuego, but that was it. Still awesome though! I hope that this doesn't mean that eventually travelers will stop going up there, since a lot of people seems so complain about it. It definitely worth doing it no matter the state of Fuego! Towns like Antigua lives on tourism, and Antiguas biggest attraction is the Acatenango hike. It would be devastating to see that come to a stop.

But anyways, let's carry on!

19:00 - We got served dinner which consisted of spaghetti in a tomato sauce and a cup of red wine. These are the kind of luxuries you get when you pay the extra 15 EUR to go with the popular tour haha. We ate while watching the stars and looking out on all the towns below that now glistened more than the night sky did. The day had taken the most out of us, and just 20 minutes later us, and most of the group, had gone to bed.

Friday  06/07/2018
03:45 - We wake up in the same clothes, hats and jackets we had the evening before. The night was long and cold, and my legs had been sore which kept me awake until well after midnight. We walk out in complete darkness. The clouds are again low and thick, and in the light from the head torches we could see it whisk around us. When everyone was ready we start our last ascending hike. It is only about a 600 meter difference in elevation, but it still took about 1.5 hours. We walk through rough black sand from the volcano, which make you literally take two steps - slide down one steps. It was cold, dark and very windy. Even though this was very tiresome, and it was hard to breath because of the lack of oxygen in the air, it was a bit more adventurous. Like pilgrims on an important quest or something.

05:45 - We're trying to catch a glimpse of the sunrise through the clouds, but it keeps blowing over us and blocking the view. I never got a good photo, but the little i could see was so pretty. Pink, gold and blue that spread over the top of the clouds beneath us. Like a glimpse of heaven.
   Up here it's SO windy! You can stand on the ridge and lean forward, completely relaxed, and you wont fall. Or if you jumped in the air, it knocks you back a little!
   We stayed for about 15-20 minutes before we headed back down again. The way down to basecamp was a lot easier, and quite fun. We could quickly slide down in the sand almost like we were skiing. It took only 20 minutes I believe.

Just a hint of something going on there. Darn clouds!

Extremely hard to take a photo, so wet up here. But here's Dan on top of Aca petting a dog that managed to come with us!

07:30 - After some breakfast of more oatmeal and some coffee, we started descending Acatenango. It was a lot quicker with about 2-2.5 hours, but still a bit of work. A lot of slipping down the steep gravely parts, so it was easier just to run. I definitely have to work on strengthening my legs, the last hour they were just trembling, and I didn't trust them of carrying me much longer. By the end of it I walked like a 90 year old lady in desperate need of a hip replacement.
   I thought it would make me relieved to see the other hikers who were passing us, going up. But it just made me feel sorry for them haha.

9:45-ish - Just as glorious it was to see the basecamp after going up, it was the same feeling coming down. The beautiful asphalt road, Guatemalan ladies selling snacks and refreshment, and a new group of hikers from Wicho & Charlie's whose shuttle bus we would now take back to town.

Halloooo!

It is amazing how this whole ordeal, for me (and I know Dan can agree), was the most physically challenging thing we've ever done. But yet, 10 minutes after resting, down at the start, you look up and sort of think "It wasn't that bad". In this blog post I've tried to write down the real feelings that I/we had in the midst of it. Almost to the point that I think I'm exaggerating it, but thinking back it was that hard. Many others probably disagree with me, but there were points when I was thinking that this is what hell must be like. But now being out from it with about 2 weeks, I'd recommend anyone doing it. It's awesome to know that you have that sort of fighting power in you. Not that you can physically manage it, but that you can mentally push through something you're comparing to hell haha.