El Volcán Fuego Beckons

Last year I spent Christmas Day hiking and rappelling in the Andes Mountains in Argentina.  This year I was in Antigua, Guatemala and hoping for another Christmas adventure. In Antigua, you are surrounded by volcanoes, a few you can see and even more beyond.  Pacaya is the most commonly hiked volcano in Antigua, and I wanted to find the cheapest tour possible because there are many agencies that offer it.  One day I was walking down the street and saw a sign advertising volcano treks.  I stopped in because this was the first I’d seen that was offering more than just Pacaya; they were advertising more extreme overnight treks to Acatenango and Fuego.  To help me make up my mind, Micah, a young American guide from Texas, told me, “Pacaya is for pussies.”  I was sold.

I spent every morning, afternoon, and evening watching plumes of smoke billowing from the top of Fuego.   Now I was going to not only climb it, I was going to sleep on it in potentially sub-zero temperatures.  Definitely my most challenging adventure yet.  We met at 6am on the day after Christmas, loaded our packs, and hopped on the bus.  At about 7:30 we met our machete-wielding security guard and started the hike up Acatenango, the volcano right next to Fuego.

The morning started out quite cold and foggy.  The hike was difficult from the very beginning, as we started in soft soil in the steep fincas (farms) at the base of the volcano.  Then we hit the cloud forest where it became more jungle-like, having to climb around plants and tree limbs on a very narrow, steep trail.  Then on to the high alpine forest where the landscape drastically changed again, and we got some amazing views of volcanoes Atitlan, Agua, Pacaya, and many others as giant white cotton candy clouds quickly passed through.  Climbing through the high alpine forest to reach our camping spot between Fuego and Acatenango was the toughest part with my pack seeming to get heavier by the minute and the steepness and difficulty of the trail getting even more challenging with every step.  We set up camp in the ridge between Fuego and Acatenango and then started the 1-hour finale to the top of Fuego on a barely-there trail.  I kept asking myself, “How are we going to get back down this in the dark.”

Once we got to the top, it was like being on the surface of the moon. We were standing on a 5-foot wide ridge that sharply dropped off to rocky slopes down each side of the volcano.  And for the first time in my life, I was completely above the clouds.  We had a beautiful view of Fuego and the surrounding volcanoes of Guatemala, as the sun set behind a giant wall of clouds.  It was truly an unimaginable experience.  We sipped wine as we sat on the ridge taking in this view, all hoping and praying for a Fuego eruption.  The closest we got was a small puff of steam, but that is okay with me.  The challenge of the hike and seeing the most incredible sunset of my life was well worth the effort, time, and cost of the trip.

The hike back down to our camp was quite the… um… adventure?  It was seriously scary.  It was pitch black and freezing cold.  The only light we had was from our headlamps.  The only thing keeping me going as my fingers and toes went numb despite wearing gloves, a fleece hat, wool socks, a fleece jacket, and a down-filled coat was the tiny flicker from the fire that our guide Tomas had started while we were gone.  It seemed that that flicker never got any closer, but we finally did make it back to camp, and I sat about 3 feet from the roaring fire as we ate our rice and vegetable curry dinner (pretty gourmet for the top of a volcano).

Another added bonus of this trip was meeting three other travelers with adventurous spirits. Wolfgang (from Germany of course) will always be remembered for the “snacks” he brought with him:  a bag of chips, an energy drink, and a bottle of rum.  Randy and Larisa, who currently live in Texas, were traveling together doing a 9-day whirlwind circuit of Guatemala.  Randy had been bitten by the travel bug earlier last year when he took his first trip out of the country… to spend a month in Nepal and trek the Himalayas.  What an extreme first adventure!  When Randy called Larisa out-of-the-blue and asked if she wanted to go to Guatemala, her first big travel adventure, she agreed but never thought the trip would actually materialize.  And now here she was hiking an active volcano.

The next morning, I realized that the trek back down is my least favorite part of any hike as my quads and hamstrings yelled at me, and my knees ached with every step.  I would have rather spent 8 hours hiking back up the volcano than the 3-4 hours it took to get down, but that of course was not an option.  When I got back to my temporary home in Antigua, I went up to the rooftop terrace to reward myself with a Snickers bar and a good coffee from my favorite panaderia as I watched Fuego smoking in the distance.

Click here to see the amazing photos from the trek to Fuego.