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The Monday morning I was up at 3:30am and headed off to the O.X office. These were my tour guides for the 5 days of climbing the volanoes. The week in a nutshell was as follows:
Monday - Leave Antigua at 4am and drive 4 hours to Xela where we would climb Santa Maria to look down on Santiaguito volcano. Sleep on top to see the sunset and sunrise.
Tuesday - Hike down Santa Maria, drive back 5 hours to volcano Pacaya. Hike up to a spot nearby and spend the night camping.
Wednesday - Hike down Pacaya and stay over in Antigua that night.
Thursday - Head off at 7am to Acatenango. Climb up and over Acatenango and then down to a saddle . Walk up to Volano Fuego for sunset and then sunrise the next day.
Friday - Walk down from Fuego and head back to Antigua
Well the start was really early, but I was excited about the trip. Victor was to be our guide up Santa Maria and we started the climb around 08:30 in the morning. We started at 2500m and climbed to 3600m. There are a number of things with this climb that soon sunk home. 1. We were going to a pretty high altitude, making the climb difficult. My pack weighed about 15kg which is 10kg more than I ever hike with these days. 3. The route up the mountain was pretty much straight up. The locals don't believe in contouring around a mountain. I have to say I felt good going up. The altitude was fine and the legs were feeling strong. My tour mate Ziggy (from Iceland) was 28 years old and also in good shape. He was however struggling with the altitude. I guess Icelandic blood is pretty thick.
Anyway after 5 hours we got to the top. Unfortunately it was overcast and we could not see the volcano. It also looked like a storm was brewing. There was a lot of thunder and lightning. Luckily the worst of it passed us by. But it soon got very misty and then started to rain lightly. So we all retired to the tent after dinner. Poor Ziggy though was suffering from altitude sickness and first had to throw up and then skip dinner. My stomach was not a happy camper either. I was not nauseous, I think it was a mild case of food poisoning. Anyway that night no matter which way I lay my stomach hurt and I kept farting. Poor Ziggy was lying opposite to me and I think he must of passed out. Well around 1am I need to go to the loo. So I have to get out the tent, find my loo roll and its also raining outside. Then I have to stumble down the hill a little way and find a hole to let loose in. Well it all happened, I did not get struck by lightning, but my stomach still hurt the whole night & I got no rest. The next day it was dry, but not clear. We also met a German guy who started at 1am and climbed up. He arrived at 5am just with a jacket, jeans & 2 beers to see the volcano. Mad man, just plain mad.
Well it still did not clear so we headed off down again. The legs were feeling stiff and it was not easy going down the steep trail. I managed to trip and fall on my knees on the stones and cut my shins. Lots of small cuts, luckily nothing serious. Once down we were met by our shuttle. It was so good to stretch the legs and then lie down for the 5 hour trip to Pacaya. Luckily the trip up Pacaya is only about 1 hour.
Well we got to the start of the trail and we switched guides from Victor to Paul. Paul is from Luxemborg, but was adopted from Guatemala when he was a baby. Funny thing though, there was a mix-up in communication between them and Victor did not leave Paul the cooker. So we were going to have a cold dinner that night. We started the walk up amongst a group of about 30 people. Some of them had got a ride from the local horses as well. I think most were American. So here we are with huge packs and everybody else is carrying a small bottle of water. But we were going to sleep over!!
We did a scenic walk to get to our campsite which overlooked Pacaya. We were only at 2300m so a little easier on the bodies. We set up camp and then had a cold dinner. Luckily it had already been cooked. It just needed reheating. It was spaghetti and tasted pretty good cold. Then as it got darker we noticed the lava flows off the volcano. It was soooo cool! When it was dark Paul said we need to take the marshmellows, head torch & water and head over to the volcano. We walked for a while before getting to the old lava flows. We then had to climb across the lava rocks to get closer to the actual flow. There is one route and is marked with white paint. Its not that easy to follow and Paul was brilliant at getting us there. You also need to be careful on the rocks as the can be quite sharp and also can break fairly easily. At one point I realised that we were walking on the crust but that there was hot lava rocks below us. It got pretty hot in a number of places along the way. We got to within about 200m of the lava flow & Paul said that was how far he was going. We were welcome to go closer if we wanted to. We both declined. Just standing on the rocks our shoes started getting warmer & warmer. It was so incredible standing there watching the molten lava flow and seeing its power. Its one of those things that needs to be experienced before you die. Really!
The next morning saw us head back down and back to Antigua. We had a great breakfast and the I headed for a 1.5 hour deep tissue massage. It was a good massage. Luckily not too deep tissue.
Thursday morning we were up early and headed off to climb Acatenango & Fuego. The top of Acatenango is 3976m. So again its a long hard slog to get to the top. This time I threw out all the non-essential stuff and had a lighter pack. I also took a pair of walking poles. Well I have learnt that climbing with these poles is a lot easier. With my legs still stiff I was really happy that I took them with me. Again the trail goes pretty much straight up. We first walked through farm land, then into the Cloud Forest. It gets very cold and misty. We kept a steady pace and eventually got to the first rise of Acatenango. It sits at about 3700m It was misty but it soon cleared and we could see the real summit of 3976m. We headed off and the climb got difficult near the top as you are walking up a scree slope and each footstep slides down a bit each time. But eventually we were there. What a wonderful feeling. We also sat down and had a well deserved lunch. After lunch we decided to take the direct route down. This is off the back of Acatenango. Its pretty much a steep scree slope. I love these kind of descents and was wizzing along behind Paul. Ziggy was not that happy about it and had a bit of a tumble. It took a little while for him to get his confidence back. The way you do a scree slope is pretty much run down it using small steps & the natural curves and bumps to guide you down. We got down in one piece and set-up camp at 3200m. Paul then took us up another 400m on Volcano Fuego to see it a lot closer up. When we got to the top it was covered in cloud. It was pretty cold but we hung around long enough to see it clear and also see it blast some lava out from the main crater. We then headed back down again and had dinner (Warm this time!) Paul then asked if we were going to be up at 4am to see the volcano. I said I might. Ziggy was undecided. At 4am Paul asked me if I was going up. I lay there and thought about it. It was freezing cold outside. The walk up would be wet as there was a lot of grass and shrubs and it was probably cloudy as well. So I said no thanks. I then lay there thinking about it. Why was I being such a woos, I had climbed a lot of mountain to get here and this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. So I shot out of bed and said "Lets Go!" The others did not know what hit then and before long we were walking up the volcano again. When we got to the top the sky was clear the volcano was glowing orange and we could see the lights of the cities below. We managed to catch a few explosions as well. It then got light with sunrise and it was spectacular. See my photo album for evidence. Ziggy said to me that there were a lot of time he felt like quitting but I kept pushing him and he was really grateful for it. So I felt good about that.
The trip down Paul told us that the best way to do it is run every downhill. Its less harsh on the knees and legs. And he is right it is. So we ran down the volcanoes in 3 hours. What an awesome way to end the Spires of Fire trip.
When we got back to Antigua, Victor took our clothes off to the laundry to be cleaned, we had a shower and then went for lunch. Afterwards I went and called Anna. That afternoon we all met up in the Sky Cafe and had final drinks before I caught an overnight bus to Flores. The link for O.X is http://www.guatemalavolcano.com.
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