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american - russian had already signed up with the only tour-operator that runs tours up Acatenengan, and the day after I signed up an englishman signed up and made the group big enough to run the tour.
The hike to the top is said to be 6 hours. But if you actually use all 6 hours, you are walking very slowly and have tons of breaks. Luckily, you can always climb in your one pace, which once again gave me the possibility to have my favorite kind of race - the one were you`re the only one who knows it`s a race. Obviously, none of the other antissipated my strong finish and I was victorious. Since the others dind`t know they were in a contest, they seemed pretty content with their preformance even though I won. Some say ignorance is bliss. I agree.
The fuming volcanoe - crater worked as a prefectly sheltered campsite. After a solid dinner we filled our coffe-mugs, climbed to the top of the crater rim and waited for the close-by volcano to light up the pitch black night. Waiting has never been my trademark quality, especially not in the cold with rain pouring down. But motivated by the sights to come and the amazing lightingstorm in the sky I persisted, and suddenly out of nothing Volcan Fuego let rip of a massive thump and lava shot out everywhere. I wish I had the reflexes, and camera, to snap a photo of the moment, but I had neither. It was an immense proof of mother natures powers, and an absolutely amazing sight.
During the night, we were troubled with loads of fog, and crazy lightingstorms. I got up every hour to check the visibility, but not before 0430 did the fog clear up and once again expose the thundering volcano only some hundred meters away. And there, again, it blew up in a powerfull eruption. Worth every penny, and every minute of freezing my ass of in the rain at 4000 meters above sea level. We pretty much ran down the volcano just to wrap up my antigua - stay with local nachos and guacamole for supper.
I had a really hard time deciding what to do from this point. My alternatives was Lago Atitlan, which is supposed to be a stunning lake scenery with charming fishing villages surrounding it, Xela, where there is another fire-squirting volcano, surfing in El Salvador or the natural pools and mountainscenery back north in Lanquin. Not being able to decide for myself I consulted Guatemala-expert Emilie on facebook and was ordered to Lanquin to see Semuc Champey. Thank you for the help!
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