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Jun 6th Guatemala Group Trip Part 1: Airport Annoyance and Volcano Hike

There I was, early April with my non-refundable accommodations and airfare to Guatemala and a pink slip from my work. I had, rather abruptly, been laid off. I thought my boss was kidding until he opened his laptop to reveal HR letting me know it was a “business decision” to let me go. I briefly thought “wow, he really committed to this prank”. I was in a bit of a panic as I was now job hunting, worried about finance, and filling in the blanks for this trip. Then suddenly, a job came through. It was a camp job, two weeks on, two weeks off, and as luck would have it, I could work the two weeks before my trip and the two weeks after. I suddenly had a job, but only a few days to get ready for it and my trip. I went to work for two weeks, flew home for a day, flew to Guatemala for two weeks, then home for a day, then back to work…. and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Getting There

I’m not entirely sure how we decided on Guatemala… Natalie and Renata initially wanted to do Patagonia while I wanted to go to a scuba resort in Mexico. They somehow came up with Guatemala and informed me I was coming. Natalie also invited her friend Vanessa along. Getting to Guatemala turned out to be a real trick. I flew from Edmonton to Denver, waited 6 hours, then flew to Houston where my layover was supposed to only be 2 hours. It turns out they had a rain storm that re-routed Vanessa’s flight to New Orleans that morning, then she got sent to Houston in the evening. She ended up on the same flight as me from Houston to Guatemala City. Unfortunately that flight was delayed from 8pm to 1am. I met her for the first time at the airport and we did our best to survive the over-heated and over-crowded airport while over-tired. I did my best to keep spirits up and keep her entertained, but I don’t think she was enjoying my brief history of The Cajun people of the American South as much as I enjoyed talking about it. We landed at about 3am in Guatemala City to find that the airline had lost Vanessa’s bag with all her hiking gear that she would soon need.

We took a 45 minute car ride to our Airbnb in Antigua. I had pre arranged a private ride and the driver was kind enough to wait for our delayed flight. Natalie and Renata had already checked in and gone to bed. They left us the second room which contained a single queen sized bed. We agreed we were both too tired to draw straws about sleeping on the couch. I huddled against the far edge of the bed, doing my best to keep my distance for fear of making this near stranger uncomfortable. I fell asleep almost immediately and was informed in the morning that I do, in fact, snore. I had my suspicions. Renata took us for a walk around town on its old cobbled streets and translated for us so we could get some street food and we took a quick tour of a cathedral that was ruined by an earthquake in the 18th century. I also withdrew some cash and poor Vanessa began her fight with the airline to find her luggage, she was in a rush as we had a hike scheduled for the following day. In the afternoon we went to a coffee plantation and went for a self guided walk that got us somewhat lost, but it ended with pizza so I can’t be too sad. In the evening we went for another walk and saw the famous Arch de Santa Catalina and got some street food from the night market. I had recently started watching Anthony Bourdain’s TV shows online so I was keen to try the local food, it did not disappoint.

Somehow, the stars aligned and the airline was able to find the lost bag, but it wouldn’t be available until 2am. We weren’t exactly excited to take a taxi all the way there and back but luckily, instead, our driver from the previous night was able to pick it up and drop it off for her. It arrived late, but unharmed. We did our best to sleep but the 5 am alarm came in fast and loud.

Acatenango Hike

I pulled myself together and packed my gear. We made it to the shuttle just in time. It was about an hour drive to our guide’s headquarters. We, along with about two dozen other tourists, were treated to a breakfast and given a quick once over of the hike we would be doing. We were also given our own packed lunches to carry up. We were then loaded back into the vans and taken the short drive to the trailhead. We got out and started hiking uphill in a narrow valley, about a lane and a half wide and 8 feet deep, the ground was fine dirt, hundreds of people were walking up and down the hill and the dust was brutal. I didn’t think to put my bandana over my face and thought to myself, surely this is just for the first few hundred feet. I was wrong. The dust lasted for hours, and for a portion we walked between farmers fields up narrow hallways of barbed wire fence, so narrow we had to stop and lean on it to let people pass on their descent.

Slowly the trail started to improve but the sleep deprivation, the dust, and the long fattening winter had already done its work on me. We were now on less dusty trail, finding our way up switchbacks through the forest. We stopped part way up at the park gate and I was given a paper bracelet to show my fee had been paid. As the hike progressed I continued to be slow, dead slow, dead last in our group slow. Renata and Natalie were somewhere near the front and I would occasionally catch Vanessa. Around noon we stopped for a rest and I made the mistake of having a small snack. My stomach immediately tightened. My stomach felt like it was full of rocks and made of knotted rope. As I lagged behind, the guides were asking me repeatedly if I was ok. I repeated “yes, fine, tired” but deep down I was worried, this wasn’t like me to be a slow hiker. Juan De Fuca I was always first to camp, I did Skyline in two days, by accident… I was never slow. Was I maybe getting sick? that happens to me a lot when I travel, I think its the airplanes that make me sick. The last two hours of the hike I continually fought the urge to vomit. It was one of those days where as I walked I was always eyeing the best spot to stop and spew but somehow it never came to that.

I finally stumbled into camp, last in the line, and was told to go to hut 3. The huts were all in a row, attached like townhouses. The labels were odd and I accidentally went into cabin 4 to sit down and decompress. I was tired, frustrated, sick, and embarrassed and shedding a tear or two, which was interrupted by someone coming in, and politely, and awkwardly, explaining that I was in the wrong cabin. I meekly shuffled to the correct cabin and laid down for a few minutes and let my stomach and lungs settle to their appropriate locations and rhythms. Eventually I dragged myself out and into a chair out front. I forced my lunch down, chicken and rice, while taking in the view of the famous Fuego Volcano. It was spewing smoke periodically and we had a front row view. I chatted with the neighbors and eventually started to feel better. The guides came around and said that at 4pm they were guiding people down the valley and up the other side to get a closer look at the volcano. Renata opted to go on this side quest. Natalie and Vanessa weren’t feeling well so they stayed back and napped for a bit. I milled around camp, had some hot chocolate, and chatted with some of the other hikers. We also built a fire. As evening came, the clouds rolled in and we couldn’t see anything. Everyone else was woken up for supper, fried chicken and spaghetti, both good, but an odd combination.

After dinner, someone said they saw lightning and we all turned to look. As we did, the clouds cleared and we got a perfect view of the volcano spitting lava high into the sky. The was also causing an electrical storm above the volcano. We were now seeing eruptions and lightning strikes. Everyone got their phones and cameras out. I tried to get a picture but it was just a small red dot on my black screen which I thought was pretty funny. There were some serious photographers there and they were kind enough to share their photos after the fact.

We took in the show and realized our companions weren’t back yet from the volcano. We could see headlamps in the distance, but it turned out to be other tour groups. We later found out that those poor individuals hiked all the way there to be stuck in the fog, then turned back before it cleared. They still got a good show on the way back, but not the up close and personal look they had hoped for.

Eventually Renata made it back and we agreed it was bed time. Our cabin was a thin foam mattress on the ground, four pillows and four sleeping bags and little room for much else. We piled in and got comfy and if I sat up I could still see the volcano through the big window on the front of our cabin. I did my best to not think about how often that bedding was or wasn’t washed. We stayed up a little late laughing and joking. At some point, due to the thin wall, we could hear a ruckus from our neighbors banging on the wall followed by a heavily accented “sorry, there was an animal in here…… oh no, not animal… uh bug, a bug!” glad they clarified that. Throughout the evening the volcano continued to erupt, occasionally with enough blast that the cabins would shake a little.

At 3am Renata and Vanessa started the sunrise hike. Natalie and I still weren’t feeling well so we stayed back and slept in. I was told, after the fact, that it was a nice hike but very cold. Breakfast was tea and a cereal similar to corn flakes with hot milk and granola. It was quite good. Around 10 am we started our descent, I still felt really rough, but this time I at least had the good sense to put a bandana over my face to try and keep the dust out. About half way down, at the official park gate, there were also a few vendors, I bought a slice of watermelon for 5Q (about $1) and it was amazing.

We made it down, loaded into the vans and headed back to HQ for lunch and to get cleaned up. We were then driven back to the city and walked to our AirBnB, unfortunately we were early and couldn’t get in until the cleaner heard us making noise out front and let us in. Shortly after, a regal woman in a long white dress welcomed us and gave us a quick tour… we must have been quite the sight covered in dust and dirty clothes. Luckily the rental had two showers and we were able to get cleaned up a bit, this unit had four beds which was also a nice luxury. After getting cleaned up, we went for walk around the city and to get some dinner, we also found a patio and each got a cocktail.

I went to bed dog tired, and in the morning, I picked up my motorcycle, but that a story for next week.

Part Two Is Available Here

Posted in Hiking, Travel and tagged Acatenango, Antigua, backpacking, camping, Fuego Volcano, Guatemala, hiking, travel, Volcanowith no comments yet.