After our short visit to the top of El Salvador, we retraced our route along the potholed mountain roads back into Guatemala. After 9 hours of driving we arrived in Antigua, the prior capital of Guatemala until the city was largely destroyed by an earthquake in 1773. Guatemala City is the current capital but Antigua (Spanish for old or ancient) has now been restored to a picturesque World Heritage site surrounded by three volcanoes.
Arco de Santa Catalina, Antigua w/Volcan Agua
One of those volcanoes, 13,045 foot high Acatenango was our next objective. Its popularity among adventure seekers is due to its close proximity to the adjoined neighboring Volcán de Fuego which is extremely active and was erupting every 30-45 minutes during our stay. Our trip was inspired by our good friend Dan O'Brien who did this same hike two and a half years ago, and at his recommendation we opted to camp overnight with Ox Expeditions. Their campsite at 11,600 feet on the slopes of Acatenango (also an active volcano) has an impressive vantage point of Fuego to safely watch the volcano's stunning molten rock explosions and lava displays that are even more impressive at night. Each time it happened, while eating dinner or watching from our tent, it was equally exciting and a phenomenal display.
Finally we decided to go to sleep after watching "just one more" eruption as we knew we had an early morning ahead. The alarm woke us up at 3:30 AM and our group was on our way towards the summit shortly after 4:00 to catch the sunrise at the top. We had some strong winds and surprisingly cold conditions (for Central America) and arrived at the crater rim a little before 5:45 AM. The sunrise was a magnificent display of color illuminating the continuing "Strombolian" eruptions of Fuego and the warmth of those sun rays was welcomed by all.
Denise and I separated from the rest of our group in order to hike the short additional stretch around the volcano rim to reach the true summit. Although Acatenango is not the highest peak in Guatemala (it's the third) a picture at the very top was still warranted. From this spot we were able to see a stark outline of the volcano's own shadow cast in the background alongside some of Guatemala's other volcanoes. The highest of which is next on the agenda. But first we had to hike back down more than 5,000 vertical feet to the trailhead and get back to Antigua for a well-deserved massage!
Acatenango Summit Nov. 10 ~6AM
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