While most people traveling within Guatemala are familiar with Volcán Acatenango, I would argue that it’s not a very well known destination globally. This makes it perfectly unsuspecting and far from the Disney World experience of other more popular destinations. It is an opportunity to witness a sunset from above the clouds, a view I thought only possible from an airplane window seat, and the chance to observe an active volcano erupting every 5-10 minutes, seemingly within arms reach. It is impressive and impactful to say the least.
I’ll admit I have short term memory loss when it comes to hiking, hindsight optimism let’s call it. I’ve conquered quite a few challenging treks throughout my travels – and it’s always the same. During the process, I am in a state of constant internal conflict with my frontal lobe for making what seems to be an impulsive and uneducated decision, frustration with the worn treads of my sneakers as I fumble over my own two feet, and a consistent self doubt that “I am not a hiker” and “never again”. Though, once I’ve reached the top, and especially once the round trip is completed, I forget everything and have the feeling that I could do it 10 times over, no problem. My conclusion stands that as long as you’re in decent shape and comfortable with being uncomfortable at times, I recommend this excursion 100%.
Who To Go With:
I went with the tour offered at Tropicana Hostel in Antigua. Luxury, it was not, but from what I’ve read and from the experience itself, I believe it’s probably the best view of all of the base camps with a front row seat to Volcán de Fuego, the neighboring active volcano. I was happy I went with them. Below I’ll lay out the pros and cons if you’re looking to compare to other tours offered.
The pros:
- The view
- Fairly priced, ~$79
- Sleeping bags were well insulated
- They allow you to pick 3 items of clothing from their closet. I chose a large winter jacket, a gloves, and sweatpants. It’s first come first serve so best to check in for the trek early (checking the website it now seems that for 3 items you pay $3 with a $3 deposit)
- You can also pay extra for more items of clothing and/or a backpack
- Hiking boots are also available as one of your 3 items or to be rented as an extra
- The timing of the hike was perfect, starting the hike around 12pm and arriving to base camp before sunset
- Food was provided
- I felt that breaks were frequent enough that almost anyone could go at a comfortable pace for them. If anything, they were maybe even too long if you were towards the front as you’d start to get cold, stiffen up. I stuck towards the middle and it was fine
The cons:
- The food wasn’t anything amazing, but you’re on a volcano
- Must carry an extra 1L of water to donate for the cooking
- Guides did their job of leading the group and cooking, there wasn’t much interaction outside of that though as it’s not an educational tour
- Was a rather large group if you’re looking for something more intimate
- Shared sleeping area/bunks (See below). You don’t have many hours to sleep anyways
- No bathroom, I’m not sure if this is the case for all of the tours
Side note: I don’t mean to be ageist here, especially being geriatric myself in the backpacking world, but something to keep in mind while booking with a hostel is that the group will be young. Our group was about 30 people with the majority being about 21/22 years old. As an outlier, there was a couple who were about 65, self proclaimed hikers who live in Utah and have conquered Mt. Kilimanjaro (and did not forget to remind us), but really could not keep up with the group and even required a separate guide for a portion. This isn’t bad, and it’s the tours responsibility to make sure everyone makes it up and down safely, despite their pace. I only mention it to warn about the pace of the group when going with a hostel vs other tours. And in their defense, they actually did book with a travel agency who essentially just placed them on the hostel tour.
What To Expect/Tips:
- Bring cash to rent/buy a walking stick. It’s necessary
- Bring snacks and plenty of water. We weren’t prepared that we had to donate a liter of water at the top to cook the food, due to lack of paying attention to directions
- Most of the guides grow up with this volcano in their backyard. They basically run up without breaking a sweat and sometimes carrying ridiculously heavy bags – it’s truly impressive. You can pay a porter to carry your bag, but it’s only one night so most people don’t have an issue carrying their own backpack.
- Despite doing these tours 3-4 times per week, most don’t speak a lick of English. They also assume that 99% of people on the tour do not speak Spanish, so it wasn’t super interactive
- Besides the clothes that we rented, we bought a few accessaries at the market in Antigua including a hat, gloves, and socks for very cheap. It gave our visit to the market a fun purpose
- It wasn’t as cold at night as I was expecting but sunrise at the top was absolutely freezing. Wear layers
- There’s an optional hike to the active volcano, Fuego, it’s meant to be extremely challenging but you get really close to the lava. There is an extra charge for this hike as well
- At the summit, you’re reaching almost 4,000 meters, 13,000 feet. Learn from my mistake and take it slow when you go up for sunset. I rushed out of bed and just moved too fast for my body to catch up and ended up feeling sick. There was a line to get to the summit anyways so I was able to adjust while on the line. Altitude pills also aren’t a bad idea if you have them
- A flashlight/headlamp would be helpful for the hike to the summit and necessary if you’re planning to go to Fuego since it will be pitch dark
- Overview of the itinerary: Breakfast at the hostel, pick out your borrowed items, drive to the entrance (~1 hour) where there are bathrooms and some food stalls, the hike starts at 11am, you’ll eat your packed lunch along the way, then you arrive at base camp around 3pm, watch sunset, eat instant noodle soup, have more noodles, hot chocolate, and surprise quesadillas (I’m not sure if this was intentional/standard or if they just happened to make them), roast marshmallows that are oddly blueberry and strawberry flavored, watch the eruption from Fuego change from smoke to lava, sleep for a few hours, wake up at 4am to start climb to the summit (~1 hour), watch sunrise, go back to base camp to pick up any belongings that you left behind, head down the volcano which is particularly fun as you can basically moon jump down the sand if that makes sense
- Bring your camera/phone/portable battery if you have/tissues or toilet paper
Side note: I know someone who booked a private tour with his two friends. They started climbing at 9pm, in the dark, had a about an hour of rest at the top, saw sunset and came down. No base camp and most of the hiking was done in the dark. I would recommend going with a company where you get to base camp to see sunset as I thought it was even more impressive than sunrise even.
I hope this covered everything. Enjoy!
