Antigua Guatemala
Solo Yolo
I arrived at Guatemala City in the evening, and immediately hopped on the pre-booked airport transfer to the nearby town of Antigua. Initially, my plan was to stay in the capital for a couple of days before moving to Antigua, but was advised by a few that it’s not a safe city to be in, and there isn’t much there to see anyway.
Well, talking about crappy cities, I also stayed overnight in Los Angeles before taking flight to Guatemala. I had hummed and harred about whether or not I should arrive in the US city at midday, and then take a set of redeye flights to Guatemala to save some money, but in the end, I decided to fork out for a night at a hostel in Koreatown, where I could go to a spa that I had been to the last time I visited the city.
After leaving New Zealand, I am once again, travelling solo.
School’s in for Summer
After only a day’s rest in Antigua, I started school on the Monday morning, the walk there from the hostel was only a modest 15 or so minutes walk. However, after I registered, and paid, the teacher (it’s a 1-to-1 class) walked me to where the lessons will be held - and it was another 15 more minutes. So basically, for the next 4 days, I have to walk 30 minutes each way per day to learn Spanish.
During the week, my routine would be to walk to school at 8:30 to arrive at 9, and finish at 1pm. I would walk back to the hostel, and have a nap in the hammock there - still dealing with jetlag at that point, as I was waking up 2am everyday, because I was also so tired that I would fall asleep at 9pm, if not earlier. Then I would do my homework, and then walk around town to see what’s about.
The verdict of Antigua is…nice, but very touristy. The problem is how many tourists, or more specifically American tourists there are. Of course, I have no real issues with Americans, but there’s a Taco Bell, a Wendy’s, etc., and it feels like the town has lost a part of its soul to cater for them. Very much like Lima, if there’s a door, it’s going to a shop, restaurant, hotel, or travel agent; the laundry service I use, also sells shuttle tickets to other towns, and so did the hostel I was staying at.
It’s also not a very cheap place, well, relative to what I was paying in Mexico anyway, because the restaurants there were fancy, and trendy, so a dinner without drinks, entree, or dessert can set you back £10-15. It’s not London prices, but certainly not catered for the locals who live there that aren’t earning London wages.
Rise and Fall
During the week, I talked to a few people there, and found out about the Acatenango hike. I had been debating going on a different, shorter hike in Pacaya up until then, so given all the rave reviews from other travellers, I opted to go up the Acatenango volcano. It’s a 2 day hike that takes about 5-6 hours up, and if you have the stamina and £20 more, can take another 2 hour hike to the most active volcano in Guatemala (or the region?) - Volcán de Fuego, literally Volcano of Fire.
I received a recommendation by another hostel dweller on a tour provider, which was helpful, because there are many with vastly different prices, and whether or not you’ll be paying extra for hiring clothes and equipment.
Saturday booked, and after a van came to pick a few of us up, we meet with a bigger group at their head office for the debrief, and to get extra clothing items, lunch for the day, a headlamp, and a walking stick. It was still warm where we leave, so I stuff everything in my backpack, that also has 3 litres of water and my DSLR camera.
Before we even arrive at the “real” entrance (above), we had already hiked for a bit, as you can tell by my sweat patches. During that walk to where we register our names, one of the guides obviously saw that I was struggling, and asked me if I want to hire their porter service for 250Q (£25) - I declined citing the cost. And it was probably only 15 minutes later, despite feeling much longer, he offered the same service for 50Q less. Letting go of my ego, and my frugalness, I handed him my backpack, and 200Q. This made my life much easier from then onwards, but with my short stumpy legs, it was still slow going. Luckily, there were a couple of girls who were going around my speed, so while we weren’t walking next to each other and chatting, we were kind of each other’s silent moral support.
For me, it was a gruelling walk. Possibly the hardest hike I have ever done, but after six or so hours, we eventually arrived at the base camp. The guides started calling out names in groups of twos, allocating us to tents, which were housed inside a shed, so we weren’t going to be spending the night out in the open battling against nature as we try to sleep. Those who decided to take the extended hike were ushered away not long after, while the half dozen of us stayed behind chatted as the sun set over the horizon.
The volcano would erupt randomly every 30 or so minutes, of varying strengths, and it was quite hard to catch the whole moment. I felt like every time I looked away, it would erupt.
I was going to say that since I lugged my heavy camera all the way to the top, I should post at least a couple of photos from it, but as you know, a short Guatemalan man carried it up for me. Oh well, no shame no gain, as they say - here they are anyway, along with some lesser quality phone photos after them.
The sleep wasn’t too bad, especially with the inflatable travel pillow that I brought with me, but we had to get up early for the hike to the peak for the sunrise.
With the headlamp on, wrapped around my head, we moved further upwards. It was a slightly easier climb, and obviously shorter, but it was still a lot of effort! Also at some point, the one of the tour guides leading the group, along a few others kind of sped off without the rest of the group, which would have been fine, however, it was still dark, and the path wasn’t obvious.
When we finally arrived at the crater of the inactive volcano, there were hundreds of people all round the edges waiting for the sun to eventually rise.
Two-thirds of the hike back down was easy, and I was able to keep up with the front of the pack unlike the ascension. Unfortunately, there was a slippery part on the ground, I accidentally slipped with my left foot under me, and sprained my ankle. It felt ok, but as the trek back down continued, I could feel that it was more tender that stepping at certain angles will bring me down as I try to prevent further damage.
When going down, many sections people have to decide whether to run, or move very slowly to prevent themselves from falling, and now with my injury, I had to opt for the latter method. While I did have a sense of achievement by the time I finished the walk, but I was also defeated.
Before I left for the hike, I had the foresight to book a private room to recover from the journey, and usually after more than a week staying at hostels, it’s time to get away from a shared dormitory. However, hot water it seems, is not as free-flowing as it is in Europe, and my accommodation was no different. The lukewarm to cold water, the tiredness from the hike, and my lack of motivation to make connection with other travellers were starting to wear me down mentally.