Climbing up Acatenango

Hi Guys!
Our next project was to climb Acatenango (3976 m), part of a string of stratovolcanoes just outside of Antigua. Volcan Fuego is still dramatically spewing hot magma into the sky, which is why you can do overnight tours and watch the night sky lit up in red.

We started in a little hillside town, and started climbing up.

The vegetation got sparse after a few hours of hiking, and grass gave way to scree. Luckily it wasn't too steep, so it's wasn't that '2 steps up, 1 slide down' kind of nonsense.

Seeing a few puffs already on our way up the mountain.

That night, we all set up tents and watched the volcano spew over a roaring campfire.

The sound of the volcano erupting was absolutely thundering. We had such a great time waiting around for the next one to blow- which was followed by our whole group shouting "WHOOOOOOOAAAAAAA''

As we slept in the tents, the ground shook so hard it woke us up! 

The next morning started before the sun came up. We hiked the remaining 300 m up to the top of Acatenango, so we could watch the sun rise over Fuego.

Some friends we had met in Atitlan, which we happened to run into on top of this windy volcano!

This was one of those things you do that sticks with you for a long time. The intensity of the red magma exploding all over the mountainside at night is something I will never forget. 

Until Next Time!