Stories of a Dirty Traveler

During the winter of 2026, I decided to go on an adventure bigger and vastly different than anything I have ever done before: solo traveling through Guatemala. I spent the better part of February exploring the beautiful town of Antigua, the wonderful waters of Lake Atitlan, the tiny town of Lanquin & the cascading clear pools of Semuc Champey and explored the Mayan Ruins of Tikal. However, the greatest day in Guatemala was spent ascending the amazing Volcan Acatenango.

From the moment I arrived in Antigua, a town nested in the shadows of Volcan Agua, Acatenango and Fuego. I knew well before I even boarded my flight that I needed to make may way to the summit of this great mountain to see the daily eruptions of Fuego up close. I spent a little over a week admiring the volcanoes from town, watching miraculous sunsets, seeing plumes of ash come out of her magnificent caldera and dreaming of seeing the lava explosions from the shoulder of Fuego, just a mere 200 meters shy of the fiery mouth of the mountain. Even at night time you could occasionally get a glimpse of the bright eruptions from town. Something truly spectacular in and of itself.

I spent my mornings working in cafes, sipping the best coffee I’ve ever had and counting the seconds until I got to board my bus to the base of the mountain. I booked my trip through a company called Barco Expeditions for February 21st, at the very end of my stay in Antigua. The anticipation was unbelievable. Nearly every traveler I ran into had seemingly just came off the mountain. They shared stories, photos and videos of their great adventure. I grew increasingly impatient for it to be my turn. Before long, it was the night before my own expedition.

I woke up early and went to wait for my bus and other members of our guided tour up Acatenango. We broke the ice with the typical “What’s your name?” ” Where are you from?” “How long are you in Antigua for?” and then began sharing stories of our travels and adventures. Before we headed out to the base of the mountain, we stopped to grab last minute snacks, water and rental gear (coats, gloves, hiking poles…) then began the 1 hour drive into the mountains east of Antigua. As Acatenango grew larger, we all grew even more excited with each passing minute.

After a scenic drive through small towns, past coffee & vegetable farms and views of the beautiful landscape we arrived at the start of our hike. We had a quick chance to use the restroom and grab our bags before a quick briefing by our 3 guides. As we listened to the introduction, we watched as tired and dusty hikers were coming down the mountain from the night before. They all looked extremely satisfied, albeit a bit haggard, from their journey. From here, it would be a little over 4 miles and aver 4,000 feet of elevation gain to get to basecamp. There would be about 4 stops along the route for rest, grab snacks and drinks along the way, and a longer one for lunch.

The start of the hike is very exposed to the sun, hiking directly up hill for a while through farmland until you reach the cover of the forest canopy. From here it begins to switchback endlessly upwards into the atmosphere. Our legs burned, the sweat poured and the dust clung to our skin as if it had always belonged there. As we ascended higher, we began to get our first volcanic views westward to Volcan Atitlan. The view was spectacular. The earth below us was hidden beneath a dense blanket of clouds, only penetrated by the magnificent peak looming over Lake Atitlan. Soon, it was time to rest and eat some food. The guide company provided us meals of chicken, rice and vegetables. Not hefty portions but just enough to fuel us for the last third of the hike. From here, it would level off a bit as we traversed the eastern flank of Acanetango, getting our first glimpse of Volcan Agua of the afternoon.

As we hiked along tacky and more level dirt trails, we stared at the magnificent views, snapped plenty of pics and talked about how excited we were to finally see Fuego up close. It wouldn’t be long now. Then suddenly we rounded a bend and there she was, in all her glory. Just as we got our glimpse, she erupted in incredible fashion. Sending plumes of ash hundreds of feet into the atmosphere, creating spectacular shapes. I was absolutely in awe. What an incredible place to feel so wildly alive.

The perfectly conical pointed peak pushed plumes of volcanic ash out roughly every 15-20 minutes, some being larger and more excellent than others. I had never before experienced mountains show their power such as this. We arrived to basecamp at around 4:45pm, giving us a little over an hour before the optional (mandatory for me), trek over to the shoulder of Fuego for sunset and eruptions under the magnificent sky full of stars. It would not be an easy trek, but the reward made every ounce of fatigue worth it.

During the roughly 30 to 40 minutes of descending into the col between peaks, we witnessed quite possibly the most spectacular sunset I have ever seen. The pastel colors of sunset painting the peaks and covering the clouds with vibrant hues of pink, orange, purples and blues until eventually it all but faded away. We could begin to smell the smoke, and as we ascended once again, we began to hear the thunderous eruptions grow louder and louder. The climb was unimaginably busy, with trains of people climbing and descending the peak, bottlenecking at a few points. The moments of still waiting for the crowds to pass was almost harder than the hike itself. The terrain was steep, the ground a crumbly mess of volcanic scree seeping its way into our shoes and choking us with the dust of hundreds of feet kicking up clouds. After an hour or so, we gained the final ridge and stood face to face with the dragon of a mountain, bellowing ash, steam and fire from the earth.

By the time we finished our steep climb to the shoulder of Fuego it was completely dark, the only light coming from headlamps, the low lying valley villages and of course the glowing orange of the eruptions. We watched as lava cascaded down Fuego’s Flanks, waiting for the next explosion. It started with a small plume, followed by a glow of the caldera becoming larger by the second. Then upwards into the sky came a fountain of fire. Rocks and glowing molten earth spewing from the peak. Then with a low rumble that we felt in our feet to our chest, followed by the sound deep bellow of thunder came the volcanic vibrations. A light show like we had never seen before. We cheered, hooted and laughed as we watched in wonder this incredible earthly event that felt otherworldly. Still, we had to get closer. Onwards we hiked, getting closer and closer to the action. Soon, we were standing less than 1000 feet from the fire. We sat and watched, taking photos and videos of Fuego in all of her glory. It felt like an eternity, and I could have stayed all night. After about 20-30 minutes of the dazzling show, we began to head back down, and then all the way back up to basecamp, motivated now by hot chocolate and a pasta dinner. More than enough for me!

As we trudged our way down the mountain, we were nearly speechless from a combination of awe and fatigue. The exertion of the day’s hike was finally beginning to set in and we still had 1000 vertical feet of climbing before we could eat and sleep. We gathered in the col for a quick rest and to snack on marshmallows before the final ascent.

I’m forgetting their names, but two other young guns from Idaho and I were leading the pack and pulling away from the group so the guides let us race back. Off we went as the cheers of our group faded behind us. We made our way quickly up the mountain, perhaps rushing a bit too much as we missed a vital turn to basecamp and ended up wasting some time looking for the correct path. A guide from a neighboring basecamp pointed us in the right direction and we found ourselves sitting around the campfire left by those who stayed behind, waiting for the rest of the group showed up. We received our dinner, got ready for bed then headed to our bunks.

For some of us, myself included, we had an exceptionally early morning. We opted for a sunrise summit of Acatenango, leaving basecamp just before 4am. Rolling out of bed was the hardest part for me, the bed was quite comfortable after the efforts from the day before. Still, as I have done with countless other sunrise summits in my life, I did not let the fatigue outweigh the wonder. I dragged myself out of bed and then up the flanks of Acatenango, arriving at the summit around 30 minutes before the sun shed her shine upon the world. As the darkness turned into soft pastels, casting the shadow of volcanos onto the sleepy towns below us, we watched Fuego impress us with each amazing burst of lava. The world that morning was peaceful and perfect. I had lots of expectations for this adventure, every single one of them were exceeded in excellent fashion. Worth every penny, inhaled spec of dust and spec of sweat. An incredible adventure that you should not pass up when visiting the beautiful country of Guatemala.