GUATEMALA – ANTIGUA

December 4 – 11, 2023

We took a shuttle from the Guatemala City airport to Antigua. The shuttle dropped us near the Hotel Posada Don Valentino.

We signed up for a hike to see Mt. Fuego. It is a volcano that erupts every few minutes. Well, how can you say no to that! It was only $40 / person. The bus picked us up at our hotel, We were provided a coat, hat, gloves and 2 meals. The meals were in large plastic containers. Thankfully, Pierre had a large back pack and had room for both. We also each had 4 litres of water for the anticipated 5 hour hike.

An hour later we were dropped at the trail head (2281 metre altitude) where we could rent walking sticks or poles. Our group of 10 headed out with much enthusiasm at 8:02 am. We were decades older than the rest of the group.

Thankfully, there was another rest stop at the top. This time, there was not much chatter about how much fun it was. At one of the rest stops, we ate our cold chicken, rice and salad packed lunch. The next leg of the journey was through a fog forest, with the trees raining on us. The path got narrower and more slippery in the mud, but still brutally uphill to the next rest stop. Then we were across from the clouds. Still brutally uphill. At this point, even the most fit and die-hard were saying how tough it was. The last hour of the trek still took us another 300 metres up, but it was more gradual. We were now over the clouds.

The first half hour of the trek was a brutal uphill path over slippery pea-rock. We stopped for a much needed rest a 300 metre ascent a half hour later. We were still enthusiastic. From there we started up the 450 mismatched steps. Some steps were a few inches high while others were over my knee. Oh, the burn!

I will point out that I had to stop many, many, many times to rest my hip. (SIDE NOTE: I injured my hip badly a few years ago and it tends to get weak and rubbery if I over exert it.) Pierre was an angel and carried the lions share of the weight as well as waiting for me. When we finally got to Base Camp, a good half hour behind everyone else, they all clapped and cheered for us. We had hiked 9.1 km (5.65 miles) and ascended 1200 metres (3937 ft) in 5 hours. To say we were knackered would be an understatement.

Just as we reached the camp, our guide pointed behind us. The volcano was erupting. It felt like the volcano was also cheering for us. We sat on the supplied bench and watched, in awe, as every few minutes there was an eruption of black smoke. Some were bigger than others, but we were mesmerized by them all.

While the guys did their hike we watched the clouds below us turn lovely colours as the sun set and the volcano kept erupting. We could see some hikers on a shelf below the eruptions. They looked dangerously close.

As the sun finally was setting and it was getting darker, we could see the fire shooting out of the mountain top, as well as the burning red rocks cascading down the sides of the mountain. It looked awfully close to where we spotted the hikers. The darker it got, the more spectacular the show. Earlier we could hear what sounded like the low rumble of thunder. Now we could see that the rumble was a precursor to the eruption. I sat for hours watching.

The top of the mountain would pulse with a red glow, like a slow heart beat.

Then I would hear the boom, followed by the eruption. Some were super spectacular. Others were a little burp.

The larger the eruption, the more red cascade came down the mountain. The sides of the mountain were etched in a white glow as the red faded. Interestingly, at times the sides of the mountain also glowed white in between eruptions. Was the mountain breathing? It seemed so. During the night, I was awaken by two large booms, then I could hear the falling for rocks. Damn, I wish I had seen that one!

I could go on and on at how amazing it was, but there are simply no words to convey the power and grandeur of Mother Nature when she is showing off – or pissed off.

The guides took our packed cooked pasta and heated it in a huge frying pan smothered in butter over an open fire. It would have been a lovely campfire dinner if had not been for the smoke. Most of us took our pasta back to our tents to eat. We slept in 5-man tents with provided sleeping bags. It was cozy warm from the body heat.

The next morning we could not see more than 20 feet. The erupting mountain was only a rumbling monster hiding in the dense fog. It added a bit of excitement as we all knew what was out there and what it was capable of. In May of this year it erupted and caused the evacuation of several communities. In March of 2022 the pyroclastic flows went up to 7 km. The guides made scrambled eggs for breakfast, then we headed back down the mountain at 8:00am.

We knew going up that going down was going to be hard. It was easy going on the gradual decent, but once we got to the steep parts it was horrible. Our legs turned to rubber, our knees and ankles were screaming, our thighs started seizing up. While I was slow going up, Pierre was slow going down. We had both taken a muscle relaxant the night before to ease the pain of the day. It worked so well that Pierre decided to take another one in the morning. We think it relaxed his muscles too much. He had to go backwards for most of the trek. He said if he went forwards, he knew his legs would not support him. He still fell twice. I only fell once.

The morning fog had the trees “raining” on us and making the trail muddy in places. Where it was not muddy, it was dusty. The fog created a mist on our glasses. The dust stuck to the mist. We finally took our glasses off so we could actually see. Once we got past the fog we got to the slippery pea-rock and the steps. We both decided this was the LAST big trek we would ever do. We got to the waiting shuttle a half hour behind everyone else. There were no cheers for us this time.

We got back to the hotel to collect our bags that we had put in their storage room. We then headed to our new guesthouse, the Casa del Sol. It was nicer than the hotel. I found a laundry service nearby and took our muddy clothes to be cleaned. 35 QTG ($6.00) for 5 kilos.

We were tired and sore that night and the next day. We were just going to chill and relax for the day. However, Pierre had some unfinished business back in Canada and they said they would only fax the forms for him to sign. I guess it cannot be hacked, but who in the hell still uses a fax? We walked all over town looking for a fax machine. We tried the bank, library, internet cafe, Money Gram, Office Depot and even random high end shops. Every place we asked, they would send us to somewhere they said had a fax. It was a wild goose chase. When Office Depot turned us down, we gave up. We had spent half a day and walked over 4 kilometres – on a day when we wanted (needed) to relax.

On the upside, we saw many sites that we want to explore further. We had lunch at the biggest and nicest McDonald’s I have ever seen. It is on the location of a former church that was inaugurated in 1657. It had a 231 year old fountain at the entrance to the massive courtyard. The courtyard had another fountain, McDonald’s character statues, trees, covered picnic tables and a double swing inside a massive M.

We passed through the Central Park a few times on our zigzag path. It is across the street from the Cathedral. There were lots of hawkers selling the typical souvenir junk, kids running all over the place, and a huge fountain at the centre.

We collected our clean laundry and headed back toward our guesthouse. Our legs were starting to burn and become weaker.

On the corner from our guesthouse was Barrio de La Concepcion. That night was the Burning of the Devil festival. It happens every year on December 7th. The next day is the day of the Virgin of Conception. It is believed that the fire scared away the evil spirits, purifies the air and prepares the neighbourhood to celebrate the Virgin. Firecrackers are lit and an effigy of the devil is burned. It is one huge party, with bone crushing hoards of people, smoky food vendors, loud music and people wearing light-up headbands in the shape of devil horns. We caught the burning, bought a hot dog, and squeezed our way back to our guesthouse.

We really liked our guesthouse and wanted to stay longer. We had not really had a chance to check out Antigua yet. It is an old city, founded in 1543 and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. It was the capital of Guatemala until the earthquake of 1773, at which time all the royal and municipal authorities and finally the parishes abandoned it. It became known as the “old city”. Today it is a tourist haven with its colourful cobblestone streets, impressive architecture and near perfect weather. Not to mention the volcano views. Unfortunately, our guesthouse had other reservations and we had to find other accommodations.

We still had sore legs, so we spent part of the afternoon checking out some old ruins and scouting for things to explore the next day.

December 9, What a day! We went to the Santa Clara Convent ruins. We got an overpriced guide, who did provide some good information, but kept hurrying us along. Notably, the 1773 earthquake was estimated to be 8.5 on the Richter scale. It killed 1/4 of the country’s population. There were 36 churches in Antigua, the earthquake demolished 20 of them. The others were left in ruins, with only 2 architects to assist in rebuilding. The nuns had no contact with the outer world. Penance was to go around the cloister 12 times on their knees. There was an area for the nuns who when crazy. (I wonder why?) Most nuns died in their 50s from pneumonia because their vow of poverty meant they had no shoes to wear to protect them from the cold tile floors and drafts. We were particularly impressed with the domed brick ceilings.

We stopped in the park to rest and enjoy the coolness of the trees. A lady approached us and asked if we could speak to her English class of 4-6 year old’s. Of course! They were so cute. They asked us what our favourite fruit, vegetable, animal, colour was. After about 15 minutes the teacher moved them along. It was a heart warming experience.

As we were leaving we heard a parade coming up the street. We had a front row view of the lengthy Christmas Parade. There were lots of marching bands, majorettes, and dancers all decked out in beautiful costumes. It was a long parade and we got tired of it after about an hour.

We went back into the park, where our little English class was singing carols. When they were finished, one little girl recognized me and came running up to give me a hug. Before I knew it I was swarmed by the little Guatemalan mosquitoes. I squatted down and they crowded in from every angle. The parents were busy taking pictures of me laughing and chatting with them. It was one of the most beautiful moments of my life. They all wanted to hug me and it was hard for me to break away.

The women carry their babies and toddlers in a sling on their backs. We saw two little girls carrying their dolls the same way. The kids just run all over, seemingly by themselves.

While we were watching the parade, a little girl tugged on my dress and motioned that she wanted me to blow up her balloon. I have no idea where her parents were. I went up the street a ways and when I came back she was still there, all by herself.

There are lots of kids. LOTS! We never saw any crying or whining. They seemed to play with whatever was at hand or with other kids. They were always laughing and smiling.

We wandered to see Santa Catalina Arch and came across the parade, still going an hour later. The park and buildings were lit up beautifully for Christmas.

There were men rebuilding the centuries old streets. The streets are mostly uneven cobblestones and rough as hell. They were re-laying the stones, but filling the spaces with sand to even them out. It takes a long time to rebuild a road one stone at a time. Talk about job security!

We headed back to Guatemala City to take care of some business, then headed to Flores and Tikal.