Pacaya Volcano, Cerro de La Cruz
From Quetzaltenango I headed back to Lake Atitlán, but instead of going to Panajachel I headed straight to San Pedro La Laguna. The view of the lake was a lot better there, and the town itself was nice to walk around. There was a small museum there, too, but I didn’t find it all that interesting. My plan was to have San Pedro as a base, and do some hiking around the lake. However, there were two big problems with that plan. First, the cheap hostels in town weren’t good, and although I enjoyed walking around town, I didn’t enjoy staying there. Second, both the Indian Nose hike and the San Pedro Volcano hike had a bit too many rumors regarding bandits and robbers.
Looking for another place, I found myself in San Lucas Tolimán, another small town around the lake, which was far less touristy. I spent a few days there, with the intention of hiking both Tolimán Volcano and Atitlán Volcano. Looking at the map, it seemed that both hikes start at the same place, until a split in the road where one can choose which mountain to climb. Early in the morning, I exited the accommodation and started walking. I’ve seen a couple of buses, and even tuktuks, but I had no idea how to direct them to where I needed to go, I wasn’t sure how popular those hikes were for the locals. I got tired just walking around the streets, and at the end I failed to go up the volcanoes. I made it all the way to a nice view point overlooking the town and the lake before resting for a while and going back to town. I might have been a bit sick on that day, as I felt unusually tired, but even though I didn’t make it all the way up, I had a nice view, and that was good enough for me.
After resting for a bit more, I left Atitlán and arrived in Antigua Guatemala, which was going to be my last tourist destination in the country. This time, before going on any hikes, I consulted the website Mountain Forecast, which was supposed to give a good estimation for the condition at the top of any mountain. After a few days in town of not doing much, the weather was supposed to be clear, so I booked a tour to Pacaya. It was a choice between that and Acatenango, and I wasn’t sure about the latter.
In the morning, when the shuttle arrived I was surprised by the size of it, and by how many people were in there already. Based on my adventures in Guatemala so far, I didn’t expect such a large group. A few more people got in after me, and then we had a short break at a coffee shop before heading to the volcano.
We were immediately surrounded by people (and children) offering trekking poles and horse rides. We got introduced to our guides, paid the entry fee, and had a brief explanation of the volcano and the trail before we started the hike.
It was far more moderate than any of the other hikes I’ve done in Guatemala, and so for once I found myself at the front of the group, pretty close to the guide. It was my time to feel a bit frustrated whenever we had to stop and wait for everyone else to catch up, which happened often. Stopping that frequently was something I felt would have been good for me in Tajumulco, but here it felt like an unnecessary waste of time. I needed to remind myself I’m not going alone, and that a larger group will take longer to reach the top.
The hike itself was quite nice. We were walking through a forest for the most part, but along the way we had several viewpoints through which we could see the surrounding area. It was more cloudy than expected, but there were still things to look at.
And then we got to the top, or rather, we got as far up as we were allowed to. As an active volcano, Pacaya was too dangerous to climb all the way, no matter how interesting it could’ve been. According to the guides, on a good day it was possible to see all the other volcanoes in the area. On that particular day, however, it wasn’t possible. To me, that was good news. I booked the tour on that day based on the information on Mountain Forecast, and if it wasn’t that accurate on Pacaya, it wouldn’t be less accurate on Tajumulco, so looking at the forecast before going up that mountain might not have been very useful anyway.
After relaxing at the top for a while and waiting for everyone else to catch up, we continued along the trail down to the famous crater where we had marshmallows. I feel like “roasted” is simply the wrong word, and I’m not all that sure about “steamed” either. We put them against the rocks and waited for them to get slightly warm before eating them. There was nothing special about it.
Then we kept going, all the way around, and back down. The way down was on a different trail to the one we took on the way up, which meant slightly different scenery, and more views to look at. It was quite nice, although not impressive at any point. Being at the front with a few other travelers, I was among the first few to reach the starting point.
Once more, we waited for everyone else to catch up before going on the shuttle. Due to a funeral passing along the road, the way back took considerably longer than it was supposed to, but it wasn’t too bad.
Back in Antigua Guatemala, there was one final thing for me to do. From the town center I walked around for a bit until I got to the trail of Cerro de La Cruz, a viewpoint overlooking the town with a large cross at the top of it. The trail was pretty easy, mostly low stairs to climb, which didn’t require much effort. Very quickly I got to the viewpoint, which was indeed quite nice. It was also quite loud, with many people hanging around at the top, which slightly damaged the experience for me.
Going back down, near the beginning of the trail I sat down in a small garden and thought about everything I experienced in Guatemala. All the way from Flores to Antigua, it was quite an adventure. I’d like to say I found the people more kind and helpful here, but part of me wonders if it’s because my Spanish improved. Regardless, when I needed help, they were there to help me, and I appreciate that. It started with some history, but for the most part my Guatemalan adventure was more nature focused. Very quickly I found myself in the south, and a big chunk of my time was in Xela, waiting for people to join me on hikes.
It is also the first country where I found myself thinking: “I wish I was here in the dry season”. It was difficult to find hiking partners, and the views were not always great. According to the internet, there is far less risk with the views when hiking in the dry season. But, as always, I got here when I got here, and I could not change it. Leaving Guatemala behind me, it feels like a country whose potential I couldn’t fulfill. As much as I enjoyed my time here, I couldn’t help but feel it could’ve been , and should’ve been, so much more, if only I were to come at a different time of the year.