Days 591-597! Woah! Crazy, almost closing in on 600 days of traveling! This week was quite the adventure. It started out normally (well as normal as I can get living in Guatemala learning Spanish) and had quite the roller coaster as I embarked on a 2 day adventure with my friend Lucio. We hiked one of Guatemala’s most famous volcanoes, Acatenango, saw literal lava erupt out of another volcano, fuego, but sadly the volcano wasn’t the only thing erupting…

Thursday, August 14th kicks off this week! I started my day bright and early with my one on one Spanish class.

Tulio and I started class with some chit chat. This is always a nice way to get the Spanish flowing and start learning new vocabulary! It’s very similar to how I learned guitar, pick songs I enjoy, learn those chords, and eventually I learned how to play the guitar well! This way I can learn the words I’ll need right away and pick up others as I go.

The main meat of today’s lesson was numbers. It took 7 days of lessons to finally touch base on them, but we got there. We even did some math problems… it’s been 3 years since I’ve even touched mathematics, so to do it in Spanish was making me think.

We also went through some verbs that change their spellings when conjugated and my homework was writing sentences using those verbs.

All useful stuff to know!

I walked home for lunch and after eating I started on my homework. It’s still strange to have homework again, but I’m enjoying it since it’s something I’m actively wanting to learn and understand!

I ended up working at home and wrapping up my homework before going on a little adventure with two of my friends.

Near Antigua, there’s a town called Pastores that is known for leather making. My friend’s Grey and Isabella both wanted to get shoes/boots. I decided to tag along on the journey to check out the nearby town!

One of the main reasons I wanted to tag along was to experience riding in a “chicken bus.” The chicken busses are decommissioned US yellow school buses that are used for public transport around Guatemala. They’re usually decked out in new paint jobs, funny stickers, and other unique decor. They’re cheap, rambunctious, and given the name chicken bus because literally sometimes there could be animals on the bus. They’re also notorious for thievery so keeping a close eye on your personal belongings is a must.

(My friend Lucio unfortunately had one of his bags stolen (out of another bag) that had his passport and wallet in it. He unfortunately learned this lesson the hard way).

We had a seamless journey on our chicken bus to Pastores, minus how bumpy of a ride it was.

The ride was only 5 Quetzales ($0.65)!

(Trigger warning): Just as we got off the bus, we unfortunately saw and heard a dog get hit by a car… not the warm welcome we were hoping for. It’s also not a sound that’s easy to get out of your head. It was alive but it was definitely hurt… the sad reality of the stray animals and the lack of care in a lot of foreign countries.

But, this wasn’t an omen of how our time in Pastores would go. We had some lovely interactions with store owners and got to practice using our Spanish in public. One of the store owners was very happy we stopped in and was excited to share his one English expression “come on man” to us.

A lot of the shops were closed for lunch, even though it was around 2/3pm, so options were limited. But Grey finally found a place that made chelsea boots that he liked and bought a pair. I believe he paid 550 Quetzales ($71) which is a bargain for handmade boots. He could’ve even got custom made boots and waited a week, but time was a concern for him.

This town reminded me a lot of all the tailors and leather makers in Hoi An, Vietnam. When asking workers why this was the spot for all the boot makers, they responded by saying it just makes sense. Allegedly, the leather prices are lower in this area. And of course, since there are so many shops, the prices just keep going down.

Isabella didn’t end up finding what she wanted and planned to come back another day. She’s spending 8 weeks studying in Antigua before going to Honduras (a different town) to teach English as well!

We waved down another chicken bus and took it back to town. It was a nice little outing to split up all the studying we’ve been doing (and nice to put the skills to the test).

After dinner, my friends and I met up for a drink at Antigua Cerveza, a brewery and beer garden… easily the biggest beer garden I have ever seen. I’m not sure how they have so much land in such an expensive part of Guatemala, but the garden part of it was truly a garden.

We played monopoly deal, had a beer, and then headed to El Illegal for one more (cheaper) beer.

Friday, August 15th started bright and early yet again for breakfast and class. I also dropped off laundry on my way to class so I’d be prepared for my adventure the following day.

Today, Tulio and I went through my homework and continued working on numbers. We also continued working on the irregular present tense verbs, which there’s plenty to work on there.

After lunch, I met up with my friends at Cafe Boheme (the cafe next to the church that rings bells every 15 minutes). I worked on homework while we hung out and chatted. Lucio and I had to leave the party early as we had a pre-trip meeting for our hike up the volcano, Acatenango!

Before the meeting, I got my laundry from the laundromat. They are very quick and efficient with the laundry in Antigua!

At the meeting, I got to meet the 24 other hikers in our group. They were from all over the world, Switzerland, Germany, Colombia, United Stares, Netherlands, and probably more that I’m not remembering.

Our head guide, Alonso, went over what we should pack (clothes, food, water, etc.) and what we should expect. The hike itself was going to be a very difficult and strenuous adventure… foreshadowing, it was insanely strenuous for me.

The tour company, Ox Expeditions, was supplying us all the heavy clothing we would need for the journey, which was very helpful. However, they didn’t have hiking boots… so tennis shoes were all I was going to have.

Alonso suggested getting snacks at a local grocery store. So after dinner, Lucio and I (along with a few other friends on a different tour group) went to the store to get the necessities.

We got fruits, cookies, nuts, water, wet wipes, and a few other goodies for our journey… the wet wipes were going to come in handy.

It was an early morning for all of us. So after grocery shopping, it was straight to bed… and was I going to need to get some sleep.

Saturday, August 16th, the big day was here! I woke up at 5:50am, made sure I had everything I needed, and set out to meet up with Lucio before heading to Ox Expedition.

We immediately got to packing our bags. The tour company provided me a backpack, heavy poncho, sleeping bag liner, sweater, a heavier coat, gloves, beanie, headlamp, and 2 liters of water. They also had us carrying random food items for our meals at base camp… I somehow got stuck with a very dense loaf of banana bread.

It all got out into our bag along with the supplies we bought the night before… and it was time to get onto our bus/van and head to breakfast.

Breakfast was provided through the tour and was a light burrito at a nearby restaurant that had linked to the tour group. The guide came around asking if we would want a porter to carry our bags up for us… and naive me of course said no. I really didn’t know what I was getting myself in for.

We piled back into the van and bus and set out on a windy drive up to where we’d begin our hike.

We rented our hiking sticks, put on our bags, and started our journey.

We started walking up the road and then entering the first section of the hike. The first 30 minutes were spent hiking up steep farm land. The ground was loose dirt and the path was really deep. It was a pretty high traffic day, so lots of groups were coming and going which added to our hike time. The sun was pretty intense on this section of the hike… but later on I sure was going to miss it.

The first stop already had a gorgeous view… and I was already contemplating why the heck I signed myself up for this adventure (don’t let the smile fool you). It was here that the guide said if you wanted to turn back, you’d have a free ride back to Antigua and get 50% of your money back… I actually was seriously contemplating it. My bag was very heavy from the water, food, and heavy clothing and I really didn’t think I’d enjoy myself at all if the rest of the hike was similar to the first section (and let me tell you, it got even harder).

Lucio was feeling the same way as me and we both asked for porters… and were initially told no. So I started mentally preparing myself to be able to carry the bag all the way to the top. But just as we were about to leave onto the next section of the hike, miraculously two porters agreed to help us.

Immediately the hike was 100x easier and I was able to enjoy the adventure a bit more (it was still very hard).

We continued on through the steep farmland and after another 30 minutes or so, stopped for our second break at the beginning of the Cloud Forest.

Even without the backpack, an hour into this hike and I was exhausted. So far, the hike had pretty much been straight up ascending very rapidly on loose soil with not many flat parts to the path. On top of that, the clouds were rolling in and the Cloud Forest was about to live up to its name.

Each break was about 10 minutes if you were in the front of the group, even less if you were towards the back. Essentially the breaks were to make sure the group stayed together and of course to hydrate and snack. It was at this break I noticed my porter had somehow lost 2 liters of my water… not a great start to the hike and unfortunately Lucio lost 3 as well. Really unfortunate!

The next section of the hike turned from steep and straight up to steep and switch backs… the guide said the switch backs would make it less steep, but honestly, it felt steeper. The forest was lush and beautiful, but all the views were obstructed by the clouds rolling through. We spent the next 45 minutes winding through the clouded forest and persevering step after step.

By this point, I had put on my sweatshirt to combat the chilliness of the clouds. But every time we stopped my sweat would cool me down and I’d start to get uncomfortably cold, until we started moving again.

At this rest stop, Lucio and I actually ran into another friend, Rosemary, who was doing the hike with another group! She was also going through the mental and physical battle as well, so we were able to bond over that. It appeared almost everyone was struggling… this had been easily the hardest (and longest) hike I’d ever been on. And it was about to turn even worse.

This is where I should probably re-warn you, I had some major stomach issues that I will be talking about throughout the rest of the journey… if you’re squeamish about that sort of thing, you might want to just skim this section. However, it is a pretty wild and semi-humorous (now that it’s in the past and I’m okay) adventure.

Unfortunately, I don’t really have too many more pictures of the rest of the hike itself… why? Because after another section of the hike, we got to a rest point. The rest point after this one was supposed to be lunch… but, it started to rain, so our guides told us to eat lunch now to wait out the rain.

Luckily, or not so luckily, before the rain started, I felt a major rumbling in my stomach… I had to urgently use the restroom. So I took my toilet paper and wet wipes and ran into the forest for my first (of many) forest poops. This was when I realized something wasn’t quite right. I had major diarrhea… I’m not sure where it came from but I was glad I made it to a semblance of a restroom.

Well, everyone started taking their brown bagged lunch out and mine was nowhere to be found. I knew for sure when I was packing that I didn’t have one. The sandwiches were definitely dairy intensive, so it might’ve been because I marked lactose free on my sign up sheet… but my guess is they just messed up. Thankfully, one of the guides came to my aid and had a chicken and lettuce sandwich at the ready for me.

My stomach, the elevation, and the intensive exercise was making it hard for me to eat. But I was able to scarf down all the insides of the sandwich and a majority of the bread. The rain didn’t end up stopping and our guide said we would have no idea if it would stop anytime soon… so we pressed on.

Now starts just a miserable section of the journey. Over the next 2 hours… TWO HOURS, we hiked in the pouring rain. Not a light sprinkle, a torrential downpour. I get ahead of myself though, because just a mere 10-15 minutes (if it was even that long) after we started back up, I had to make a dart into the forest for another round of explosive diarrhea.

I thankfully found a fairly secluded and easy to get to area but I pretty much lost my sandwich immediately. And to top it off, I wasn’t carrying my toilet paper or wet wipes (stupid of me) and had to play leaf roulette. Thankfully, they weren’t poisonous! The wet leaves made for quite good toilet paper actually.

After each bout of stomach issues, I felt much better for a brief period. At the previous stop, a group mate told me he had Imodium with him and at the next break I took him up on it. I think this actually ended up being a mistake and made me feel worse… because this is when the nausea set in.

As we trudged through the rain and steep terrain, literally heads down pushing one foot infront of the other, we approached a sign reading “¡Bienvenido!” I thought, “there’s no way… we made it… there’s no freaking way.” And, welp, we had indeed not made it. We had made it to the first national park entrance!

Not where I had thought, but still a milestone.

We paid the 50 quetzales entrance fee and continued on our journey. Soon after this entrance, the terrain started becoming much flatter. We had done the hard part, now it was just a bit longer in the rain on a much smoother part of the journey… or so I’d hoped.

With the flat terrain came steep edges on both sides (one going up and one going down. Unfortunately for me, I had another bout of explosive diarrhea coming my way but couldn’t find a place to easily hop into the forest and not subject my fellow group mates to an unfortunate show.

I should add, the group was so lovely during this adventure, we were all going through a trial but everyone made sure to check in with me and see how I was doing. Whether it was genuine or to give themselves some relief knowing it could be even worse for them, the gesture was very sweet.

Well lucky for all my group mates, I held it in till I couldn’t any longer and braced the steep edge down as far as I could. Luckily, the poncho made for a good port-o-potty and concealed myself from the group… but unfortunately, they all knew what was going on. A pretty low moment for me. Oh and have I mentioned it was still raining?

When I got back up from my battle, the group was far ahead of me. Thankfully, it was a straight shot to catching up and my pace was faster than a majority of the group still. We continued on, passing through the second national park and paying another 50 Quetzales. And then…

After over 5 hours of hiking, 2 of which being in pouring rain with flooded shoes, many bouts and battles with food poisoning, 1,350 meters of elevation gain, and around (allegedly) 6 kilometers (felt like more) distance traversed, we had officially made it to base camp.

I’m honestly not sure how I made it because I couldn’t keep any water or snacks down, my body was so tired from the insanely intense hike, and the weather was just brutal… but I made it, everyone in the group made it, and we were met with an insanely cloudy view!

We really couldn’t see anything, but at least the rain was done and the hike (for now) was over. I immediately went to my cabin, which I was sharing with Lucio, and 3 lovely older ladies from multiple parts of Central America. I dried off, put on warm dry clothes, and curled up in my sleeping bag. I felt terrible and was about to take a power nap but out of nowhere the clouds started to part and we started to catch our first views of the neighboring volcano, Fuego, in action.

The clouds kept moving in and out, covering the views… but I was actually seeing a volcano erupt before my own eyes! Each time there was an eruption our whole group (and the campsites around us) would go up into cheers! It definitely helped me feel better for a few minutes but then I was right back to feeling downright terrible.

I went into my cabin a bit to try and warm up.

A couple drone shots of our campsite (on the left) and all the expedition’s campsites (on the right):

It ended up clearing up enough for the guide to give the go ahead on the second hike of the day, the hike to Fuego. It’s the closest hike you can legally get to (I believe in the world) an active volcano. I obviously was in no condition to go and a handful of us stayed back. But a good majority of the group decided to pay extra and take the risk… and a risk they took.

Just as they left the clouds immediately rolled back in and the rain began again. I took this as my opportunity to take a nice nap. It was freezing cold at the base camp so I snuggled myself into my sleeping bag. It turned out the Fuego hike was insanely hard and they didn’t end up seeing anything… so I really didn’t miss much.

Especially because I woke up from my nap, ran to the outhouse, and immediately had a both ends experience. This is when the food poisoning took a turn and I was feeling even worse. The tour guides really wanted me to eat something, but I was honestly too nervous to eat because I knew it wasn’t going to stay down (I wanted to drink and eat but I couldn’t). They told me they had a medication for me and handed me two small white pills. When I inquired what they were they said one was for diarrhea and one was for nausea. When I inquired further about the specifics he said they were specifically Guatemalan medicine.

Well… at first I still felt terrible. So instead of eating I went to lie down. Every 30 minutes one of the guides came and checked in on me to see if I was ready to eat. By the 3rd time, the Fuego hikers were coming back and he insisted I come try and eat… and I actually was able to put food down (plain noodles). Not only that, electrolytes and water as well. I was honestly feeling SO much better!

I stayed up chatting with my group mates around a fire. We had a good laugh about the trauma I was going through and most were shocked I was able to be so light hearted about the situation I was going through.

I decided to call it a night around 8pm and just as I was closing my eyes I heard an ERUPTION of cheers and hollers, the ground started shaking, and when I opened my eyes, I saw my first view of LITERAL LAVA flying out of a volcano.

I couldn’t believe my eyes! This was the view straight outside of my cabin window… I crawled out of bed and joined the others for a bit as we watched Fuego show off a display of brilliant colors, strength, and otherworldliness.

As cool as this all was, I desperately needed sleep. I called it a night… but really, every time I heard cheering I opened my eyes and shot straight up to see fuego throw beautiful red rocks into the air. It was just incredible, I almost forgot how cold and miserable I had been feeling.

I woke up at midnight to use the bathroom and was met with a beautiful clear view over the valley below.

I woke up again at 2am for another emergency bathroom trip, thankfully they were starting to spread out. And I was met with another gorgeous view, this time the stars above Fuego!

My alarm went off at 3am on Sunday, August 17th. I decided it wasn’t in my best interest to do the sunrise summit hike (1.5-2 hours on an almost 2km steep hile). The rest of my cabin decided the same, Lucio didn’t do it because the Fuego hike completely took it out of him. So we all “slept in.”

But at sunrise, we rolled out of bed and were met with an incredible show.

I went back to curl up in my sleeping bag and to try and sleep some more. My legs and body were sore, I was dehydrated, cold, and ready to be back in Antigua. I didn’t rest long, as one of the guides told us to start packing and clean our cabin. So we did so and then continued enjoying the clear views we didn’t get to experience the day before.

The rest of the group came back from the sunrise summit and it was time to eat. I struggled to put down breakfast. My stomach was starting to handle food but it wasn’t ready for a lot. I drank as much electrolytes as I could… and then it was time for our trek back down the mountain.

I decided to not use a porter on the way down. At our meeting on Friday, we were told that it’d be much easier to carry your own bag, not only because you were hiking down, but because there was less weight in the bag (from food and water). This was the case, however, my knees and legs did take a beating from how steep the path was.

But the way down was wayyy easier! The weather was perfect and we could see all the views in the Cloud Forest that we missed the day before. We flew through sections that felt like they had taken us ages on the way up and quickly made our way to the farm land.

I won’t say the way down was easy, but it was easier than the hike up. But once we got to the farm land, I had forgotten just how long it had taken us and just how steep it was. I was slipping everywhere on the loose soil and my knees had had enough.

Finally, after many breaks and 3-4 hours of climbing down… the battle was over!

I was full of so many mixed emotions. I was proud of myself for pushing through, I felt silly for doing something so intense without any preparation, I was so happy to be heading back to a place where I knew I had a working bathroom and a warm bed, and I was so amped that I got to see a FREAKING VOLCANO EXPLODE before my own eyes.

We waited for the bus to take us back to Antigua and I nodded in and out of sleep over the ride back. When we got back to town, we unpacked our gear and returned it to the expedition. I also tipped the tour guides (not a ton), which is not something I’d usually do… but they really helped me get through the hike and made sure I was okay.

I walked home, immediately showered (unfortunately a cold shower), snacked on a bunch of salted peanuts, and passed out for the next 2 hours. I woke up and hobbled my way to the laundromat to get all my gross wet and dirty clothes cleaned. On my way back I stopped by a food vendor for a small chicken and avocado sandwich… which turned out to be chicken salad not hot cooked chicken… which was a big gamble on an already dodgy stomach.

I was desperate for some cheap food and thankfully all was still okay.

I woke up and laid in bed for the rest of the afternoon until my friends and I decided to meet up for dinner at the most authentic Guatemalan restaurant we could think of… a sushi restaurant (that’s sarcasm if you couldn’t tell).

Another crazy meal for someone with stomach issues, but I hadn’t ate much in almost 2 days and all that I had put down I immediately lost… so I was game for anything at this point.

The restaurant was subpar but I was able to eat 8 rolls of sushi and they didn’t destroy my stomach! The rest of the group continued on with their night out, but I called it a night and went to bed very very early.

I woke up bright and early on Monday, August 18th. It was time to get back to learning Spanish! My legs were in pain, especially my left knee, but that wasn’t going to stop me from getting to class.

I told both my host family and my teacher all about my woes on the hike. They both found it very humorous, as did everyone else I had and would tell.

I was exhausted but there was still lots to learn! Tulio and I went deeper into the past tense, specifically the past imperfect. This was actually fairly straight forward and it’s a tense used when talking about the general past, not a specific time. And there were only 3 irregular verbs to go along with it so that was – major bonus too!

I ate lunch and took a nap after class and finished up my homework for the day. I then met up with my friends at Antigua Cerveza for cards (no beers for me until my stomach is back in shape).

We played a bunch of games of Cambio (a game I’ve learned has many different names) and of course Shithead. But when it was time to go, it was “see you later” to all these new friends, except Isabella. My friend Maya had us all write a note in a little journal that she’d read once her traveling was over in December, which was a very cute idea.

I’ve had a really nice time hanging out with this group over the past 1-2 weeks! They’re a goofy bunch and made my time in Antigua very enjoyable. I’m always game to explore alone, but it’s always nice to have friends along for the adventure! I can’t wait for our paths to cross again!

I got my laundry on the way home, had dinner, and worked on this week’s blog post a bit before calling it another early night.

Tuesday, August 19th was another morning starting with breakfast and class. Thankfully my left knee was feeling better… but today my calves were as tight as could be! The perks of getting older and doing strenuous activities!

Today in class, Tulio and I started out chatting for a while. He has grand plans to someday put a second story on his childhood house so it can be both a bakery and a home (even though his brother probably will never allow it to happen). He wanted my engineering advice about the structural support and such… we chatted about this all in Spanish and I told him multiple times that I’d give ideas but I wasn’t a structural engineer so take it with a grain of salt.

I did say that once it’s up and running, I’d come work in it in exchange for a place to stay and Spanish lessons. We shook on it so it’s a done deal! We also exchanged WhatsApp numbers so that once I get my schedule in Honduras we might be able to do online Spanish lessons, which would be fantastic!

For the rest of the lesson, we talked about the definitive past for verbs ending in AR, ER, and IR… and of course, the irregular verbs as well. I had plenty of homework to do today to practice all of this!

After class, I had lunch and then took a quick power nap. I had a laundry list of to do’s this afternoon. The first thing was to get a haircut! I wandered into town and tried 2 barber shops that both ended up being closed, but that led me to find Barbería Antigua.

Manuel gave me a haircut for 30 quetzales ($3.92)! I showed him the pictures and explained a little in Spanish and he went to work. I was a bit nervous because he was just chopping away, but frankly I’m always nervous getting a haircut in a new country. But it all turned out okay!

I then went on the hunt for a travel agent who could help me get a bus ticket to Cofradia for this coming Saturday. I found one that said he’d look into it for me and message me on WhatsApp. He quickly came back to me saying it’d cost $120… no thank you! I had already found one online for $60, I chatted with him in person later and he explained it had to do with the type of bus… but still, a $60 difference was pretty nuts. I could bus to Guatemala City and fly for cheaper.

I then went to the Spanish school’s office to pay for my final 3 days of class. It ended up being 1600 Quetzales ($208)… a bit steep (when you compare it to a full week, which is 1880 Quetzales, but I do want to learn the last 3 days and stay with the family… so it is what it is.

Finally, it was time to start my homework. I went to the library to study and over the next 1.5-2 hours I cranked out my homework for the day.

I ended up chatting to an older traveler (apparently in his 60s) whose name is Pierre. He’s from Brooklyn originally but lived in London for 35 years working in finance, joined the peace corps, and now is out traveling around and learning Spanish. He stopped me to chat because he recognized me from the Spanish academy. We had a nice 10 to 15 minute chat about different places we’d been and the state of the world. It was interesting, but I needed to get back to my homework so I cut it short and said I’d chat more with him at the 30 minute break the following day.

I walked back to my homestay in the drizzly rain and relaxed in bed a bit until dinner. After dinner I worked on my blog post some more and then called it another early night! I still had plenty of rest to catch up on from the weekend.

With how hectic of a week I had already, I thought it best to have a pretty chill day to round out the week.

I woke up on Wednesday, August 20th for my 3rd to last class in Antigua! It’s been a total of 11 classes (including today’s) and I’ve learned a ton over the 44 hours of lessons.

Tulio and I of course did a fair amount of talking about random things, but our main meat of the lesson today was more verb tenses. Specifically the future, present perfect, and how to use have vs had vs will have vs would have.

At one point in the lesson I felt like I was having an information overload. But, I’m glad to finally be learning how to speak in different tenses! Now the main mission will be to continue memorizing verbs and more vocab.

After class, I had lunch, took a nap, and then got into my homework which was translating English sentences to Spanish. I got halfway through when my friend Nnenna, from England, asked if I wanted to hang at a cafe! I welcomed the break from Spanish studies to hang and we met up at Cafe Boheme, which is a cafe I’ve frequented with my friends in Antigua.

After about an hour, there was imminent rain, so we headed back to our homestays. Somehow we timed it perfectly and made it back literally just as the torrential downpour begun.

I spent the rest of my afternoon and evening finishing my homework, writing some new tunes, and missing having a guitar around. I’ve been scouring Facebook for a used one with no luck. I might have to wait and do a weekend trip to San Pedro Sula to find what I’m looking for.

Most of my friends had left town already and the ones still here were either busy or not wanting to do anything. So I decided to just relax at home and call it an early night.

It was another roller coaster of a week! Lots of new Spanish knowledge and climbing (while sick) and seeing a volcano erupt in person! Wild! I bought my bus ticket to Honduras. Unfortunately I won’t be heading straight to Cofradia and will be dropped off in San Pedro Sula, but a ride will be waiting for me after my 10 hour bus journey.

When I see you all next, I’ll be a few days into teaching English and I can’t wait to share that adventure with you!

See you then!!

– Elie