I ALMOST DIDN’T MAKE IT… HIKING VOLCANO ACATENANGO, GUATEMALA! (FULL TOUR & TIPS)

Hola! Bienvenidos! Welcome to beautiful Acatenango! Buenos dias. Good morning Country Collectors and welcome back to Antigua, Guatemala. If you tuned in last week you got to explore this beautiful Colonial City with us. Well this week we are going on an adventure and I hope you're ready because it's gonna be a crazy one! I am attempting to climb this volcano right here. Volcan Acatenango. It is joined with Volcan Fuego right over here which is one of three active volcanoes here in Guatemala. And is one of the main reasons people do this hike is to get up close and personal with that volcano. Maybe we'll even get to see an eruption! And I'll be honest I am very nervous. Volcan Acatenango sits at an elevation of 3,976 meters making it the third highest volcano in Central America. It also has an elevation gain of 1,500 meters so you're dealing with that physical aspect as well as altitude. Which is why I'm not going to be joining this adventure today because I get pretty sick when I get up to really high altitudes and I'm exerting myself. But I know you got this babe. Oh thank you yeah we're really gonna miss you. But I know you're gonna be here cheering me on and you're going to be right there with me the entire way so yeah. Excited and nervous! Let's do this. Let's go get our stuff and hit the road see if our ride is here. While I'm waiting for them to arrive I just want to mention there are a lot of wonderful tour operators here in Antigua but I chose to go with V-hiking as the reviews online just kind of drew me in. They're very positive. And they're a family-run business as always we love to support local. It looks like they are coming! Yeah! Heidi? Buenos dias. Heidi? Si! Bye babe! Bye babe have such a great hike! I lava you! We have made it. We are in San Jose Calderas which is where Elvin the founder of this company of V-hiking his mother lives here. So we are gonna head in and have a traditional breakfast with her. And that's what I loved about this company is he started it to support the community here which is just awesome. So yeah looks like we already have some wonderful weather for today. Very excited. Hola buenos dias. So yeah let's head in. Look it here they have a turkey. Oh my goodness they even have puppies. We just finished our breakfast it was a typical Guatemalan breakfast cooked by Elvin's mother. This is his mother Rosa and she has just made us this amazing breakfast. Muchas gracias. And I also got to meet some other people that are doing the hike which was great. If you don't have your own warm clothing just keep in mind that it gets really cold up there at night. If you don't want to buy any they do rent some here so I just rented some gloves and a jacket. And then they also rent walking sticks which I heard are really nice to have especially on the way down as it is really steep. The whole way we're going to be climbing straight up so imagine coming down. You can put these you know into the ground and really help you help with stability same way going up so definitely recommend renting some hiking sticks. Well it is about time to go. Hola buenos dias. It's about time to go they said we have five more minutes. I'm definitely feeling a lot better since I met a couple of friends. And yeah just like the nerves are wearing off a bit and I'm just more excited and happy you're here with me. So let's get in that van and head to that volcano! Adios! Adios! Cuidate! (Goodbye, take care of yourself) Looks like we have made it to the starting point. What a beautiful view. All right it is time they just said vamos vamos let's go! We got our bag. It's feeling pretty heavy. I'm gonna have to drink some water to get rid of some weight but we're starting we're starting here at 2,400 meters so we got 1,500 meter elevation gain over five hours. Let's do it baby! Here we go! Amiga! Enjoy! Thank you! Just a couple steps into this, already tired. Oh my gosh. It's gonna be something else huh? It's gonna be great though. And the official time right now is 9:19 am. So we shall see what time we make it up there. It's not a race though. You can see right there that's Del. He's nine years old and he's going up with his parents. They are from Brazil. So you can't hire a horse if you'd like. Kind of wish I would have done that. I am not gonna lie. All right we have made it to like our first real planned stop. We're about 30 minutes in. When everybody got here they just put their stuff down, sat down and taking big breaths, peeling their clothes off, drinking a lot of water. That was steep. All the way uphill. My heart is absolutely pounding. You know that feeling you get in your throat. When like it's cold and it's like the phlegm and like metallic tasting? That's what it is right now. But yeah it's beautiful we're at this little stop right now where you can grab some snacks. It looks like water. You can get some Oreos. Get some fuel in you. And before we get back to the hike just so you know they do have bathrooms here at the this first stop. They are five Quetzales. And they have a place here where you can wash your hands as well and they do provide toilet paper. So always go to the bathroom when you can. All right let's do this. I'm seeing some people come back from, they must have went on the hike yesterday they're coming back they're looking very tired! It's gonna be us tomorrow. All right it is time to get back on our trail. Let's go blaze it baby! And as we're hiking this morning we're going past all these fields and I believe it's maiz. It's really nice the environment is kind of changing up on us right now as we get higher in altitude. And we are sharing the trail with the hikers that went up yesterday and they're coming down. Looks like they survived. So that's a good sign. Hola! Buenos dias. Good luck. Thank you! We're gonna need it. Everyone's alive though? It was great! Awesome. That was nice seeing the people come down you know supporting us saying that we got it. Some were already having their celebratory beer! Cheers! Cheers! Good luck have fun! Thank you. We are now going up some steps and this guy that just went down this lady asked, "How was your hike?" "Better now that I know it's almost over." And everyone was like, "What! Thanks for that!" Whoa whoa. Yeah see that. You gotta watch where you're stepping. It is quite slippery. I wish I had hiking boots. Harder going down or up? Ah down. Down. Okay. We made it. That much closer! We just finished up at our second stop. We are an hour and ten into it so we're getting there. We also had a cute little dog here to share it with. And yeah everybody seems to be in pretty good spirits. It's so pretty we just got up here and the vegetation has all changed. You see we're kind of like in a forest right now. Hola. Buenos dias. Okay we have made it to the entrance. All right it looks like we have to register. Stop number three already I love all these little breaks they are so welcomed. It's kind of funny because we were just down there and I saw a sign that said entrata which means entrance and I was like wait... didn't we already enter this place? But no I guess not. We are now officially on the mountain. So we had to register here and then we got this little bracelet. And our registration was actually paid through V hiking so they handled all they handled all of that. Yeah we're just feeling up a bit more and then we're gonna get back on the trail. What is the dog's name? Tarzan Oh he's got a little limp. Yeah what happened my friend? And this is Juan Pablo I just met him. Nice to meet you. He's a guide he does freelancing here so maybe when you come on the mountain you'll get to have him as your guide. He's very nice and he also said that we're gonna get great weather, right? Of course. And he said the volcano is erupting quite a lot. A lot! Okay so yay. Thank you. All right and we are off once more. Here we go! Enjoying your beer? Yes. I love it. And if you choose to do this hike make sure to take some time, I know your head's gonna be down a lot, but to pick it up and just enjoy the natural beauty around you. These trees are like covered with moss and they are gorgeous! But as we are struggling a bit I can only wonder what Adam's up to right now. I'm just picturing him like spread out in bed or getting a massage or a pedicure. Just really enjoying this time off. Miss you babe. Oh a dog's life. You're lounging for the rest of us. And I'm not gonna lie this is very hard. We had some people tell us that it was quite easy but I knew they were lying. Um there are some steps that they cut into the trail so it's a lot less dangerous in some parts so you don't slip. But just take it slow like I've been saying but yeah just know this is no walk in the park. We're about two hours into it right now. My legs are killing me. I definitely was not prepared for this. How are you feeling? Okay? I am so tired. This is my friend Vanessa. She's from Brazil. Hi. She's very tired too. I know. Is it harder than you thought? Mas deficil? Yes. We're back in this little forest area and it's shaded quite a little bit which is so nice, cooling off. I couldn't record for that little bit that was the hardest part so far. I've been yeah struggling quite a little bit. But we're getting there and the view is beautiful! This is Benjamin it's one of our guides. We just reached, is this stop number four right? Yeah. And he said this is the last place yeah for buy something over here. To buy some beer Guatemala rum, gatorade, water, whatever you want. Yeah so stock up now. Thanks Benjamin. I'm gonna come over here and hang with my dogs. And take a load off. Oh my goodness. This feels so good but it's always so hard when you rest and then when you get back up to go I feel like my legs are absolutely frozen. So getting back in it is difficult but you gotta take breaks. Also brought my own snacks here. And what do I have here? some cashews. I also got some almonds. I brought steak. We had steak last night so I brought my extra steak. And some chocolate as well. Thanks so much for coming along again if you are enjoying this so far please if you haven't already subscribe, hit that big thumbs up and leave me a comment let me know what you guys think. Could you do this hike? Or are you just are you happy you're at home on your couch just watching me suffer. Either way thanks so much for being here. All right we are back on the trail and they just said we have an hour up and then 45 minutes flat so we're getting there. We have made it to the end of the road. The sign here says Fin Del Camino. and I'll be honest we made it up here about 10 minutes ago and I almost collapsed. I felt like I was gonna have a panic attack and I'm not you know I'm just being truthful here. It was really really hard that last little bit there. And if you stuck with me the whole time and listened to me trying to catch my breath I really appreciate you. While we're getting there I just wanted to mention just a lesson that popped into my mind. That you know a lot of times in life we let fear stop us from accomplishing our goals or even letting us start to do things that we really want to. A saying I learned way back was fear is the enemy of progression. And it really is. If you let that fear take hold it will. And it's gonna stop you from even trying or being able to do a lot of these things even your dreams. And you don't want to grow old and know that you didn't accomplish those things that you really want to do because you were scared. It's okay to be scared. I'm gonna cry. I was scared. I was scared of failure but you know what we did it, we did it together. And I didn't let that fear take over and look where we are. And we accomplished something together so never give up on yourself. Always push through. You can do it. You can do anything you put your mind to. So I believe in you and just please believe in yourself. I think this is our last stop here we have one final push. It's like we've been in labor together. And you can hear Fuego erupting right there it's so loud. I'm sure we're gonna hear it all night long. But just looking out at this view it's insane. Like it gives me vertigo looking down there seeing where we started. The mountains and the clouds in the distance. I am just so proud of us. So here we go last final push let's do it! Oh my gosh! Look right in front of us there that's Fuego! It just erupted. I missed the noise but oh my goodness look it. That's what we came here for right there! Wow Volcan Fuego. Oh my gosh and look at those clouds. Oh Adam I wish you were here. It's alright though you're here with us in spirit. I see the sign for camp right here. We have made it! Woo hoo! Yay! Wow! Congratulations! Oh my goodness! Congratulations! Wow worth it! And look they got some seats and yeah this is camp right here. We deserve this. Time to sit down! Woo all right are there is there a masseuse up here? Get a nice massage. Congratulations! Oh and right over there you can see Volcan Agua as well. I wonder what Adam's doing. Hi Adam. I think I hear Heidi. Hi Heidi! I miss you I hope you're having the best time! Wow sitting down just enjoying this view it seems so surreal. It seems like heaven I mean it's absolutely beautiful you're looking out over the clouds and I've never been anywhere so beautiful I can honestly say that. This is our camp here. There's a bunch of little tents and some structures. I'm staying in the first one with three other ladies they assign that for us. All right and this is home for the evening. Check this out. There's four of us in here! Oh wow we're not going to be cold. We're gonna have some body warmth. There you go. Just had some lunch it was really nice. If you have any allergies or anything like I'm gluten free they prepared a nice gluten-free meal with chicken and some vegetables. And I haven't been to the toilet yet but it's right down here it looks like it's just like a little shack. Behind me is the toilet. Inside they have built a sort of toilet out of wood but that it just drops onto the ground. So nothing fancy here bring your own toilet paper don't forget that. I am extremely filthy. So I brought some wet wipes so I'm gonna clean up as well. And then up here there's a sign and there's a couple hammocks and it says that we are at 3,600 meters. Right now I'm gonna attempt to get into this hammock right here it is quite gravelly so you really gotta watch your step. Oh look there's two! Hey there's one for you. I love it. Ah hammocks they're always so difficult! Wow and while I'm up here just enjoying these views I can't help but think of how grateful and blessed I am especially for this community and the support that you give us. And so while I'm up here I'd love to give a shout out to our newest patrons: Rosie, Jim, Augusto, Rebecca, David and Julia. Thank you so much for everything! You made this possible so this is dedicated to you. You rock! If you would like to join our Patreon community I will put a link in the description below. But I think right now I'm just gonna put my head back and relax like everyone else and just really soak this all in. And I'll be seeing you a little bit later. So right now everyone is getting ready to go on the hike to Fuego. That's an extra hike that you can add on. I will put the cost right here I can't remember it off the top of my head. But I believe it's an hour and a half. You're gonna go down and up. And then you get to walk the rim that I'll show you right over here and the big draw is you can get really close to the lava. But I'm just gonna stick back here I heard that you can see it from camp so let's hope that we can and I gotta save these legs for the morning! But hey good on everyone else for doing this very ambitious. And while everyone is doing that hike up to Fuego I thought I would show you what I brought in my bag. I know I looked at a few blogs before I came to just you know you want to be prepared when you come up here. Starting with a hat definitely gonna need that for the sun. Sunscreen for sure. You're going to want to bring some snacks with you because you're gonna get quite hungry. They do provide a lunch for you like I said earlier which is really nice but extra snacks never hurt. Don't forget your toothbrush brush and toothpaste. Excuse me. Let's see what else is in here. Oh also it gets really dusty so you might want to bring something to cover up your mouth for the way up. It wasn't too bad with us but this could also be sun protection. I am getting quite burnt up here you have to remember at altitude you're gonna get some even more sun. Wet wipes to clean yourself up and then toilet paper or I just brought some kleenex to use for that situation. Also warm clothes so I got a nice long sleeve. You're gonna need a lot of water. I've brought four liters of water. I think three could be okay. And then I also brought Gatorade so you know some sort of sports drink to fuel you up but you definitely need enough water. And then a warm winter hat. We got a toothbrush you want to have some fresh breath in the morning when you're going up to sunrise. I did bring a windbreaker as well even though I rented that really nice heavy jacket so I'm not sure if I'm gonna use this. I also got some nice wool socks from the second hand market um in the Central Market it's called Paca I believe. And then I brought a change of clothes because I'm gonna change out of this these sweaty clothes and get into those. Let's see what else. You're going to want to bring your camera of course extra batteries. Make sure they're all charged. Tripod would be great if you want to get some time lapses like I've gotten today. I also brought a little light. Also the more you bring the more you're gonna have to carry up and this bag was not easy to bring up. It was quite heavy. I would recommend getting a bag that has hip straps and also straps right here for support because I was constantly you know like having to hold it like this because it was just really wearing on me. But the walking sticks definitely came in handy. Oh and one last thing I brought so I have my phone obviously but then I brought a little battery pack just in case because there aren't any plugs up here and you might want to recharge that. So yeah hope that helps you oh and also chapstick with SPF and lots of it because my lips are already, they're feeling it. But yeah I hope that helps you and you are planning your trip up here. And I think it all came in handy I don't know if I'm gonna use everything but I think we did good. So thanks to all those blogs online that detailed their trip and what they brought. And I heard something we're all gonna be excited for. I heard chocolate, chocolate. And it looks like yes he's got the hot chocolate right down here! Look at that. Woo thank you! Wow. Does it get any better? Amazing. And really hot so be careful. I'm just enjoying my hot chocolate and then look who came over here. And you know what I'm gonna give him some of this steak right here. Oh just one moment. Oh my gosh he's so skittish. Here you go babe. Aww I'm not gonna hurt you. There you go. Better enjoy that. I know he is. Gotta take care of the dogs too you know they they helped us get up here with their cuteness. I just walked over a little bit and there's another camp up here and from this view man you can see even more. Like there is a Volcan Agua right here there's another one behind it. Another volcano in the distance and then Fuego directly in front of us here. I feel like all the camps just have such a special view. It is already getting a little cold so I'm gonna head back and put some warm clothes on. As you can see I am all bundled up. Got my hat, got my gloves and got my jacket. It even comes equipped with a nice furry hood. Brings me back to middle school. And when I'm looking out here our group you can see they have made it to the ridge there. They look so tiny like little ants but you can see them they're looking out. I can just imagine the sunset that they're seeing right now. I can see it through here a little bit but from up there it has to be out of this world! You can see behind me the colors are coming in. You got the yellows and the pinks and the oranges. It's just such a magical time right now. So if you got the energy definitely do it I'm not regretting my choice as it's nice to just sit back here and relax a little bit. Well if anything else happens this evening I will clue you in. I will let you know about it. If not I'll see you bright and early what 3:30 am to ascend to the top to the peak here so yeah all right talk to you in a bit. Buenos dias good morning everyone it's about 4 am right now and we are just waiting to start our summit to the peak. Last night I probably got an hour of sleep unfortunately between you know the explosions which sounded like thunder and then the dog's barking and a little snore-off going between a couple people and my excitement. It was just hard to sleep but it's all right. I'm just I'm just like I said so excited to get up to that summit. Last night after I talked to you we had some dinner and then roasted some marshmallows on the fire and just enjoyed the massive explosions of Fuego. It was intense. So so beautiful. I got to practice taking some pictures. Some long exposures so I hope you enjoy these right here. It was just really fun and so yeah now everyone is up at the front and we are about to take off so come along! And here we go! It's super steep and it's like gravel that you're walking through so it's almost like you're walking on sand trying to get up. A lot harder. Yeah and very windy and cold. And it's pretty crazy because we are just walking on the side of the volcano here. It just goes straight down so you really want to watch your step. They said we're about halfway or more. We got about 45 minutes left. We see the sunrise a little bit so that's kind of pushing me through to make it up there. We're almost there. This last bit about killed me. My lips are frozen. My face is frozen. We made it! Barely... but we did it. And we're up here it's so windy. So windy. It's freezing but the sun is coming up. How beautiful is that! So pretty. Oh my gosh. Are you proud of yourself? I'm proud. Yeah me too, snot running down. We're proud! Woo! And our final the little walk is over to the other side so we can see Volcan Fuego in all its glory. I feel like I'm on top of the world. Thank you so much for your support I couldn't have done it without you. I felt you the entire way and I got a little surprise too when we get up here. I'm already getting emotional. I brought someone else with us today. That helped me get through too. So we'll honor her. So I just picked a spot right here our group sat down claimed a rock and we're just gonna watch the sunrise together. So enjoy it with me. This is the reward baby! Let's enjoy it together! As I said I brought somebody with us or a little bit of somebody with us. I brought a little bit of my sister's ashes with us today. And the sun just peeked up as I said that. And I can't imagine a more beautiful place to lay a bit of her to rest. It's otherworldly up here. It's like heaven. And it just yeah I think this is a wonderful spot to to do this. I've never spread her ashes this is going to be my first time but I plan to you know I have more and as we go throughout this journey she's always with me I know she is and so I'm going to scatter a little bit of her everywhere because she she never got to see the world like this. But I know she's with me and so this is for you Heather. This is to you. Thank you for always supporting me and being there I feel you everywhere I am. I thought that your ashes could mix well be with the ashes you know up here from Fuego. You were always a force and you still are. I love you. And there's dogs barking, and she loved dogs. They're just right over here too hanging out chillin'. Thanks for being part of this everybody. One of the most beautiful sunrises of my life. All right time to go back down. No more wind and the sun is on my face now this feels amazing. Kind of shuffling down right now because it is quite dangerous going down. I'm sure it's gonna be hard going all the way down but we got this! We go back to camp and get some breakfast now. This is honestly like the best part right here. Coming down like this. Feels like you're skiing through this. You got to be careful though you gotta really bend your knees and lean back so you don't topple forward. I actually fell when we first started doing this at the top. But yeah this has been really handy this. The mouth covering for the dust because as you can see it's very dusty. But what an absolutely remarkable view coming down. Yay! We did it! And just like that through the dust we are back! And look at this! Wow! That's a nice welcome back to camp huh? We did it! I am so proud of us! And thank you for your support. I'll admit it there were multiple times throughout this journey that I wanted to give up but I didn't because of you, Adam and my sister. But wow! You know I just checked my body I am so dusty. I don't think I've ever been this dusty in my life! I cannot wait to shower. My fingernails are just caked in dirt. I got a big scrape on my knee from when I fell this morning on the mountain. There's some other cuts on my hand over here but you know what these are all just marks of a warrior! So yeah I think right now I'm gonna go down have breakfast. And then we're gonna head back down the mountain. Wow! Yay! Best feeling ever! Get a ride back to our place and you know what I'm doing for the rest of the day. I am getting in that shower and then I'm getting in the sheets and just relaxing because we deserved it! I think that's what you should be doing too today. But yeah thank you so much again for joining me. If you enjoyed this video please give us a big thumbs up, comment, subscribe and don't forget to dling, dling, dling, dling the bell! I hope you're happy with that one Adam. Probably not. You know he wants me to scream it! Dling, dling, dling, dling the bell! We'll see you, next time. Adios.