Five years and Guatemala
I felt like shit. Not exactly the sentiment you aim for when you’re on an anniversary trip with a partner. Even harder still, I was in a brand new environment where I didn’t have the luxury to truly root cause why I was feeling so ill. Cue the music to Who wants to be a millionaire .. Was it:
A) The altitude and the 40% less oxygen in the air
B) Opening my mouth for a brief second in the worst shower I’ve ever stepped in
C) My bold decision to eat seafood in a town with questionable cold chain infrastructure
D) Being yelled at by a guide I paid for on vacation
In all seriousness, it was probably all of the above and yet I had a LOT of fun and I am still in awe of the sights and sounds of Guatemala.
In January 2026, Kevin and I celebrated 5 years of marriage and 10 years of dating/exploring the world together. Being a sucker for a theme, I found a trip through Much Better Adventures wherein we could summit 5 volcanoes in Guatemala. On theme and a new country? Let’s go!
side note: this wasn’t our first group trip. We have experience with guides who are unfortunately tasked with moving groups of disparate speeds up and down a mountain. But this was probably our least favorite guiding experience. No fault to MBA, but definitely a poor start for our guides in Guatemala.
We flew into Guatemala city but truly started our trip in Antigua. Antigua was the country’s colonial capital for 200 years until a 7.5M earthquake in 1773 left 600 people dead and demolished many buildings. Though we didn’t spend a lot of time in Antigua, it was a great view into colonial architecture and some great bites. It was also the hub for our first hike: Pacaya Volcano.
Volcano 1 - Pacaya: This was supposed to be an acclimatization hike at around 8,400 ft. I have a million excuses for why this hike didn’t go my way from sleeping poorly, to us starting the hike in the heat of middday, to just plain being slow. The views were beautiful and I was blessed with good company (Jenni, another traveler from our group who gave me a bunch of pep talks) but I was winded and tired the whole time. By the time we had a very late lunch on the summit, I was spent. Luckily after a few snacks, I found my second wind to go over Pacaya’s lava field and back down to the bus.
After my Panic Attack on Pacaya™ it was time to mentally prepare for hiking our second volcano: Acatenango/Fuego. If you are alive in 2026 and have access to the internet, this is the volcano you are probably associating with Guatemala. It’s violently active with lava and ash and is the it volcano to put on the ‘gram. What’s unique about this second summit is that you get two volcanoes in one. To start the trek, one would hike up the dormant Acatenango, camp overnight and watch Fuego (active) in the distance. Some hiking groups get even closer and hike on Fuego itself (from a safe distance from the lava flows). I can’t put into words how surreal/ awe-inspiring/ incredible it was to sleep next to an active volcano. In March 2026, we had to wait for visibility to clear around 9PM but after that we saw eruptions every 15-20 minutes, a 4M earthquake and a lightning storm. If you ever want to see the raw power of Mother Nature - go hike Acatenango. Not only will see lava and ash fall but you’ll be humbled by the altitude at 13,000+ft. For some this meant, not being able to summit at sunrise but no one was unscathed by the cold night/ unrestful sleep.
Volcano 3 - Chicabal was a pleasant surprise. At just 1300ish ft gain it felt like a rest day. Volcan Chicabal/Lake is an extinct stratovolcano outside the town of Xela. It’s a spiritually important place for the Mam-Maya as they still perform ceremonies on the water. After summiting, each of us took a contemplative lap around the crater lake to view birds, trees, flower offerings - all while the mysterious and mystical cloud danced on the water’s surface. It was eerie, beautiful and moving. The same wind that made the cloud glide across the water, brought over a smell of lillies from one of the altars. I’m not sure why but at this moment, I started to tear up and think of my mom who loves the flower. Our guide told us the lake has very mysterious ways and can sometimes, if you’re lucky, you’d get a direct message. After hiking Chicabal, we had a delicious tostada lunch and spent some time relaxing at the hot springs at Fuentes Georginas.
The scariest of all the 5 volcanoes was next: Tajumulco. At 4220 meters tall, it’s the highest peak in central America which meant another 2-part overnight hike. Our guide, seeing my pace for other hikes, essentially told me to go with other slower travelers to skip part of the hike via truck. The idea then was to hike the remaining portion to basecamp and the summit the next morning. As soon as I stepped off the truck, I realized this was a grave mistake. Though I would’ve been at the back of the pack going up to basecamp, I would have acclimatized properly. Instead because I was relaxing on the back of the truck, the first few steps up to camp were miserable. I was slow, dizzy and light headed. We stopped for lunch about 45 mins after and I was ravenous. Eventually we made it to basecamp and I involuntary fell asleep for an hour. When the rest of the group arrived just before dinner, I had a throbbing headache. This was when I knew I wasn’t going to try to summit the next morning. Kevin, who did go up to the summit, shared that I would have hated the hike. It involved a lot of scrambling on large rocks plus there was zero visibility at the top. Instead, I was trying to stay warm in the tent while fighting my headache. It wasn’t until the next morning on the descent that I realized how puffy and achy I was all over. Though brief, this was my only experience with Acute Mountain Sickness.
Volcano 5 - San Pedro was a great way to cap off the adventure. This volcano was extremely steep at around ~300 meters gained per kilometer. The other unique feature about this volcano was that it was the only hike that included a police escort. We were a group of 13 travelers with 4 guides and 2 policemen in the back. Kevin and I debriefed on this after and concluded this was ‘safety theater’ because if someone were trying to hurt us tourists, I’m not sure what 2 policemen 15-20mins away on foot would have been able to do to combat the criminals. Steepness and crime aside, this was a beautiful summit with views into Lake Atitlan.
I’m not going to lie, I thought this hike was going to feel as rewarding as the TMB. Instead, there was a lot of time spent on the bus shuttling between the volcanoes and idle time in the morning while our guides sorted luggage. The group for this tour was also more varied compared to our other trips. A few individuals of the group were elite runners who were very fast going up the trails. It created a marked chasm between the younger athletes chasing Strava segments and ‘normal’ travelers looking to enjoy the hikes at a steady pace.
Another note about the volcanoes and Guatemala in general is the poverty. Guatemala is a lower-middle income country as designated by the OECD. Nearly 60% of Guatemalans live in poverty with indigenous people being disproportionately impacted. This was apparent in the garbage littering almost every single street and trail, in every city crawling with packs of stray dogs, and in a few cases I saw personally - children and elderly begging for food and money.
It’s hard to enjoy a vacation while seeing undeniable strife that people and animals alike go through on a daily basis. It was hard to complain about the impenetrable dust and grime that seemed to cover everything I brought with me to Guatemala. It was hard to think about my rumbly stomach, when locals deal with unclean drinking water daily and not just for a two week vacation.
The positive side was that this trip made me feel a deep sense of gratitude: for my body which endured against each challenge, for my husband who kept cheering me on and kept me warm on cold nights, and for my “real” life that I got to get back to after a few days. It’s interesting to think right before we left I was aching for an escape from the doldrums of daily work and boredom. But at the end of the day I get to go home to a safe, clean home, my loving husband and 3 perfect cats.
