Day 27 – Acatenango, GT

March 2, 2019

Our day started at 3:30am as we had to get up and hike in the dark the last stretch in order to make the summit of Acatenango for sunrise.  It was about another 300 meters in elevation from our base camp.  We had hiked about 1200 meters in elevation the day before so I thought this last stretch was not going to be a big deal at all, especially after a nights rest.  I was absolutely wrong!  It turned out to be the hardest part of the whole climb for me. First of all, we didn’t really get much sleep and in addition all my muscles were just toast from the day before.  My headlight was in my hiking boots that got stolen so I also had to hold my phone in my hand for the flashlight and my hiking stick in another trying to make it up the most steep section of the mountain. 

The loose gravel also made it very difficult, like trudging through sand.  Every step you would take you would slide half a step back down.  This was brutal!  At the start of this final ascent Taylor was feeling the effects of the altitude and had to turn back.  B and I continued on with the rest of the group, but very slowly.  This was another point where I personally felt like I was going to cry because I kept thinking even if I made it to the top, I would have absolutely nothing left and didn’t know how I could get down! One step at a time, we kept going.  We were at a slower pace than expected so I thought for sure I was going to miss the sunrise but all I wanted was to get to the top of this freaking volcano even if it took me all day.  Almost two hours after we started, I walked up on the top of the mountain.  Our guide was waiting to welcome me to the summit!  Brendan was about 50 meters behind and I was able to watch him take the first steps on the top as well.  It was an incredible feeling.  Then the best part was when I looked up, the sun was just rising up from the horizon!  We had even made it for sunrise. 

Josh and Kyra right behind us and 2^nd Brendan in front of us.  It was an amazing moment on Acatenango. This was the time I actually did cry, tears of joy that we had made it and mostly that the uphill climb was over!  My tears only lasted a few seconds though as then I couldn’t breathe and had to work to catch my breath for the next several minutes…

The way down that I was worried about turned out to be a breeze. I think we had adrenaline from being at the top that let us fly back to base camp.

We made it back to camp and had some breakfast and hot cocoa.  I was thankful for the sun as the 70mph winds at the top had chilled me to the bone.  We were then told “vamonos” and had to start our decent. 

This obviously went much faster however, due to the loose dirt and gravel B and I had a hard time.  The fronts of my toes were hurting so bad by the end and poor Brendan’s knees were killing him.  We were so exhausted the decent seemed to take forever (was only about 2 hours but felt never ending).  The whole time going down I kept thinking how I could not believe we went up this much the day before.  It seemed so crazy.  We finally made it back to the car and to our hostel.  We were almost too tired to shower and deal with all of our stuff but we were absolutely covered with dirt and dust from head to toe.  Moving slowly we showered and took naps.  B and I rested the rest of the day tired and sore.