#Volcanoes in Antigua Guatemala

[americanteacherinqatar]

5 Days in Guatemala, is it Enough Time… Part 3: Antigua

*This is Part 3 of 4 posts of my trip to Guatemala. I have provided links to the other posts as well. Part 1: Guatemala City Part 2: Lake Atitlan After spending 2 nights in Lake Atitlan, we took a boat back to Panajachel and a shuttle to Antigua. Antigua or Old Guatemala was the third capital of Guatemala. It is an earthquake-prone region and in 1773 it was largely destroyed by the Santa-Marta…

[nuestro-norte-es-el-sur]

The Water Volcano overlooking the city of Antigua in Guatemala.

[chrissorensen]

A #traveltuesday memory from Antigua, Guatemala. The view of Volcán de Agua through the clock tower of Santa Catalina Arch. Big thanks to the bird who flew by at the right time. . #antigua #antiguaguatemala #guatemala #volcandeagua #volcano #santacatalinaarch #travel #travelbug #travelgram #traveldeeper #traveltheworld #travelphotography #travelphotographer #instatravel #wanderlust #bestplacestogo #beautifuldestinations #roamtheplanet #passionpassport #mytinyatlas #myfeatureshoot #myfujifilm #xt2 #fuji #fujix #fujifilm #fujifeed #fujifilmx_us #useformat https://www.instagram.com/p/CjBLZQGgEey/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[darkcrowprincess]

My adventures in Guatemala: I saw three volcanos! One was currently active! So cool!

[aventurasdeunatortuga]

Guatemala Days 2-3

Phew I’m tired

Yesterday I left Antigua with OX Expeditions to go hike Pacaya Volcano, one of several active volcanoes around Antigua.

Yesterday we drove up to the trailhead and hiked about 3K to the base camp. I was completely unprepared for how much the elevation was going to affect me and how out of shape I am.

After hiking probably less than 500 ft I was completely winded. We were also carrying big backpacks with all our equipment in it which I thought was the issue, but even after someone helped me with my backpack I still could barely walk.

You’d think I would’ve learned this after Peru, but altitude sickness really is no joke.

I ended up paying one of the guides to carry my backpack the rest of the way up to camp because I didn’t think I could make it.

When we finally made it to camp, we were engulfed by clouds. It was very weird. We camped there for the night.

At 3:45 this morning we woke up and began our climb to the volcano summit. From sea level to the base camp it was an elevation gain of more or less 2,000 feet. The summit of the volcano was a little over 8,000 ft., to give you an idea of how intense a climb it was.

We didn’t have to carry any gear at least, but it was still definitely one of the most physically difficult things I’ve ever done in my life. We hiked for about 2.5 hours through sharp, unstable, volcanic rocks and deep volcanic ash that was like walking through sand or snow. And it was straight up.

The rest of the people in the group were very physically fit (2 personal trainers from Florida and a family of hikers from Denmark) so I lagged pretty significantly behind everyone else. I had to stop and catch my breath probably every 2-3 steps and my legs felt like they were made of cement.

One of our guides, Willie, was so extremely patient with me and climbed behind me the entire time and caught me a few times when I started slipping. There were also multiple occasions where he literally dragged me up a particularly steep section.

I was almost 40 minutes slower than everyone else but I made it up to the top!

At the top we watched the sunrise and looked into the volcanic crater. There were no lava flows today but there was sulfur and steam everywhere and the ground was steaming hot. It was really really amazing.

We were also very lucky with the weather because frequently there are so many clouds you can barely see a few feet in front of you but we were able to see for miles.

The summit was very windy so we climbed down a little ways and had breakfast, then began our descent. It took us about 2 hours to get back to the trailhead and it was so much easier than going up. The only hard part was trying to slide down through steep ash and sharp rocks without falling completely down the volcano.

It was definitely more of a 2.5 hour controlled fall than a hike. Like those penguins that slide down glaciers or something.

When we got back to Antigua it was only 10am but I’d been up for 7 hours already and was so tired. I had some food and konked out for the rest of the day.

I think I’m either dehydrated or have some lingering altitude sickness from the sudden changes in elevation, my hands have been numb and tingling all day. When we were in Peru the altitude was more than twice this but we had trained for months by hiking a lot and we gave ourselves a week to adjust to the altitude before attempting any hiking. Also Peruvians have coca leaves which are an amazing natural remedy for altitude sickness.

I was totally unprepared for the altitude here, so I think that’s why it’s affecting me so much.

That’s what I get for only planning this trip a few weeks ago, but that’s all part of the adventure I guess.

The next two days I’ll spend exploring Antigua some more. It’s a lovely little city, very typical Spanish colonial. Emily will be flying down in a few days to spend a week or so with me before I continue the rest of this trip solo.

Hasta luego,

[normal-people-travel]

Hiking Acatenengo Volcano in Guatemala: what you need to know

[aworldinfocus]

Church Without a Roof This old church in Antigua has long since lost it's dome and roof. #antigua #guatemala #church #ruins #raisetheroof #noceiling #brick #earthquake #volcano #travel #travelphotography #travelphotographer https://www.instagram.com/p/Cki2fm_ponT/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[chaddavisphotography]

The view from Acatenango Volcano near Antigua Guatemala.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Fires in Guatemala

Late in February 2024, hot, dry, and windy weather fueled several large forest fires in the highlands of Guatemala. On February 25, the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 acquired this image of a large fire burning southwest of Quetzaltenango.

The fire burned across the forested slopes of Siete Orejas, an inactive volcano that last erupted between 126,000 and 85,000 years ago. Siete Orejas hosts several endemic species, including the endangered Guatemalan fir or “pinabete.”

In Guatemala, fire season typically begins in February and lasts around three months. It is not possible to know the cause of a given fire based on satellite imagery alone, but many fires are initially lit to clear land for planting crops or to encourage the growth of pasture grasses. As rains taper off during the dry season, these small fires sometimes escape into forests and burn as wildfires.

About 200 kilometers (125 miles) southeast of Siete Orejas, firefighters are battling another large fire on Agua, a dormant volcano near the city of Antigua. Though that fire is burning southeast of the Landsat image above, the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured an image of the fire on February 24.

On February 27, the Guatemalan Coordinating Agency for Disaster Reduction (CONRED) reported that firefighters were battling 27 fires, including fires in the departments of Alta Verapaz, Baja Verapaz, Chimaltenango, El Progreso, Huehuetenango, Quiché, Sacatepéquez, Sololá, Suchitepéquez, Totonicapán, and Zacapa. They reported that 478 fires have burned 1,377 hectares since the start of the current fire season.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Adam Voiland.

[chaletnz]

Antigua to Cerro Verde, El Salvador

After enjoying the buffet breakfast of hash browns, fruit, bread and cake I walked down to get a flat white from Fernanda's. There was a precious little grey cat asleep on the counter and the coffee was top-notch! We all sat on the bus waiting for our driver Edwin to secure all the bags on the roof under a tarpaulin and listened to Emily and Georgi's crazy story about how they'd ended up going from a rooftop bar in Antigua to a house party in a dodgy neighbourhood where the police were called. The tale involved drugs and a BMW being driven at high speeds down the cobblestones at 6am to get them back to the hotel early this morning. I had actually heard them walking in shouting "hola chicos y chicas!" repeatedly. Walter intercepted Emily on her way to her room and warned her about the beers she was carrying in each hand and Georgi ended up having a complaint sent to Intrepid Travel's head office about her behaviour trying to sneak her British boytoy back in to her room. Georgi slept on the floor of the bus for most of the three hour ride to the El Salvador border. While we drove Walter told us about the Mayan history of Guatemala, which only remains here because Mayans and indigenous peoples in other countries were all murdered. Unbelievably Guatemalans of Mayan heritage were considered second class citizens until 1997 when they were finally given even rights and access to medical care. While literacy levels are improving throughout the country, the average ratio of public school students to teachers is 450:1 for the first 6 years of education. Only the best and brightest 20% make it to secondary school and even less into universities with scholarships. We drove through a lot of rural farmland as we neared the border and the fitting fact that 38% of Guatemalans rely on growing their own food source was shared. We exchanged our Guatemalan quetzales to USD while standing in the line at the border waiting for our turn to cross. It was hot and when I stood at the window to hand over my passport I could feel the air conditioning from inside the immigration officer's office on my hands. Once successfully in El Salvador Walter gave us a bit of backstory on the new El Salvadoran president who is cracking down on gangs and violence. He also changed the official currency to USD and Bitcoin to help the economy prosper. El Salvador looked more run down to me than Guatemala, without such beautiful scenery and more trash. The gas station toilet even lacked a door. Due to the American influence they seemed to make more effort with using English though - I saw a sign reading "car wahs". We were dropped off at a mall to buy lunch and groceries before we went to our campsite for the next two nights. I didn't wait around for the others and just headed to the food court to have a Pollo Campero sandwich meal. They took my order and gave me a receipt but didn't actually serve my meal. I figured out by watching the other people who skipped over me that I was supposed to hand my receipt to the person standing beside the cashier who would then build the order. I waited stupidly for ten minutes before giving him my receipt and them finally making it, all the while watching an obese family drinking their weight in coke and refilling while they waited for their orders. I took a table and ended up sitting with Boukje and Wout - the Belgian couple, British girl Jess, and Dutch girl Tyrza to eat lunch. It was a lunchtime-rush food court complete with screaming kids, lazy parents, and inconsiderate people leaving trays of rubbish all over the tables. We hit the supermarket to buy a few drinks and snacks and then our bus took us all to Tres Volcanes, a campsite in the Cerro Verde National Park near Santa Ana volcano. We were briefed on tomorrow's optional activity - a $45 hike up to the volcano crater, followed by lunch at the campsite, and then a trip out to the lake for the afternoon. The price tag was steep but there was nothing else to do around here so I was in. Our dinner was pasta, then a couple games of Uno and it was time for bed.

[pinkguacamole]

After staring at the Volcanoes Fuego and Acatenango from a hot tub in Antigua, Guatemala for a few days, we went up to climb dormant Acatenango for some views of actively erupting Fuego. The hike to base camp was a 6 hour, steep steep climb into the clouds, mist and rain. When we arrived at camp it was storming so we piled into a little cabin, tried to dry off and layer up to stay warm, and stayed in our little cocoons huddled together while the guides brought us food until we finally slept (or tried to).

At 4am we were supposed to wake up to summit Acatenango to watch the sunrise over Fuego but the weather was unsafe and the view would be unclear so we had to skip it, but at least we got a little more sleep in. At 6am the sky cleared a bit and we waited with wet, cold hands holding coffee for the perfect combination of cleared clouds and volcano-eruption-ash-plume. The best I got was 50/50. The hike down was beautiful and painful on the knees. Luckily we were able to see incredible scenery- as far as Lake Atitlan where were stayed last week, until we were back into a canopy of clouds. Overall, we climbed 4,000 feet to 12,355 feet. Quite the aventura.

[brookston]

Holidays 8.13

Holidays

Blame Someone Else Day

Daughter’s Day

Festival of the Volcano (Antigua, Guatemala)

Greyhound Bus Day

International Left-Hander’s Day

Lao Issara (Day of the Free Laos; Laos)

National  Baseball Card Day

Patriot’s Day (Manipur, India)

Roller Derby Day

Skinny Dipping Day

South Park Day

Wall Day (Berlin, Germany)

Women’s Day (Tunisia)

World Organ Donation Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Filet Mignon Day

National Prosecco Day

2nd Saturday in August

Bud Billiken Parade (Chicago, Illinois) [2nd Saturday]

Celebrate Your Lakes Day (New Hampshire) [2nd Saturday]

Ferry Fair Day (Edinburgh, Scotland) [2nd Saturday]

Great Taste of the Midwest (Wisconsin) [2nd Saturday]

National Bowling Day [2nd Saturday]

National Garage Sale Day [2nd Saturday]

National Model Aviation Day [2nd Saturday]

Yard Sale Day [2nd Saturday]

Independence Days

Central African Republic (from France, 1960)

Feast Days

Benedetto Sinigardi (Christian; Saint)

Benildus Romançon (Christian; Saint)

Centola and Helen (Christian; Saint)

Cassian of Imola (Christian; Saint)

Clara Maass (Lutheran Church)

Concordia (Christian; Saint)

Day of Hekate (Spirit of Life, Death, Regeneration & Magic; Italy)

Fachtna of Rosscarbery (Christian; Saint)

Festival of Huitzilopochtls (Aztec)

Festival of Aventine Diana (Ancient Rome)

Florence Nightingale, Octavia Hill (Lutheran Church)

Hercules Victori (Ancient Rome)

Herulph (Christian; Saint)

Hippolytus of Rome (Christian; Saint)

Jeremy Taylor (Anglican Communion)

John Berchmans (Christian; Saint)

Junian of Mairé (Christian; Saint)

Listen to Reggae Day (Pastafarian)

Marco d'Aviano (Christian; Blessed)

Marco Polo (Positivist; Saint)

Maximus the Confessor (Christian; Saint)

Nerses Glaietsi (Catholic Church)

Pomona’s Day (Apple Festival) [also 11.1]

Pontian, Pope (Christian; Saint)

Prospero Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Radegundes, Queen of France (Christian; Saint)

Self Love Day (Pastafarian)

The Vertumnalia (Festival of Vertumnus)

Wigbert (Christian; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Butsumetsu (仏滅 Japan) [Unlucky all day.]

Premieres

Baby Love, recorded by The Supremes (Song; 1964)

Bambi (Animated Disney Film; 1942)

Bonnie and Clyde (Film; 1967)

Bowfinger (Film; 1999)

Californication (TV Series; 2007)

District 9 (Film; 2009)

Du Barry Was a Lady (Film; 1943)

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Film; 1982)

Free Guy (Film; 2021)

Help!, by The Beatles (Album; 1965)

Hound Dog, by Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton recorded (Song; 1952)

Lynyrd Skynyrd, by Lynyrd Skynyrd (Album; 1973)

An Officer and a Gentleman (Film; 1982)

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Film; 2010)

Tropic Thunder (Film; 2008)

Today’s Name Days

Gertrude, Marco (Austria)

Gertruda, Hipolit, Patricija, Poncijan (Croatia)

Alena (Czech Republic)

Hippolytus (Denmark)

Teedo, Teedu, Teet, Teetlev, Teeto (Estonia)

Jesse, Okko (Finland)

Hippolyte (France)

Cassian, Hippolyt, Marko (Germany)

Ipoly (Hungary)

Ippolito (Italy)

Elvīra, Velga (Latvia)

Diana, Gilvilė, Ipolitas, Naglis (Lithuania)

Anine, Ann, Anny (Norway)

Diana, Dianna, Gertruda, Helena, Hipolit, Hipolita, Jan, Kasjan, Radomiła, Wojbor (Poland)

Ľubomír (Slovakia)

Hipólito (Spain)

Kaj (Sweden)

Rad, Radella, Radford, Radley, Wilmer (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 225 of 2022; 140 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 6 of week 32 of 2022

Celtic Tree Calendar: Coll (Hazel) [Day 8 of 28]

Chinese: Month 7 (Lányuè), Day 16 (Wu-Xu)

Chinese Year of the: Tiger (until January 22, 2023)

Hebrew: 16 Av 5782

Islamic: 15 Muharram 1444

J Cal: 15 Hasa; Sunday [15 of 30]

Julian: 31 July 2022

Moon: 96% Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 1 Gutenberg (9th Month) [Marco Polo]

Runic Half Month: As (Gods) [Day 3 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 54 of 90)

Zodiac: Leo (Day 22 of 31)

Calendar Changes

Gutenberg (Modern Industry) [Month 9 of 13; Positivist]

[journeyindexsblog]

TOP 5 BEST PLACES TO VISIT IN GUATEMALA

If you’re looking for great places to visit in Guatemala, then keep reading. The Republic of Guatemala is a large, Central American country with much to offer its visitors. Guatemala has abundant natural attractions, including volcanoes, the Peten jungle, coffee farms, and waterfalls. Some of the most popular places in Guatemala include Chichicastenango, Antigua, Tikal, and Lake Atitlan.

Haven’t you always wanted to travel to Guatemala? There’s the Tikal National Park which features over 1,000 buildings and pyramids. Travelers can take a boat ride on Lake Petén Itza and visit the local Mayan village of San Juan La Laguna. The Yaxha archaeological site houses some of the oldest Mayan ruins found so far–dating back to 1,400 BC.

HERE IS THE LIST OF BEST PLACES TO VISIT IN GUATEMALA

At first, Guatemala is not the most appealing tourist destination, and however, this country has a lot to offer. If you are looking for an adventure vacation, head to Lake Atitlan. This volcanic lake surrounded by volcanoes offers world-class paddling and canyoning. For those interested in history. The Tikal ruins are also worth visiting.

CHICHICASTENANGO

ANTIGUA

TIKAL

LAKE ATITLAN

QUETZALTENANGO

There are many beautiful places in Guatemala. There are more than 20 different national parks. These areas provide a variety of habitats. There are various wildlife and plants and nature hikes for those who enjoy the outdoors.

[teamchamtravels]

Day 181-187 Lake Atitlan, Guatemala 

Jan 30 - Feb 5 2022

After Antigua, we took a shared van 3 hours west to San Marcos La Laguna, a small town on the edge of the famous Lake Atitlan. We treated ourselves with some credit card points to stay at Lush, which was a really dreamy spot on the lake. We intended to get some much needed R&R in after our volcano hike. Our hotel had really delicious breakfasts that had a Vegan/Vegetarian theme which we both enjoyed, especially after being in a few meat-centric countries beforehand.

Right next door to Lush was the Cerro Tzankujil Nature Reserve, which had an awesome platform setup to jump into the lake at just about 12 meters high! We had lots of fun jumping into the lake here.

On our to do list here at the lake were two things: Do a Guatemalan cooking class, and dive in the lake! We found a class in the next town over, Santa Cruz, so we hopped on a lancha and enjoyed a several hour cooking class where we made tortillas from scratch with Mole, and several really delicious tamale-style entrees! Our teacher was a local from the town, and the funds for the class directly benefited the community there, which was a huge plus for us.

The next day, we hopped on the Lancha again back to Santa Cruz where the Ati Divers dive shop was located. We did two dives in the lake which was super interesting for us, since we had never dove at altitude before, and never in fresh water! We went to two different dive sites, one of which had thermal vents where you could put your hands in the mud and feel the warmth! The second spot had a bunch of really cool volcanic rock formations which we also enjoyed.

Our last adventures in the lake involved visiting San Pedro across the water, and doing a yoga class, which is a popular thing to do in our town of San Marcos. We enjoyed an afternoon in San Pedro which was a slightly bigger town than we were staying in, and had a cool vibe. For the yoga class, we woke up early the next day and hiked up to the Yoga Forrest which had a class with a wonderful view of the lake. 

On our last day in Atitlan, we had some visitors from our Acatenango Volcano hike! Their plans had changed and it was really great to see them again, it seems we have made some new friends! We’re gonna have to visit them in the UK soon. 

[travel-quest-with-terrance]

DATE: 6/19/22 - 6/26/22 

LOCATION: Antigua, Guatemala 

¿Hablas Español?

This summer I took a one-week course at the Antigua Academy in Guatemala. I was signed up for 5x a day week, 4-hour Spanish tutoring sessions + staying with a local host family. 

To start off the summer right, I decided to take a trip to Antigua, Guatemala! I have been itching to begin my travels in Latin America and saw this as a prime opportunity. I’ve had friends give recommendations to a Spanish program they took while there called Antigua Academy, while there I signed up for a 5x a week Spanish course where I was tutored 1:1 with a Spanish instructor. To say the least, it was a slow start. Also while there, I optioned to stay with a local host family during my stay and had three other housemates who also lived in the U.S. 

After classes concluded, I roamed around town and took in the Guatemalan culture. Observing their colorful architecture, cobblestone roads, scenic views, volcanoes, and, of course, food. It’s about a 25-minute walk to cover the whole town. While on the adventure I occasionally had conversations with a few of the locals either in English or Spanish. A nice atmosphere all around. After walking around I would come home to my host family and have lunch and dinner with them. There I had an opportunity to speak and conversant with them, in Spanish of course. It was a slow start and not much conversation went in-depth, however, as time rolled on, aka, my Español skills improve, the conversations at the table grew stronger. We would get into conversations for up to an hour sometimes! My head would hurt from all the thinking, translations, and listening but well worth it. 

Met quite a few cool people in the program, mostly from the U.S. or Europe, and learned they too, had limited Spanish background experience and/or skills. So it felt good to know I wasn’t the only one struggling ;) The whole stay was a perfect uno semena (1 week) and instantly one of the better trips that I had. Guatemala was a perfect choice to begin my adventures in Central America and be #2 on the list of Latin countries traveled to. I am looking forward to continuing the adventure.