The Land of Fuego: Adventures in Guatemala: Arrival

Hello Hiveians and happy new year!

It’s been quite a bit since I last posted, and I’m pretty sure I haven’t finished one of these series yet, but that will be my New Year’s resolution!

Today I wanted to share one of my latest adventures, my solo trip to Antigua Guatemala, but first a little background of how this trip came about.

I had seen a few people go to Antigua and some of the beautiful photos from there, even one of my friends that went last year. One day me and my friend were looking at cheap flights and I saw that Antigua was only around 200$ in October with Spirit Airlines. I hadn’t taken many trips lately, my birthday was coming up in October and the price seemed right.

Initially my friend was going to join me, but in the end it didn’t work out between our schedules and the cheap flights. I was still hesitating about pulling the trigger on the trip solo, as I don’t speak Spanish, but then I saw the vision: Acatenango.

Acatenango is a roughly 14,000 foot volcano that overlooks the actively erupting volcan Fuego, and I wanted to wake up on top of it on my birthday. I pulled the trigger and booked the flight.

Everything was coming together, I found a couple Airbnbs, booked the overnight hike, and would figure out the rest when I was there. Or so I thought. 

As the day of departure approached, the news was breaking of political upheaval and road blocks protesting the government forming in Guatemala over the Attorney General trying to block the incoming President. I was pretty concerned and wasn’t sure what to do. I was planning to still go as I didn’t want to lose my flight, but then right before my flight day, they issued a travel warning and allowed me to change my flight for free. I was still torn as now I’d not be there for my birthday, but travel by road was pretty much impossible so I changed my trip to November.

Thankfully conditions improved and it was about time for my flight, again. But then another issue developed, Spirit Airlines had some planes that needed to be recertified so they had to remove them from operation, and cancelled my connecting flight, leaving me the only option of leaving the night before, arriving in Miami at 2am and sleeping in the airport; so I did.

It was my first time having to sleep a full night in an airport on the floor and it was a bit more awkward than I had expected, but I made it through. And just as I woke up and thought the hardest part was over, I get a text saying my flight is running late. I have a shuttle booked for pretty much just after I arrive and there's only a few shuttles every so many hours, so if I miss this one, I have to wait another few hours. After a bit of waiting, it was pretty clear I wouldn't make the shuttle and had to change to the later one.

The flight wasn't too bad, a little turbulence here and there, but that was it. I arrived in Guatemala City and thanks to T-Mobile, I had service! I made my way through the airport and towards customs.

Customs was surprisingly quick and easy, and I headed outside. I possibly could have made my original shuttle, but it was too late now, and now I have to wait an hour and a half for my new shuttle. As I sat in the airport I took a couple of photos of my new surroundings.

The time passed and my shuttle should be here by now, so I head outside. More time passes and I don't see my shuttle still. I notice a few people that have also been waiting and decide to ask if they're waiting for the same shuttle, and they were. So at least I didn't miss it, and I made some new friends already.

More and more time passed and still no shuttle. At this point, it didn't matter much as the day pretty much over now, but I still have to get to my Airbnb which is a little outside of town and I'm still a bit uncomfortable and unfamiliar with the area.

The shuttle finally shows up a few hours late, and we're on our way in peak Guatemala traffic and holy shit, the traffic was insane.

We finally arrive in Antigua and it's already dark out. I make my way to my Airbnb, which is a room in a womans house just outside the old city, which is a little like a favela. I'll be honest, I'm a bit uneasy at this point, I don't know how dangerous the area is, and honestly, I'm more concerned about a lot of the stray dogs, as I had a run in with some aggressive ones in Hong Kong that bit my friend and almost me.The directions are also not very clear, so I make my way through the city to the area and begin my search. My fear is that there's a lot of narrow alleyways and I could get stuck in there with a stray dog that feels cornered and gets aggressive. I'm trying to follow the directions and head down an alley I think is the right one, and then I hear very large and very loud dogs barking, so I turn back out of fear. But then a woman comes out, and waves me down, it was Anna Maria, my host, and I had found my Airbnb in the dark.

We said a brief hello, as I don't speak Spanish, and she showed me my room and gave me my key. A couple people from the shuttle were at a bar at there Hostel and invited me over, so I ditched my stuff and headed back out.

Their hostel was on the South of the town, where I was all the way in the North, but even still, it's only about a 20 minute walk. And I get my first glimpse of this old UNESCO World Heritage City.

I make it to the bar and meet up with some of the people I was on the shuttle with, 2 from Canada and 1 from Ireland/UK. We had some good chats and then I started talking to the bartender about the hike I planned to do, as I was still a bit nervous about that. I've never done a hike this high and was concerned about the physical challenge, as well as the possibility of altitude sickness. He tells me he has never done the hike himself abut another local tells me he's done it many times, and it's fucking tough. Oh great. Well now I feel even more worried I can't do it, so I distract myself by taking some photos.

And I got a great portrait of the bartender/owner as well.

Well, it was getting late now, I have a bit of a walk ahead of me, and I'm still unfamiliar with my surroundings, so I start to head back around midnight. but first a few more photos.

I made my way back, and had no issues getting to my Airbnb. I then unpacked my bag, and call it a night to get ready for an early rise tomorrow.

Well, that's it for the first installment, hope you enjoyed, and this is just the beginning, this was such an epic trip I will SURELY be finishing this one! And hopefully my train one as well in between.

I will say it's good to be back again, and look forward to sharing again with the community, hope you all had a great New Year and keep an eye out for the next installment!

-Sean

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