volcano hike

Wow, that was a day, I never thought, that I can do it. There was the idea in the school on Friday, hiking the volcano Santa Maria (3772 meters), staying there overnight and watch the sunrise!

So, me, never hiking, I didn´t done sport since I´m in Guatemala and never thought about sleeping on the top of a volcano!

First, Santa Maria isn´t active, but he has his little brother ´Santiaguito´, who is active since 1922. Since then, he has eruptions every 20-30 minutes. From the summit of Santa Maria, you can look down to Santiguito, hiking this volcano is too dangerous!

So, yesterday we started hiking at 13:30 pm. I decided to do it, but I was really scared. First, because of my bad shape and second because of the cold in the night on the top. So I packed all my warm sweaters in my backpack, I took to Guatemala.

The hike was really hard, the volcano is very steep, and the hiking trail is very irregular through stones and roots and sometimes dangerous slippery! I often thought, I have to turn around (and can sleep in my warm bed), but thanks Erin (I always had to go in front of her) I got it! After 4,5 hours going uphill! When you are walking 3 hours constantly uphill, you think there is no end. We also had to take with the sunset, but I was too slow! So we needed the flashlight the last 20 minutes, I was too dark. As we reached the summit, we build our tent and went to see Santiguito. But unfortunately, there were too much clouds, so we couldn´t see the red lahar.

there is no end...

In the end, I slept maybe 2 hours, it was so freezing cold up there! I had my sleeping bag, 4 sweaters, 1 t-shirt, 2 pairs of socks, my shoes and a heat, and I was still cold. So we decided to talk from 3:15 am until the sunrise, because the other two couldn´t sleep, too.

Sunrise, AMAZING! I left my tent at 5:40 am, on time to see the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen! It was so cold, windy and always were clouds flying over the top of Santa Maria, but all tents were empty. We stood outside, walked around, made pictures, were impressed, were freezing, watched the sun rise, and seeing other volcanoes like Tajumulco (the highest volcano in Central America), the volcano from Almolonga (Cerro Quemado) and 2 around ´Lago Atitlan´.

sunrise

summit of Santa Maria

our tents

the sun already high up

far behind: volcanoes at Lago Atitlan

Santiguito

We packed together and left finally at 10:30 am (at this time wearing a shirt on Santa Maria´s top was enough, soo hot) to go downhill for 3,5 hours. It would be probably less, but I twisted my ankle just before the end and walked slower than a snail. Now my foot is swollen and hurts, but this can´t wash away this wonderful morning!

part of our group, in the backround Tajumulco