We hiked to an ACTIVE VOLCANO! 🌋 (Acatenango & Fuego in Guatemala)

Guatemala is home to 37 volcanoes with three of them being active. And over the next 24 hours, we're going to be hiking up Aatanango, dormant volcano, with head-on views of Fuego, one of the most active volcanoes in all of Central America. Seeing a volcano erupt is one of the top items on our bucket list. And this hike is a huge reason why we came to Guatemala in the first place. But sometimes, mother nature has her own plans. We're just hoping that the fog clears and we can see [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] something. I'm excited. It's going to be an adventure. [Music] There are tons of different companies that offer hiking tours up Okatanango, but we decided to go with Vhiking Tours. Not only do they have exceptional reviews, but they're also a family business owned by a local who grew up in a nearby village. And after being picked up in Antigua, we stopped at the owner's house for breakfast, met our guides, rented gear if needed, and picked up our lunches for later, plus got a trail briefing before making the short drive to the start of the hike. All right, here we go. It's already starting off steep. I'm like walking like this. The hike to our base camp is about 7 1/2 km, climbing about 1,200 m, which will take us to about 3,600 m. We heard from people we know that have done this hike that it's rather difficult. So, we're a tad nervous. Our packs are pretty heavy cuz we're carrying our big zoom lens, our drone, more than 3 L of water, which is just going to make it even more tough. [Music] This ground is like one step forward, two slides back. My calves are on fire right now. Oh, it's just straight uphill. There are no switchbacks yet. [Music] Before we continue our hike up Aatanango, we want to give a huge thank you to Element for sponsoring this video. With the higher altitude and elevation gain, plus the dusty and dry trail, hydrating is crucial for this hike, which is why we brought tons of Element to drink along the way. element is an electrolyte drink mix with 60 milligrams of magnesium, 200 milligrams of potassium, and 1,000 milligrams of sodium. And this higher amount of sodium is super important as it's the primary electrolyte you lose while sweating. And on this hike, I noticed a huge decrease in muscle cramping after drinking Element. Element has nine different sugar-free flavors to choose from. And for this hike, we brought mango chili, which is fruity, sweet, salty, and has a fun little spicy kick. It felt like the perfect flavor to drink while hopefully getting to see a volcano erupt. And if you've never tried Element before or just want to sample more of their flavors like mango chili, Element is offering our viewers a free sample pack with any order. To get yours, head to drinklnt.com/k or scan the QR code on the screen. All right, now back to climbing Aatanango. [Music] And after hiking for well over an hour, we made it to the actual entrance of the hike. So, I guess that was just the warm-up. But thankfully, we took plenty of breaks along the way where you could buy snacks and drinks or just meet some super cute pups. [Music] So, this is definitely a much larger group than we're used to hiking in. I think we have about 30 people or so, but it has been so fun to meet people from all over the world. And having a group this size just helps keep you motivated as you're going uphill. And we were supposed to split off into two smaller groups, fast and slow, but I don't think anyone felt comfortable committing to the fast group. So, we're sticking [Music] together. We're at over 10,000 ft now. So, the breathing is definitely getting harder. I always think I'm so fit and I do stuff like this and I'm like, nope. I'm not. This hike is really tough. There are It is unrelenting, but overall I feel pretty good. I really thought everyone that said it was really hard was exaggerating. They [Music] weren't. This hike up Aatanango goes through three ecosystems. an oak forest, cloud forest, and pine and subalpine forest. Although we couldn't see much of anything in the fog, seeing the types of trees change as we continued climbing was the reassurance we needed that we were slowly getting closer. Only 20 more minutes to go until we get to base camp. We finally see blue sky. It's giving us hope. Giving us hope. Although another cloud just came and now it's covered again. But hey, we got something. So maybe more will come. This hike has been quite the grind and not having any views along the way has been a little demoralizing. So just seeing the sun right now just lifts the spirits. Everyone was cheering. All right, almost home. Nice and quiet and warm in here. So we booked one of their private cabins, which is basically this wood and metal structure. And on the inside, it's basically all just one giant bed. And the bed is so comfy and so cushy. It's padded. They have tons of blankets, sleeping bags, pillows. It gets very, very cold up here. And it's very windy right now. And this will be perfect to keep us protected. But the best part of the cabin is this massive window right by the entrance here. You can see not a whole lot right now, but the volcano is just out there. So once this clears, it's going to be some amazing views. But besides the cabins at base camp, there's an eating area and a toilet, but we have yet to go investigate the conditions of the toilet. Yikes. A man walked out and said, "Good luck." And then earlier I was talking to a woman and she said, "If your legs hurt, they're going to really hurt trying to squat over this toilet." Not the best, but not the worst. Um, but it it'll be usable. Okay, we just found a second bathroom and it's in much better condition than the first one. It has a seat. The seat is dry and it's just much cleaner. This tour cost us 110 USD per person, which includes the guides, the cabin, the sleeping gear, and four meals. And we actually got lunch earlier today to lug up here in this adorable bag. So, now it's time to eat. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, that is wild. Oh my god, that was so exciting. It went away just as fast as it came out. But this is giving me hope that we're going to see something. I heard that the owner's mom makes these. So, let's see what we have. We have all kinds of uh dinner wear here. Two mugs, a bowl, Oreos, apple, apple juice. I feel like I'm back in school. All right. A bunch of rice and veggies. Nice chicken. I love that they use a bowl. So, to give some context on base camp, we are staying on Aatanango, a dormant volcano that last erupted in 1972. And then right in front of us, well, behind the fog is Fuego, the star of the hike. So, Fuego normally has small eruptions every 15 to 20 minutes, which is the big draw of this hike and the main reason that we wanted to do it. But unfortunately, it has been really quiet for the last two months. However, the morning that we flew to Guatemala, it had its largest eruption since 2018, and we were hopeful that it would return to its old patterns of erupting every 15 to 20 minutes, but it has gone quiet again. You can see some steam or gas coming out of it, but it's definitely not what it normally is like. And if we're being honest, we've been a bit bummed that we weren't going to get to see it erupt like we had hoped. But at this point, we're just hoping that the fog clears and we can see something. So, I guess we're just going to sit around and [Music] wait. Wow. Wow. Wa! This is the best I've seen it. You can see so much of its textures. That's all you get. It's gone. I think one of my favorite things is hearing everyone cheering, even from other camps when Fuego finally shows itself. [Music] So Fuego is still playing hide-and-seek, but we've got hot chocolate and cookies to enjoy while we wait. It has popped out maybe eight times or so. And you can see steam or gas coming out of the top. Quite a bit of it actually. And then within 2 seconds, the fog just takes it away. you, sweetie. Unfortunately, Fuego never re-emerged. So, we spent the rest of the day relaxing in our cabin, warming up and toasting marshmallows around the craziest campfire with new friends, both human and canine, enjoying dinner, and trying to remain hopeful that the skies would clear by the morning. Good night. Good night. [Music] [Applause] This morning, we are up before 3:00 a.m. to go hike closer to Fuego. Normally, you do this hike closer to Fuego yesterday afternoon, but since the weather was bad, they gave us the option to do it today for sunrise instead of the normal sunrise hike up to the Aatanango Summit. So, we decided to go for it. Oh, yeah. It is much clearer this morning. And you can see Fuego and you can see stuff coming out of the top of it. Yes, this is so steep. It's steeper than yesterday. It's even more difficult. It's also super slick and loose dirt, which makes it 10 times harder. Hiking poles are kind of a must. [Music] We made it. That was tough. Crazy windy up here. Oh my gosh. That was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Yeah, same. [Music] Yeah. Heat. [Music] Even though Fuego is covered for about 90% of the time, still an epic sunrise. We're above the clouds and it's like a sea of clouds and the sun is lighting it up and the hillsides and there's mountains poking through the clouds. It's epic up here, but it is very brutal with this wind. [Music] [Music] And as we hiked back down, we just hiked down that the skies cleared and the stunning Fuego was on full display at base camp, giving us the views that we had dreamt about for the last 24 hours. We have been fortunate to visit a handful of active volcanoes over the years like Kilawea in Hawaii and summiting Mount St. Helens in Washington, but this was the first one we have visited that was alive with visible activity. And getting to watch Fuego degassing is easily one of the most spectacular things we have ever seen. [Music] [Applause] It has been a roller coaster of weather conditions and emotions, but I cannot think of a more Perfect way to end this hike than drinking my coffee and watching the volcano and seeing all of the views that were tucked behind the fog yesterday. [Music] And now for the very steep hike down. Yesterday we saw a lot of people falling on their way down. Whoa. Like I almost just did. So hopefully hopefully we don't actually fall. [Music] [Music] Yes, I did it. I have so many rocks in my shoes. Oh my god. Even though we didn't get to see Fuego erupt, we still had an incredible time on the hike. Yesterday was not ideal, but we had so much fun just hanging out with everyone at base camp. We met so many cool people and having that foggy weather definitely made us appreciate the views that we got to see today. But knowing what Fuego is supposed to be like with actual eruptions, not just the degassing like what we saw. We feel like we didn't get the full experience. So, we're hoping to come back to Guatemala one day when hopefully the eruptions are back to how they used to be and uh I guess do the hike again. My body is like, "No, not again." That was easily one of the hardest hikes we have ever done. We are completely exhausted right now. So, we're going to spend the next day just recovering here in Antigua before we head to our final stop here in Guatemala. But first, I think we deserve a little something something to celebrate. [Music] Now this is exactly what we [Music] needed. Holy smokes, that's so good. [Music]