Acatenanago is the second highest peak to Tajumulco (4220 m) in all of Central America standing at 3976 m. When in Guatemala there are so many volcanos to hike you could just spend two to three weeks hiking volcano after volcano. Acatenango is THE volcano to hike when visiting Antigua due to the base being only a 30 minute drive from the city. The hike is a two day one night hike where you set off in the morning from Antigua, arrive to base camp which is typically 1-2 hours from the summit, spend the night the camping at base camp and then hike up to the summit early for sunrise before descending. I had been recommended by several travellers I met along the way to book through Soy tours. They are definitely one of the cheaper tours and one of the better from what I heard from other people’s experiences. The tour including the entrance fee for the volcano was 350 Q (€37) which included all food, accommodation for the night, transport to and from your hostel in Antigua, guides and cold weather equipment/clothes. I had been warned it is extremely cold at the summit…
I had been warned that travelling through central and South America for seven months was going to be challenging without Spanish and I would get so much more from my experience if I spoke Spanish. Booking flights to go on is trip with a month before departure didn’t leave me much time to start learning a new language. I studied french in school, what a stupid idea! Unless you want to live in France or Quebec, it’s not exactly a language you can travel with. I downloaded FluentU and started on my quest to learn conservational Spanish. I didn’t get too far with it, landing in Mexico I was able to say ‘mi nombre es Sari’ and ‘yo soy una mujer’ (I am a women. Which I hope was pretty obvious). After two weeks in Guatemala I realised my duo Spanglish would need some extra assistance and that people really don’t speak any English. I read about Xela, Guatemala’s second largest city behind Guatemala city, also known as Quetzaltenango. It’s known for its cheap Spanish classes and home stay and also its surrounding volcanos…