Hiking Lake Atitlán Volcanoes

Volcan Atitlan

Our first target was Volcan Atitlan, and just getting to the trail was the first adventure. From Santa Cruz, we would take a boat to Panajachel and then to Santiago, the largest, yet devoid of tourists, town on the lake. We would then need to ask around for a Tuk-Tuk to the start of the hiking trail, making sure we weren’t getting ripped off. Then, the adventure would begin with a very challenging first day with nearly 1700m (5500ft) of climbing. Each following day would only get easier.

I haven’t talked about my time working at the hostel yet so these are some new faces for you. We are fast-forwarding to a few weeks after arriving at the hostel because I want to wait until I leave the hostel next month to tell all about it in a single blog post.

Here are two of my very good friends from the hostel. On the left we have Argo. A Russian-born, Italian-raised self-described punk (mohawk pictured soon). Speaking five languages (Italian, Russian, German, English, Spanish), he is extremely intelligent and a guy you want on your side. He has had to fight and work hard for who he is and what he has. He can be tough and intimidating at first, but the longer you get to know him the more you see how much he cares for the people around him. He challenges the people he works with which can either make you stronger and better, or it can rub some people the wrong way. It is iron that sharpens iron after all. He has been at the hostel the longest working as the bar manager and I have him to thank for teaching me most things I know about the place, but mostly he would end up teaching me a lot of things about myself. 

Next is Are. A Norwegian ex-Armed Forces soldier who has pushed his mind and body to the extremes in his training. He has gone days self-navigating the Norwegian wild with no food. Even with all of his hardcore training, he has a heart of gold that makes everyone around him feel comfortable. A soothing voice that can lullaby a baby to sleep. You can always count on him to have a good attitude about any situation and a strong mind to find solutions to some of the most challenging problems. Sometimes these problems would be finding a very clever checkmate during our morning chess games. Even though he would normally beat me, there was no better way than starting my day with coffee and chess with Are.

Also in this picture, you can see two volcanoes in the background. On the left is Toliman, the goal for the second day. Atitlan is behind Toliman and can’t be seen here. San Pedro is the volcano on the right.

Prepping for the trip before we go. We loaded up with food kindly supplied (taken) from the kitchen of our restaurant. Argo was able to get us each a machete for our trip from the maintenance men. The hostel co-owner Dave joked that there is nothing more dangerous than three gringos with machetes, and there was some truth to that. They proved to be very entertaining, as we sliced and diced the foliage as we hiked on.

The first boat to Pana was quick and easy as it is a commonly traveled trip. Once in Pana we had to board another boat for Santiago. Even though this was the largest town on the lake, it is not commonly visited by tourists. Because of this, we ended up spending about 40 minutes sitting on the boat waiting for it to fill. As we departed we could see the clouds start to roll in for the afternoon. This would mean that our hike today would probably be in the clouds.

It was a long boat ride to Santiago, with the whole trip from Santa Cruz to Santiago taking nearly two hours.

Next, we somehow squeezed three men and our backpacks into a tiny Tuk-tuk. This poor little vehicle worked as hard as it could as it took us 6km to the trailhead.

The start of the trail was shared with the local farmers as they worked away.

Slowly working our way. Conversations about life helped pass the time as we slowly worked our way up the volcano.

About 4 hours in we made our way above the treeline we were exposed to the harsh winds and low visibility.

Even with the rough conditions, morale was high. After about 6 hours we made it to the top. It was nearing sunset and the low visibility made it even darker. We thankfully found a wonderful campsite that was protected from the relentless wind.

After setting up our camp, Argo brought out the special cinnamon-infused Cusha he had brought with him. Cusha is like the moonshine of Guatemala. It’s potent and does the trick quickly.

Argo brought a surprise present of fireworks. With a lack of sunset and views, these made up for it.

Argo and Are fiddled with a fickle fire for an hour trying to keep it lit. There wasn’t much good firewood around as we were above treeline and everything was wet. I had given up on the fire quickly and left them to endlessly blow the fire with oxygen while I fiddled my stove which was having some problems also. It hadn’t been cleaned in months and wasn’t burning properly either. After cleaning it I was able to get it burning strong and heat up our tasty dinner of rice, lentils, and bagged bean burritos.

After eating we retreated to the tent while lights from thunder lit up the clouds around us. We fell asleep listening to a podcast about life in American prisons while we all hoped for clear skies in the morning.

I was first up at around 5am. The excitement to see what the views could be had me quickly climb out of the tent. As soon as I looked around I started making excited noises that Argo and Are mistook for me stepping on a machete, which we had joked about the night before. Once they got out of the tent and saw the view, they realized why I was making the strange sounds.

Nothing short of incredible. These moments made the long slog through the clouds the day before worth every step.

Acatenango, Agua, and Fuego are on the right. The sun was just about to come over the horizon.

My favorite style of photo is of my friends from the back enjoying a wonderful view.

Volcan Toliman has two peaks. The far peak is the true peak.

The morning light really shows the beautiful ridges of San Pedro.

The rare photo of me thanks to Are.

After enjoying the sunrise, it was time to eat. And what better way to start the day than a pan of bacon (thanks Iguana Kitchen). We also made a big pot of oatmeal.

Volcan Toliman

We started the hike down from Atitlan and towards Toliman. My GPS app had estimated this to be around a 2-3 hour hike. It was going to be much much slower and tougher than that. The trail up Atitlan was great and not too steep, but this way down was extremely steep and loose and required careful attention with each step.

We came across some vines and couldn’t resist swinging from them. It was scary at first not knowing if they would hold us, but after a few swings, we would see how far and high we could go.

We found some wild blackberries and helped ourselves to a nice snack.

It wasn’t long until the clouds blew in again and clouded our view. This is just a common thing with this region this time of the year. The early mornings are clear and beautiful but the clouds and wind always come in the afternoon. Here you can see Atitlan peaking through the clouds, where we started our day this morning.

This trail was extremely overgrown, steep, and slippery. This photo doesn’t show the struggle that it was to push and crawl our way up the volcano. I was getting my bag stuck nearly every few minutes on overhead branches and this short trail took us hours.

It was a fantastic group and we all took this tough trail as a challenge and not as a punishment.

We each found a walking stick and cleaned it up with our machetes.

We had heard there was a cave here and we came across it. It wasn’t a very deep cave and was more like a rock overhung but it was a good place to take a break and rest for a moment before we finished the final section to the top of Toliman.

At this elevation, this area was almost always in a cloud. This made for a really cool biome called a cloud forest. Everything was green and magical.

The crater of Toliman. As soon as I saw this I immediately knew that I wanted to camp in there. It’s not every day that you get to camp inside a crater of a volcano.

Before we decided where to camp, we wanted to walk around and try to find a spot to go for sunrise the next morning. It was truly a challenge up here as the top was entirely covered in thick forest. We spent a prolonged time walking around the top but couldn’t find anywhere that would give us a view of sunrise. Nearly about to give up, Are follows a final trail and yells from beyond, “Guys, this is the spot!”. We follow behind and see what we all agree will be the spot to go for sunrise. We obviously can’t see anything now but we all try to imagine what the view will be like in the morning.

We went back to the crater to setup our tent and settle down for the evening.

Thankfully there was an abundance of firewood left here and we made good use of it. Whereas the fire from the last camp required constant blowing to stay lit, this fire took off and burned strongly and easily. As we finished preparing tonight’s meal of rice, lentil, and bean burritos, it started to rain and we ran off to our tent for the night to eat our burritos and fall asleep to another podcast. I really enjoyed the ritual of falling asleep to a podcast with my friends. I listened to many many podcasts alone while biking, and it was nice to share some of my favorites.

Day 3 | Toliman summit → Santa Cruz

Another early morning alarm at 5am woke us up which meant it was time to see the sunrise. The view wasn’t near as full as the top of Atitlan, but it’s always nice to sit and watch the sunrise with your buddies.

Volcano Atitlan, where we were the night before.

After the sunrise, we returned back to camp to rest and have breakfast before begining the trek back to civilization.

The walk down was quick as the talks of cheeseburgers and beer got us excited to be back in town. After we ate a combined 7 burgers and fries with 4 liters of beer, we started the trip to take us back home. It was an incredible trip. Physically challenging, for sure, but with two great guys who became much closer friends afterward.

Volcano San Pedro

Having climbed two of three volcanoes, it was only time until I climbed the smallest and easiest one, San Pedro. San Pedro used to have a bad reputation with frequent robberies on the volcano but recently has been much safer. There is also a police hut about halfway up the hill where a couple of officers watch over the trail. The reputation still makes some people scared to hike it so there weren’t that many people on the trail when we did it. The trail is just 3.5km (5.6mi) to the top and 1150m (3700ft) of climbing.

From the town of San Pedro, we take a tuk-tuk that takes us generously high up to the start of the trail, saving us a lot of hiking.

I was doing the hike with a couple of friends from Santa Cruz. First was Joy, who is actually the reason I’m even here in the first place. I met Joy when I was back in Chacahua, Mexico. She was on her way to La Iguana Perdida to become a manager and invited me to inquire about becoming a volunteer because she thought I would be a great fit. She is from New Zealand and I always get along well with Kiwis. I studied abroad in Wellington, the capital, back in 2017 at the exact same university Joy went to also. Joy is an incredibly kind and caring person and she became as close as a sister very quickly. We bonded over our shared love of cooking and watching trash tv together. She is the easiest person to talk to and I always turn to her when I have something to share or talk about.

Also with us was Tim. He is an Australian guy who has started his own Freediving school based out of the hostel. He is a young guy who has traveled a ton and built up a great understanding of the human body through freediving. As with many Australians, he was extremely easygoing and always joking and laughing. I was very impressed with the reputation he has when it comes to freediving. Plenty of people came to our hostel specifically for his classes.

Next in our group were two volunteers, Naomi and Shira. These two friends were studying at a university in Colorado and came here for a school-related trip. There were extremely close friends but had pretty different personalities. Naomi was the extroverted friend who said yes to anything and Shira was the more introverted calm soul. Together they balanced each other out and made a strong group. Naomi helped get Shira out of her comfort zone and Shira helped keep Naomi out of trouble.

The last member of our group was Ana. An Argentinian girl with one of the most incredible talents for art. Ana was a person who may be slow to open up at first, but when she does, she does so entirely and with so much love. As fellow cyclists, we bonded strongly talking about bicycle travel and thinking about the possibility of riding together one day in Argentina. She is a traveling artist and I’m obsessed with her style and the personality she shows in her art. She does tattoos as well and I’m extremely grateful to have her art tattooed on me, a very generous gift she gave me before she left. You can find some of her art on her Instagram.

The large town below is San Pedro. San Pedro is the most “backpacker” town on the lake and is a really cool and fun place to visit. It has some of the best food and bars.

Taking a break at the halfway lookout point. At this point, we all decided to finish the trail barefoot since the trail was very smooth and soft and felt great on our feet.

We came across a swing along the trail and of course, had to stop and monkey around a bit.

Made it to the top and it was time to enjoy the views.

Toliman and Atitlan being hugged by the clouds.

Joy, Ana, and Naomi enjoying the tasty sandwiches that Joy graciously prepared the night before.

We were not the only ones up here enjoying the view.

Ana, me, Naomi, and Tim.

After a good snack break and hangout on the top, we started the hike to the bottom. I was slowly hiking down faster and faster as it felt really good to move fast again, reminding me of descents on my bicycle. Before I knew it I had started full-on running down the volcano. I made it down the to park entrance and was waiting for my friends to arrive when I heard a faint squeaking noise from the corner of the room. As I walked over to investigate, a large cat jumped out from behind the box and ran away.

I found a few kittens over there. They were tiny, tiny little things. Still blind and crawling around, I think they must have only been a few days old.

They were the cutest little things and I couldn’t resist picking the one that was crying up to try and soothe it.

The mother was very protective and didn’t go too far. She wouldn’t let me get close too close to her or else she would hiss. I tried to leave out some water and leftover snacks for her but she wouldn’t take it.

I wrapped up the crying kitten in my shirt and petted it. They kept crawling into the palm of my hand to stay warm. Whenever I would take my hand away it would start whimpering again, so I did what I could to keep it warm until my friends arrived.

Naomi was in love with the kitten as well and didn’t want to let go.

This sign was in the park entrance building and I really liked it.

After everyone met back up at the bottom, it was time to get back to town. Instead of calling a tuk-tuk we decided to hitch a ride. We weren’t having great luck at first until a local trail guide that we chatted with for a bit at the top helped us out.

Some kind locals gave us a ride down back to town.

Me looking back at San Pedro.

After arriving back in town, we grabbed some much needed food before heading back on the boat back to Santa Cruz.

I definitely felt a sense of accomplishment now having climbed all the volcanoes I had spent a couple of months looking at every day. It was even better to have shared these trips with some of the incredible people I have met so far working at the hostel.

My next blog post will be in about a month and will cover what life was like for me in Santa Cruz and working at the hostel. I’ve had a great time here learning tons of new things and meeting lots of amazing people. Even though I have enjoyed my time here a lot, I’m very much looking forward to getting back on the bike and heading toward South America.

I recently passed my one year mark of when I left on my trip. I had shared a small blurb on my Instagram about this and wanted to share something here also.

I had left on this trip when I wasn’t in the best place in my life. I was the heaviest I’ve ever been due to overeating and not leaving my room much. I wasn’t happy with what I was doing or where I was going in life. I abused things like marijuana a lot to distract myself from everything.

I finally made the decision to quit my job to get ready for this trip with only a month to prepare. I started feeling a weight lift from my shoulders and even though I had failed to do any physical or mental preparation for the trip, I had faith that I would find my way.

Now after over a year from the first day, I can safely say that I’ve grown so much so far from this trip. I’ve put myself out into this world, open to any and everything, and have worked through challenges I thought I wasn’t strong enough to face. I’ve started to see myself for who I really am and finally feel more comfortable with myself. I have always lived with so much self doubt and it has held me back a lot in life. A trip like this forces you to confront things that may be difficult but necessary to confront for growth. I’ve realized that all I want to do with this life is to continue to grow and push myself and see what all I can do, and how good I really can be.

I wanted to take this moment to thank you all for being along with me on this journey so far. The love and support I’ve received from you all have helped push and guide me. I don’t think I’d be where I’m at today without y’all. This journey is far from over and I hope you all continue to join along with me.