Having arrived almost by accident in Guatemala we quickly realised that Puerto Barrios, the port town, was a place to pass through as quickly as possible. After an amusing immigration (a hut about half a mile from the docks with very loud latin music playing out of the windows) we dumped our bags in the hottest room known to man and booked a 3.30am bus out of there.

The bus journey was like a dream. I have heard about how beautiful Guatemala is but nothing prepared me for how HUGE it is. The mountains are incredible, a mixture of towering craggy rock or mountains banketed in fields like patchwork quilts, and tiny bridges spanning ravines. Finally, about 5 hours later, the shacks started building up and we rolled into Guatemala City about half 9 with not a clue where to go from there.

Luckily a lady in the bus station spoke some English, and seemed to determined to understand what we wanted even if it took her all morning. It was worth it as she sorted us out with a taxi to take us across the city to our first Chicken Bus experience to Antigua. The buses here have to been seen to be believed. They are mostly old American school buses that have beem deemed unsafe and then been pimped up with fairground lights, massive monster grills, and garish paintwork. One particular favourite was a bus with no seats that had been equipped with a complete nailed-down set of garden chairs. We spent at least an hour curb crawling Guatemala City whilst the conductor and every type of sales person under the sun leapt on and off shouting things and creating a general comedy. It was a hilarious journey even when we were all packed in like sardines and Chris summed up how much he loved the experience by nicknaming it the ´hugging bus´.

We arrived in Antigua and checked in a hostel which we instantly loved and settled to stay a few days. The next couple of days were spent wandering the streets and deciding what to do for Chris´s birthday on Thursday. Antugua is surrounded by volcanos and we had thought of going up Volcan Pacaya which has flowing lava that you can toast marshmallows on. After chatting to people though we realised it had become so hugely touristy in recent years that we should consider our options. So we settled on a two-day trek up Volcan Acatanango, the third highest Volcano in Guatemala, camping over night on a plateau just a few hundred metres below the summit.

I think the climb up Acatanango is probably the most challenging thing I have ever done. Neither me or my plimsols were quite prepared for the experience. We met up with our group in the morning (us, a Canadian guy and two Americans) and set off to the base of our hike in the mountains. The hike was basically steep uphill through ashy gravel that sent you two steps down for one step up, then misty cloud forest for a few more hours, then out onto deserty winding trails climbing far above the clouds and the pine forests. 6 hours in and one fantastic picnic lunch later (part of this had a strong resemblance to tuna curry, and I would like to point out to any sceptics that everybody LOVED it), me and Lauren might as well have been the only people in the world, having lost everybody follwing a trail round the side of the volcano. At this point Chris and Owain had also lost everybody and were headed towards the base of the (very active) Volcan Fuego next door. Our first glimpse of Fuego lived up to all expectations above the clouds. We wound a bit further round the trail for about three minutes and when we next caught a glimpse of Fuego it was busy erupting right there in front of us. I never thought I would want to run towards an erupting volcano but it gave us both a wierd spurt of energy for the rest of the hike up to camp.

We put the tent up (sort of), Chris and Owain reappeared after being rescued on the edge of a ravine by the guide, and headed down to dinner, a feast of homemade pasta and a side of chocolate. Then we sat around the camp fire being generally freezing until, on cue, Fuego rumbled into action and red sparks were flying out of it and lava running down the whole mountain with a massive earth trembling boom. It was absolutely incredible; I never imagined I would see a volcano erupt even once but Fuego apparently bursts into life every two hours or so so we were rumbled into awakeness to witness an eruption several times throughout the night. Chris woke us up at 5.30 as he was determined I should witness my first ever sunrise. After I had realised that the sun was not behind the reddish clouds and we had to wait for it it was absolutely mindblowing: a sea of white clouds hundreds of feet below and everywhere around, with only the tips of volcanos poking through, and then the sun rising from the clouds in the west.

Unfortunately the downside to the sun rising was that I realised I have never been so dirty in my life, I was even dirtier than Gretch, and that is something.

The way down the volcano was treacherous. Once again I was having far more trouble than anybody else, at one point on one of my many falls I even took out a tree whilst trying to save myself and failing spectacularly; luckily the entire group were watching me at this point so such a spectacular fall didn´´t go to waste. After Chris had offered to be my support and I had managed to take him out from behind he set about teaching me how to optimise my (sadly breaking) plimpsols and stay upright down the mountain. After that it was easy and at points I felt a small affinity to the mountain goat.

Anyway one incredible experience later we have never been collectively so exhausted and are going to spend the afternoon napping before heading out for dinner and drinks with our (cleaned and rested) group from the hike.