Sun 1st Mar
Another long, tedious shuttle from Lanquin to Antigua. Left at 8, finally arriving at 4pm. Interesting change of climate though - going from cool cloud forest, into hot, arid, cactus scenery, and finally Antigua with the volcano landscape.
Beautiful city - UNESCO - cobbled streets, old ruins, beautiful plaza, but also super busy and lots of tourists.
We arrived right in the middle of a religious procession which made navigating to our hostel with our big bags on quite tricky ! Dashed out to watch the rest of it - the whole town was either participating or watching, so busy, but really interesting.
Had an amazing Texan BBQ dinner of fully-loaded burger, and meat platter to make up for our terrible service station lunch stop of crisps and packaged bread !

Mon 2nd Mar
Early start to get everything done today. Up at 6:30, great breakfast at a cafe at 7 (french toast, and crepes), then cracked on with sightseeing at 8. Walked up to Cerro de la Cruz for great views all over Antigua and to the surrounding volcanos - with Fuego puffing smoke.
Meandered all around the streets looking at the colonial buildings, old ruins, did some souvenir shopping in a market, and finally done at 1pm.
Booked on for the 2-day Acatenango hike for tomorrow, and hired all the gear we need. Hadn't intended on doing this, but a French girl we spoke to in Lanquin really sold it to us and showed great photos, so now we're doing it - completely un-prepared ! Had to hire poles, hat, gloves, thermals, jacket, 50ltr backpack, and 2 x 1.5ltr water bottles ! Meant to be really tough 5hr ascent, but great views from the top !
Packed all our stuff, and early night ready for the tough 2 days !

Tues 3rd Mar
Headed to Wicho & Charlie agency for 8, great breakfast to set us up for the day ahead, then headed off at 9:30. Quite a large group of 28, but had 4 guides, and all walked at our own pace. Met a lovely Aussie couple so chatted to them all the way up. I think so many things are mind over matter, and as I was expecting this to be hideously hard, I didn't actually find it too bad. And the scenery was so much better than I expected - really diverse, from lily fields, cloud forest, to completely barren over on Fuego, and climbing up above the cloud line for spectacular views.
Got up to base camp at 3:30 with amazing views across to Volcano Agua and the puffing Fuego just next to us. Had only intended to get up to the summit for sunset, but having seen how close we were to Fuego, and the temptation of getting on the active volcano, we upgraded to hike across to it for sunset. 1.5hrs across, walking along a thin ridge line to get as close as we could to the crater. Put all our layers on as was freezing cold as the sun set, but what a view. Full 360 for Agua, Fuego, sea of clouds, and Acatenango. Just as we took a group photo, Fuego did a good eruption and saw lava and rocks spewing out right behind ! Sat to watch that and sunset until dark, then headed back in the cold, pitch black by the light of our head torches. A little bit precarious, slipping and sliding down the ash slopes, trying not to have an accident !
The ascent back up to base camp nearly killed me, not sure I've ever been so exhausted. Full day of hiking, finishing with a steep ascent in the dark, constantly sliding back down in the ash every step. As our new Aussie friend Julie would say - "I'm done".
Staggered back into camp at 9, wolfed down our pasta dinner, then sat by the camp fire watching fuego do some great lava eruptions, but failing to be able to capture them well !
Finally went to bed at 10:30 into the 8-mattress little huts, thick sleeping bags, 2 thick blankets, and fully clothed !

Wed 4th Mar
Abysmal night sleep, being at 3600m, cold, really close to the other people in the hut, and hearing Fuego keep erupting, felt like I barely got 10mins sleep.
Got up at 5:40 to watch a beautiful sunrise behind Agua Volcano around the camp fire, nice breakfast of porridge, packed up and headed out at 7:30.
Luckily it was all downhill to get back, which is hard on the knees, and sliding down the slippery ash slopes, but still exhausted from yesterday and no sleep so could not have managed any more uphill.
Back to bus at 10, in town at 11:30, and almost ran back to our hotel for showers. Feels like we've never been so dusty and dirty !
Spent rest of afternoon basically eating and enjoying the sun and beautiful streets of Antigua for our final day here.