The view of Fuego from Acatenango

Landscape
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Unfortunately it is not a ride MTB, in our holiday in Guatemala and Belize with no bikes at all. To be without wheels means something and I proposed to Michela a variant to the classic tour, instead of going for a walk on the Pacaya Volcano (2552m above sea level), where probably we would not be able to climb to the summit, we make a trek at night to view the sunrise on the second highest volcano in Guatemala, the volcano Acatenango (3980m above sea level), and to admire the puffs of smoke near the Volcano de Fuego.

We start from the small town of Soledad one o’clock at night with our young guide, rather than an guide, he was our insurance to not encounter shady characters.

We climb briskly on a beautiful trail from the sandy bottom illuminated by the light of the nearly full moon that allows us to keep the torches off, at least until we enter into the forest at 2800m. I can’t wait to get to the top and try to keep the pace high, Michela wisely obliges us to go slower because it does not want to get to the top too early and wait in the cold and wind dawn. Wise woman …. We get in any case easily, without bike on his shoulder is a pleasure, but the jet leg is felt, one day before we just arrived

A hundred meters from the summit, it suddenly appears a cold wind that almost paralyzes us. We take strength and arrive quickly at the top on the mouth of the volcano. As quoted by Michela us with an hour before dawn, we look for a sheltered spot and cover ourselves with everything we have, including thermal cover emergency.

Finally at 6 we see the first light of dawn and we go to the crater to enjoy the spectacular view and the volcano Fuego with its fumes. You see even the Pacific Ocean, incredible! Unfortunately we are still frozen and the wind is very strong and we can not do all of the photos that the moment deserved. Not even a half hour and we decide to go back down to find a little more heat.

Almost all the way down is great fun, we do it all surfing on lava sand. We arrive in Soledad in just under two hours with our legs destroyed.

It would be a dream to be back in the bike, spend an hour or two on top of the crater to enjoy the view and fly very well protected from the cold downstream. The descent must be fabulous. The first part is surfs in lava sand, after a single track becomes infinite never too technical and thanks to hikers always clean.