Next, in the middle and on the volcanoes of Guatemala

Our next stop was Antigua, in the southwest of Guatemala. There, the biggest highlight of our trip so far awaited us, the ascent of the Acatenango volcano. With a height of 3,976m, it was a challenge even for us enthusiastic hikers.

The overnight stay in the tent turned out to be bitterly cold (0-4 degrees, in a tent that didn't close). In addition, Lisa suffered from altitude sickness, which didn't make it any more comfortable. But the view of the active volcano Fuego, the starry sky and the thunderstorms passing by speak for themselves in the following photos. Simply breathtaking and we didn't even know where to look.

After a short night, we started the ascent at 04:00 and tackled the last 400m of elevation. When we reached the summit, the sun began to illuminate the surrounding panorama.

Back in Antigua, we spent a relaxing afternoon before heading to Lake Atitlan in the small village of San Pedro the next day. There we found a huge lake (16 km long and 11 km wide) surrounded by volcanoes.

We took on one of them, the San Pedro volcano (3,100m), after two days of rest and recovery from our sore muscles.

We used the days before for a kayak excursion, including cliff jumping....

... a visit to a Sunday market

... and a Guatemalan cooking class with friends from Denver, USA.

Our onward journey to El Salvador turned out to be a bit more adventurous than initially thought and we don't want to withhold this entertaining story from you retrospectively:

As agreed the day before, we boarded a shuttle in San Pedro at 4:30 am, which took us to Antigua. When we arrived there, the driver informed us that we would have to change shuttles for the onward journey to El Salvador, which started at 9:00. So, we set off to find something to eat and when we reappeared at the meeting point at 8:35, we realized that the shuttle to El Salvador had already left. Fortunately, we were able to call the hostel that cooperated with the travel agency. When they quickly organized a taxi, paid for it, and took us to a gas station where the shuttle was supposed to wait for us, we were still full of confidence. But when the taxi driver asked us to get out of the taxi after a distance of 2km, at a gas station that was most likely the wrong one, we already suspected trouble. After half an hour of waiting, Matthias decided to ask at the gas station after a phone call with the agency, who assured him that the shuttle was already on its way to us. After another half an hour, another attempt to call was unsuccessful. Full of hope, we waited another half an hour until we finally, frustrated, started to return to the hostel. Just as we were immersed in total rage, a man from the opposite side of the street approached us and asked if we had come from the gas station. Our breath momentarily stopped. Are we now going to be robbed of our luck as well? No - it turned out that the young man was responsible for the shuttle service to El Salvador. On the way, he tried to explain to us all the things that had gone wrong that day, but we were not very interested, as we were in Antigua without money, even though we should have long been on our way to our accommodation in El Tunco, El Salvador. When we arrived at the hostel, Matthias patiently listened to the explanation of the travel agency before he, unusually for him, put aside his friendliness and made his point in excellent Spanish. Whether it was because of his Spanish or the stubbornness of the travel agency lady, we couldn't get anything out of her. Fortunately, the young man then offered us a place to sleep in his apartment and assured us that we could take his shuttle to El Tunco the next day. When we arrived at the apartment, he confessed to us that we would spend the night together in a single bed and that the bus driver would sleep in the bed next to us. At least we couldn't miss the bus :-D

So, after everything was organized, the anger quickly faded. We exchanged some money and finally, for €2.50, Matthias got his first travel haircut.

Meanwhile, we have arrived safely in El Tunco and after the fifth attempt, we could finally withdraw money.

Today, surfing is on the agenda.

See you later, Alligators.

Matthias and Lisa