Hiking notes to the Santiaguito Mirador

After Nico and I got to Xela, we decided to go do some hike that we can do on our own. This hike is generally able to be done without a guide... as long as you don't mind getting a little lost... Although if you are going to do, maybe this will help.

On sunday night Quetzltrekkers (the organization that we just trekked with – that'll be another post) has a potluck dinner that we went to. We met Katie, and guide, and Steve, a potential guide, who were both interested in coming on the hike with us. Katie had been to the mirador once before, so she at least had some idea of what we were looking for.

The walk starts in a nearby town called Llanos Del Pinal. You can catch a chicken bus headed that way (says Llanos Del Pinal on the front) in front of Iglesia El Cavario. When standing with your back to the church, you want a bus headed out of town, going to the right. The day we went, we waited for about an hour and the busses were only going in the other direction. Eventually we got on one of those, and it turned out that the busses were heading out of town along a different route...

Get off the bus in Llanos (ask the driver when to get off for the volcano) and walk up the one main road through town. Its the only road headed towards the conical mountain – Volcan Santa Maria. Once the buildings end, the road veers right, but you should take the obvious trail in the drainage gulley that heads straight.

Where you catch the gulley

Follow the gulley for a while until you get to a row of spikey trees on your right. Follow the path straight. (one goes off to the left as well which will take you up Santa Maria)

The row of spikey trees

Very soon after, you will come to a fence on your right, and the trail splits. Follow the trail straight ahead, and not the one off to the left.

The fence

Soon after that, you will come up to a field and merge onto a dirt road. Follow the dirt road straight (a couple paths veer off, but just stay straight). At the end of the road, you will come to a grassy field, and should continue straight through the field as well.

The grassy field

From here on out, just follow the most obvious path. If it starts to dwindle out and not come back, then you probably took a wrong turn. A few places you will need to climb over a fence of sticks, but keep going. The only thing worth noting - at one point you will come to a gully. The lower path leads right to something that looks like a road block (fence of sticks). That is the path to take, and not the upper one which goes up and around the gulley.

The lower path across the gulley

A little bit farther, and you will come to the mirador (lookout). The path continues and a couple minutes more you will come to the point were the side of Santiaguito blew away in the 1902 eruption. Well worth a look.

Unfortunately for us, we got a bit of a late start, and with getting lost a few times it was clouded over by the time we got to the mirador. The recommendation for this is to get a really early start (5:30 or 6am walking from Llanos) in order to get there before the clouds roll in. I still kinda want to go back there and maybe even just climb to the top of Santa Maria, cause I really want to see an active volcano. Supposedly Santiaguito erupts about every 40 minutes. We heard it go off once on the way to the mirador, but it would be sweet to actually see it spew some ash and rocks.

Anyway, maybe this writeup will help someone else get there in time before the clouds roll in and obstruct the views.