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.

I'm Nomading Again!

Now that I have been back in Ithaca for exactly one year... its time to travel again!  Funny that it has been 1 year to the day from when I returned to Ithaca, to when I flew out to Guatemala.  April 18.  Anyway, Nico has been down here in Central America for a couple weeks now, and it just seemed silly that I was in Ithaca, not even at a real job, and and not traveling with her.  This time we actually have return tickets though - May 10, two days before Rachel graduates college.

Arches in Antigua

So anyway, it seemed kinda surreal as I was taking a taxi from the airport in Guatemala City to Antigua to meet up with Nico.  It's been so long, and its clearly not the US (although not as much different as I was expecting), but it seemed so normal to be there and barely able to communicate with my taxi driver.  Although of the three of us passengers I was the one with the most Spanish skills, and attempted to have a little conversation with the driver.  I am definitely pleasantly surprised how much I remember, considering I haven't taken any Spanish since 11th grade.

Volcan Agua looming over the city.  View from the
balcony of our hostel.

I met up with Nico in Antigua and it was really awesome to see her again.  Unfortunately Antigua turned out to be a bit of a letdown.  It is totally gringo central, and it seems like the Guatemalan culture there is not so genuine, and everything is really just to cater to the tourists.  It is certainly a nice city, with cobbled streets and some different architecture than I am used to.  There was a definite lack of street food and hole in the wall family restaurants... and so we actually ended up cooking most of our meals there.  We spent one day getting our bearings straight and wandering the city, cause that's what we do.

Then yesterday morning we went on a guided hike of Volcan Pacaya.  Pacaya is an active volcano about 1.5 hours drive from Antigua (depending on how many guesthouses your shuttle stops at on the way).  I feel like this was in line with the spirit of Antigua so far, kinda nice, but not as good as we were expecting.  It was a nice easy walk up, in a group of 13 with a guide who at least spoke clearly and slowly such that I could actually understand everything he said.  We were not allowed to go all the way to the top cause they are afraid of us falling through an old lava tube... fair enough.  There were some neat spots though where steam was coming up through the rocks.  It seems to the traditional tourist thing to bring up a bag of marshmallos and roast them.

After the hike we actually did some planning, and organized a 6 day hike in the highlands with a company called Quetzltrekkers.  So Mom, don't expect to hear from me from the 24th to the 29th.  We also figured out how we'd get to Xela, which is the second largest city in Guatemala, and in the heart of the highlands.

White horse on a black lava field

Normally I am not one to like larger cities, but Xela has so far been so much nicer and more genuine than Antigua.  Hard to explain, but people here are here to live their lives, and not just cater to tourists.  It is definitely refreshing.  After a 3:40am wakeup to get here, we only managed to wander around before having an early dinner, and its not even 8, but I'm ready for bed.

I guess that's about it for now.  Hopefully I'll get to write some posts as I go so check back every once in a while.  Oh, and now that I no longer have a camera, all the pictures that we take will be on Nico's picasa site: picasaweb.google.com/nicotedesco