The hike to the volcano lake of Atitlan

Being gay has its good sides. Where my fellow travelers attempted to put on their swimwear with awkward movements, without showing themselves in front of a team, I simply dropped my covers. Just like my female companion, with whom I shared the Guatemalan sauna.

This allowed us to giggle, chat and spray each other with soothing, warm water and relax from the first day of the hike to Lake Atitlan, which lies between the Guatemalan volcanoes.

It was a day to get used to and prepare for what was to come. After six weeks of relative luxury, the villages behind me, it went back to the literal floor of the facts. We carried our own food, with the ‘Trail Mix’ (a wonderful mix of nuts), which was very popular with all fellow travelers.

In addition, we had our sleeping quarters on our backs, with one sleeping bag hardly having any weight. More important was the indispensable ‘shit kit’ – shovel and shovel, if you had to relieve yourself at some point.

Cooked breakfast

Our guide gave us the introduction to the ‘Shit Kit’ during the introductory round, on a hill in Xecam on the edge of our starting point Xela. A ‘Chicken Bus’, a former American school bus, had brought us here after we were served a hot breakfast at six in the morning. Something with beans, of course. 

This is where I first realized: after six weeks of social isolation, my biggest challenge would be to integrate myself into a group of 22 strangers. Gone was the time when I could decide for myself where to go and when to continue. And it gets worse, I even had to pretend to be a social person. 

In the group of strangers there was the French-Russian couple from Paris and St. Petersburg. The couple from Ireland , where the male half enthusiastically explained that this Brexit would reunite Ireland and Northern Ireland. The three Australian boys who laughed at jokes 25 hours a day that only they understood. The Chilean lady who, for understandable reasons, loved to dive naked into the sauna with me. And then the Danish woman, my age, who, just like me, was already too much after two nights to sleep on a straw mat in a room with twenty other people. We were united in our longing for a reasonable bed.

Rewards

But hey, there were of course a number of rewards for these inconveniences. The first climb brought us to the Alaska mountain, the highest point of the three-day hike at 3,050 meters. Sitting here on the ridge was like a hallucination, a dream world. Clouds passed and made the mountains in the background disappear for a few moments as if by magic.

 

From there, a narrow path led us into the cloud forest. A place where you could hear the water dripping from the trees even when it wasn’t raining. Nature here is so lush, so lively, you can almost hear it and feel it as it grows. Also the perfect place for an improvised lunch with delicious guacamole. The first place for others to take a closer look at his ‘shit kit’ for the first time.

From here it only went downhill. However, this takes several hours to Antigua Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan, also known as Santa Catarina – a quaint little village devoid of most modern facilities. The community center was also our accommodation for the night. Not much more than a large room with two toilets. But there was a special treat for the tired bones, the Temazcal: a Guatemalan sauna. A dark, heated room with a low ceiling where you could wash your skin with boiling water.

Snoring orchestra

At this point, as you could imagine, most of the passengers were already completely exhausted and physically exhausted. The snoring orchestra was therefore able to begin at around 9 p.m. Uncomfortable, but apparently there were few accommodations in this remote location. And precisely because of the volume and the uncomfortable surface, I came up with an ingenious solution for the second night …

Unfortunately, the second night was still 15 to 20 kilometers away. After a relaxed breakfast (something with beans and egg, and thank goodness coffee too) the hike continued relaxed. After an hour we had a breathtaking view over the entire valley, to Santa Caterina and also on the Carretera Panamericana (Pan American Highway).

Record mountain

Time for the record mountain! Time for the coolest and toughest guys to show how quickly they could climb the steepest climb of the entire trip. Of course, the three Australians were at the forefront. When the rest of the group caught up with the trio on the summit after 30 minutes, the boys were still unable to speak. The record mountain made its first sacrifices, and it would take several hours before the blond boys would laugh again.

But now we were first spoiled with ice cream. And a lunch table. And with an endless number of hills that ended in the ‘cornfield of death’: a damn steep and uncomfortable but short climb to the village of Xiprian.

The subsequent sunset behind the mountains was our reward. A quick shower and a campfire with marshmallows and beer. Then it went back to bed early. Since the weather forecast promised a minimum temperature of twelve degrees, I decided to spend the night outdoors, in the immediate vicinity of the slowly extinguishing campfire. Glorious and ingenious with a capital letter G.

Lake Atitlan

There we are, at 4.30 a.m., with sleepy eyes, walking in a long line in the dark, en route to Santa Clara la Laguna. To the right is a narrow path that apparently led to nowhere. On the left, shining in the moonlight, the volcanic lake of Lake Atitlan. In the background is the Fuego volcano, which claimed hundreds of lives in an unexpected eruption last year. Occasionally that morning he spat glowing lava into the sky.

So much beauty also took the Australian’s breath away (and the language). They then climbed into their sleeping bags to enjoy the sunrise over the next two hours. With the lake as the stage that was created centuries ago by the surrounding volcano and the sun as the main character, the nearby villages were kissed awake. Nature showed us a terrific show that morning.

Down in the bay we could already see San Pedro La Laguna – our travel destination. Known for its hippie-like life and extremely low cost of living. What we had left was a 90-minute descent, sometimes across local coffee plantations with their dark red fruits. When we admired them, we suddenly heard a scream behind us. Then silence for the next two minutes …

Startled and scared

Our Danish companion had slipped and crashed. Several meters deep. She was obviously startled and frozen, but fortunately not seriously injured. Nevertheless, it was a useful warning to everyone that walking on narrow paths and steep mountains is not without risks.

An insanely sweet coffee was the deserved reward of our last adventure. After a short drive on a small truck, we could finally dive into Lake Atitlan and slowly get used to the civilization ahead. And here we had to say goodbye to the 22 people who were so strange to me two days ago …

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