On March 22nd and 23rd, three of my teammates and I hiked Acatenango Volcano which is 13,041 feet which overlooks Fuego (an active volcano). Let me tell you this was the hardest hike I have ever done because of the weight I carried on my back (about 30lbs), the worn out tennis shoes I wore, the fact that it’s all uphill and the lack of oxygen. We started this journey at 6:30am getting up, getting ready and ubering to the location. Once we got dropped off, we rented walking sticks and gloves. The four of us, a couple and two guides trekked for 6 hours and 15 minutes up this steep dormant volcano. As we sweated climbing this volcano, we took breaks when we needed, took in the beautiful scenery and hoped that maybe we would see flat terrain, but sadly that was rare to find. Grateful for the shade at times when the sun was just way too hot. We were conscious of making sure we ate and drank to keep our bodies moving. Half of the breaks we were able to put out packs down, enjoy the scenery and snack on nuts, fruit, protein bars etc and drink our water, Gatorade etc. As we drank tons of water, making our packs lighter, I thought that it would feel a lot lighter, but approaching hour 4 or 5 it seemed as heavy as when we started the trail head. Hiking this was hard! Every bend or curve in the trail and looking up another hill was like it would never end. I would look at the next incline after coming around a curve and have to mentally prepare and pray that God would give me strength to keep going cause at this point I felt weak. We had about an hour left and the weather started to get cooler, the trail was a little more rocky and not having as much oxygen started to play a role in our journey.
Once we made it to our campsite, we took a rest and set up camp. By 5pm it got really cold and I put on all my layers to stay warm and our guide started a fire and we ate dinner. We couldn’t see too much because of the clouds but once the clouds moved we watched Fuego erupt. Guys, this was the coolest thing ever; to see and hear lava and smoke explode from this volcano and the sounds it makes when it erupts is surreal! We ate s’mores and enjoyed watching Fuego erupt, but it was time to get ready for bed. Plus, the warmest place was inside the tent so that’s where you’d find me. Living in California for a few years spoiled me for sure, but in all fairness it was at freezing temperatures. So we got ready for bed, kept my layers on and brushed my teeth, unzipped my tent a little and spit right outside. It was too cold and too much energy to fully get out of my tent. Sleeping was rough, but we were getting up at 4:30am to hike to the summit and watch the sunrise. So we got up, drank some water, ate a snack, grabbed our gloves, water, headlight and walking stick to hike about an hour to top. Even though it was pretty to watch Fuego erupt while hiking up, it was the hardest part for me. Lack of oxygen was affecting me and I should of ate more before we left, I was cold. Then the cherry on top was when we were hiking up, I hit my knee into a rock and it hurt real bad. I was struggling, but it was worth it! The sun was coming up, the volcano was erupting, we were over the clouds and it was amazing! We stayed up there for a little while and was in awe of what God’s creation. This is the time I realized that we won’t be walking uphill anymore; which was a relief.
We started to hike down to the campsite and have breakfast. When we got there, my feet were so cold that I laid in my tent and got warm. After that we packed up, and we started our trek down. It was nice to carry less weight, be able to not wear as many layers once we got further down the volcano, not as many stops and more oxygen coming down. Going down had it’s own challenges, like still feeling tired, harder on my joints and the amount of times I almost fell coming down was insane. Thankfully we had walking sticks that helped. We hiked down just over 3 hours, but the last hour of the journey felt so long. Once we made it down with 5 extra layers of dirt covering our skin, we returned the things rented and was given a ride into Antigua and from there we ordered an uber to go home.
It took for some time to process all that happened in the last 30 hours, but as I reflect this is what I learned and are reminded of.
-I’m grateful for my team. For the girls I did it with and my other two teammates supporting us from home.
-God giving me the strength to keep going even when I wanted to quit.
-Reminded of how great our God is; this world that He created and all of its beauty!
-Grateful for the opportunity to do this. Sometimes I feel guilty using time to do adventurous things when I feel like I shouldn’t be spending $40 to do this and how I in my head I could have saved the money and helped someone in the community. I’m reminded that God wants me to take time away from ministry. Just because I’m not doing our own set aside ministry doesn’t mean God isn’t working. The couple that hiked up with us, we got to share about what we are doing with the World Race and they were so intrigued. Doing ministry doesn’t have to be the allotted time you already set aside to serve but at any moment God can use you to minister to people, to pray for others and be the hands and feet of Jesus.
Prayer requests:
-sickness. Some people on my team are battling a parasite and sinus infection.
-pray that God continues to shine His light through us.
-funds. I need to be fully funded by the end of next month. Please be praying that God provides.
