My stay in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala: Hike up Tajamulco

This weekend I got the chance to do a day and a half hike up the dormant volcano, Tajamulco, the highest point in Central America at 4220 meters above sea level. I did the hike with Brooke and Jessica (two girls in my group) guided by a nonprofit trekker group here in Xela, called “Quetzaltrekkers.”

Saturday morning the Tajamulco group met up at 4:45am to make our way by bus to the base of the volcano. We grabbed a great breakfast at a comedor (a small restaurant) and then started our walk uphill until lunch. The food during the hike was great too! We shared four different types of salads and homemade peanut butter and bread for lunch, had pasta for dinner, and oatmeal for breakfast (along with spices like basil, powdered milk, cinnamon, etc). The food was definitely not bland on the volcano!

I’m not in very good shape, so it was pretty hard for me to climb the 2000 meters up to the peak, but we took the hike slowly, and the view on the way and on top made the exhaustion totally worth it. The “Quetzaltrekkers” were great guides too. Not only are they part of a nonprofit group who uses the funds from their guided hikes to help a school for underprivileged Guatemalan kids, but they are also really caring guides – patient with my slow pace and always concerned about our physical and emotional state. The four guides were always asking me how I was, making sure no one injured themselves or became sick from the elevation gain.

We made it finally to our base camp around 3pm (where we set up our tents and make-shift kitchen), and around 5, hiked up another 100 meters to a peak to watch the sunset (pictures included!). The next Sunday morning we woke up at 4:30am to hike up the 100 meters again to see the sunrise. It was freeezing up top, but we brought our sleeping bags to lay and watch the sun come up from under the horizon. It was beautiful!

The description of the trek - http://www.quetzaltrekkers.com/guattajumulco.html