April 27. Our scheduled departure time was … early in the morning … well since we are still in the twilight zone between CET and Guatemala time, it wasn’t an issue. We arrived on time for breakfast at Tropicana where we had booked the trip. A few US-style pancakes. The 4-inch-thick stuff, and dried out completely. But he: “It is taste like @#@*, but you can life on it!” and with some extra syrup it was pretty OK. I did look around to see who else was taking the breakfast, all young people. If this was going to be the group, we (Susan and I) increased the average age by +5 years. It turned out it was the company we were going to spend the next 2 days with.

Before boarding the bus, we did our last minutes rentals. And off we got in the bus. First question we got was “Where are you from”, the question game from 2 Irish and they told me where they lived. So I said: "That must be pretty close to Carrick On Suir". “What is so special about Carrick on Suir … according to you?” They asked. "Well" I said "There is the Sean Kelly bridge, Sean Kelly Square, Sean Kelly gym and what not". "So you must love cycling .. and Sean Kelly", was the reply. "Yup, our youngest daughter is even named after him", is what i could say. B/c that is about when the bus started driving and we got tossed around over the cobblestones ... "talk later".

The bus took us to an elevation of 2,500 meters (8,000 ft), leaving 1,500 meters (5,000 ft) for us to hike uphill. We hired a porter to carry a part of our luggage. Everyone was instructed to carry at least 4 liters (1 gallon) of water for drinking and cooking, clothes for freezing cold weather, a raincoat and what not. In a nutshell: heavy luggage. Getting a porter was needed for us old people. Before we started to hike the guide gave some instruction, as it was all in Spanish we had a volunteering translator from Chili. She did a perfect job in translating … I think. And off we went. I made sure I walked next to the Irish guy who seemed to like biking too. Not a bad idea … but … we were going uphill, rather steep and we started at a personal record breaking 2.500 meters altitude. Basically I quickly needed all my energy to move forward and upwards. No energy left to listen, let alone to talk myself. There we had the first pause, and how much I liked to chat a bit more, and longer, I wasn’t able to do it during the hike. So, I made sure not to be too close to James and thought to catch up on the talk at 4,000 meters. Sorry James; I never told you why I stopped the conversation ... it was just major lack of energy on my side. The climb looked a lot like a mountain stage in the Tour de France. The people who are not fit to it drop of at the first 15 minutes (same with us, we ‘lost’ 3 out of 14) than after an hour the door opens at the back of the pack and one after another drops off. Since we took a lot of pauses to get used to the altitude and keep the group more or less together the open door at the back wasn’t an issue. We regrouped constantly. Susan was smart to walk as the first of our group and I was more in the back. I saw Susan gradually moving down the ranks, she had a hard time but did a great job. It wasn’t easy to me either, rather often I was only going: “left … breath in … right … breath out … left ... etc". Focusing on where to put my feet and just take it step by step. The idea of having my brains drifting away was … ridiculous ... though … Carrick on Suir was in my mind, and as it is close to Tipperary, I was thinking about the song “It is a long way to Tipperary” and waiting for the right moment to start singing.

Finally after many stops we came above tree level, it actually started to rain, we all changed into rain coats. It turned out to be just a few drops. The weather forecast had talked about thunders and heavy rain, so I was worried sick. Being above tree level also ment climbing would be less steep. It more or less was flat. At least ... compared to what we had being dealing with so far .. it was flat terrain to me. However with this altitude each step was a breath taker. Though it had stopped raining, I still heard thunder all the time, so I was worried like hell. After another hard part we turned around a corner, and there it was … Fuego. The ‘next door volcano’ erupting occasionally, with thunder and what not. Clouds of dark smoke erupted. Not only did we see Fuegos, I also noticed camp sites in the far distance, we almost made it. And for the thunder, it was Fuego all the time, no rain just a bit cloudy.

The first thing we had to do at he camp site was to give one liter (1/4 gallon) off water to the guides, so they could start preparing dinner. We needed to pack layers ... the sun was setting and the temperature was dropping ... to keep warm. During all the pauses we did have plenty of time to chat with each other, not during the hike off course. Everyone was on a 4+ months world tour, with us being the exception of just a 2-week family holiday. Dinner was ready, at least part one, the noodles we had taken with us, given to us at Tropicana, where ready. One group member had carried a box to play music, which is what she did. During dinner it was … how to put it nicely ... not my cup of tea … ! The next day was scheduled to leave at 4 for a sunrise tour to the top of the Acatango. Someone (the girl from Chili) suggested to get up at 3 to make sure we would see the sunrise. I think everyone was thinking the same but afraid to tell. I am pretty sure we all had thoughts like: "I am not going to give up an hour sleep, b/c I am sure the guides know what they are doing". Basically the discussion died out quickly. The lights went off, but it didn’t stop Fuego to continue erupting, at the next blast the sky over Fuegos was illuminated. With the sun gone, all the light came from the eruption and it was awesome. One blast after another. The chill factor increased. Not only by what we saw but also by the dropping temperatures. There was a campfire. But ... to be honest, it helped to keep one side of the body warm, the other side was exposed to the chilly wind. At 20:00 we thought we had seen enough of the show and the chill wind factor did the rest. We crawled into our sleeping backs. The Irish had taken time lapses and we exchanged E-mail to make sure we got good foto's as well.

We woke up the next morning at 3:45 ... It was quiet ... we thought the rest had left at 3 and didn’t tell us. 10 minutes later the guides came out to wake everyone up and at 4:05 9 hikers had the courage to take the hike that morning. After a few steps upwards, I was starting to feel a bit dizzy, difficulty breading .. my body told me: '4,000 meters is enough ... be proud of what you have achieved ... don’t overdo it'. I listened, told Folkert and Fardau that I was, like Susan, not joining after all and got back into a horizontal position … closed my eyes. Woke up at 6, breakfast was ready. The few of us who didn’t go to see the sunrise took breakfast, 3 were having hard time with altitude sickness and what not … hence no breakfast either. The 8 who did get up to see the sunrise returned, it was awesome. Folkert and Fardau ensured me it was a good call to stay at the camp. It was a hard hike, steep and slippery when going down.

After breakfast we started the descend. That is when gravity was working in our advantage, time to enjoy the scenery. It was cloudless and above tree level … I have been enjoying, while every now and then I took a look on where to walk. Music was tuned to 80's classics, fine by me. It was crowded, everyone needed to get down along the same path, specially the last par was only one route down. Folkert and Fardau told us it was the same at the top, super crowded and only one line to walk. Eventually we arrived at 2,500 meters where a new busload of tourist arrived. We got on the empty bus on our way back to Antigua. Tired but satisfied, most fell asleep in the bus. Legs started to be happy, no need to carry that human body any longer and .. if it was up to the legs ... better take a break for a few days.