A brisk 4.30am wake up & walk to the summit of Volcan Acatenango marked the fourth volcano we've conquered in Central America.
Sunrise at the top was amazing. Accompanied by our mountain guide dog, actual guides - Oseas & Mario as a a Canadian called Dave we all struggled to stand up & hold our belongings in the chilly gail forced winds.
We walked (with some difficulty given the wind) around the crater and enjoyed panoramic views out to Mexico's pacific coast. We could see Lake Antitlan, San Pedro & Tajumulco which we had previously climbed. Nothing short of amazing.
Given Acatenango last erupted in 1972 the summit and crater is just stark black sand - quite different to the conditions & surfaces on San Pedro & Tajumulco which have been dormant for some time.
We literally slid our way back to camp through the rocks and sand in around 10 minutes - hilarious considering the climb was a good hour.
After breakfast we packed up & started the trek back to La Soledad. It was mostly downhill - more sand sliding and with a much lighter pack we set a cracking pace, arriving back in less than 3hours.
We were back in Antigua by mid afternoon, dropped off almost everything we owned to be washed & spent the avo relaxing.
We found a cheap little hairdresser & Lindy got a pretty decent haircut for around $3.50! Winning! My dye job cost a little more - like $15 but it was essential maintenance & turned out fine!
In Antigua you're quite spoiled for food choices with gourmet cafés and restaurants everywhere. That said they come with a nice price tag sure to blow a backpacker budget! We settled on Korean for dinner which was pretty tasty and not too expensive.
Had a post-dinner drink on the hostel roof & that was that!
