Beach in Guatemala?

Well, sure. It is Guatemala, at a hotel in Montericco. But this was just an awesome beach weekend at a fancy shmancy resort. It could have been anywhere below a reasonable line of latitude.

Mostly, I just wanted to post the picture of my stunningly beautiful wife in all her pregnant glory. Enjoy it while you can because when she finds out I posted it I am in big trouble. Oooooooowhee.

Look for more fun beach pics coming soon from Belize, where we will be spending Semana Santa, or Holy week.

Volcano Double-Header

I have already posted this pic taken from Volcan Agua, but it is the best image to capture to concept of the volcano double-header. The plan for the first day was to hike to the summit of Volcan Acatenango at 3976m (13,044ft), then descend to the saddle at 3300m which sits between Acatenango and Volcan Fuego (approximately 3800m, or 12,400ft, and growing). Acatenango is on the right and is considered "dormant." My in-laws tell me that there is no such thing, but when you are hanging around the summit in the crater it is an important distinction. Fuego, pictured on the left, is most certainly active.

The trail begins in small crop lands and progresses into the cloud forest. Above the cloud forest it turns subalpine with pines and bunchgrass before finally turning alpine above 3700m. A burn had cleared most of the upper ridge which made for great views of the surrounding mountains and volcanoes.

We reached the summit of Acatenango after around 7 hours of hiking. The large crater served as a nice venue for throwing around the football. Twas truly a moon-like setting (not that I would know much about the moon).

We pitched our camp and awoke at 4:00am for a sunrise climb up the north ridge of active Fuego. The picture through the trees shows the ridge nicely. We stood in awe of the erupting Fuego, a clear moonlit morning, and the rising sun sneaking up behind Volcan Agua. Fuego growled, burped, boomed, and heavily breathed its firey breath under our feet and before our eyes. Needless to say, we respectfully stayed below the summit. As the day began, we returned to our camp and the final hike around the east side of Acatenango's flanks and back to the trailhead and village.