Three Dog Night

A few weeks ago, a group of us (students at Juan Sisay) organized a trip up Volcan Santa Maria, one of many non-active volcanoes in the region, with Carlos, a local guide and friend of one of the school's teachers. The hike would commence at midnight, under the nearly full moon, and last about 5 hours. We would reach the summit in time to watch the sunrise over the western highlands of Guatemala - including Xela, multiple pueblos stretching to the Pacific Ocean, directly overlooking the smaller, but active volcano, Santiaguito. We could see as far as San Cristobal in Mexico as well.

We knew the hike would be cold. Xela is cold as it is and Saturday night was definitely no exception. Even before we left town, I was barely cozy in two layers of pants and four tops including fabulous Patagonia capilene layers!! We drove out along the bumpiest 'road' and got out of the cars at the end of the pueblo and beginning of the trail. Quickly three charming dogs joined us for our adventure. And we were off!

We couldn't have hoped for better weather. It was the first evening where the afternoon rains hadn't inundated Xela, the stars were twinkling and the moon was golden and shining bright. The hike would take about 5 hours and we proceeded cautiously and humbly....The dogs kept following us, hour after hour, and we were curious whether they'd join us the whole way....Good thing they did!!

We reached the summit at about 430am and quickly learned that it was beyond cold at the summit at 3770m. We had started our hike at about 2400m. Unfortunately, we had some time to kill before the sunrise, but Carlos took us beyond the summit to an overlook on the opposite side. We found ourselves looking down upon Santiaguito, an active volcano, and within minutes, Santiaguito was spitting flaming red lava and spewing sulphurous fumes. It was amazing and helped to distract us from the freezing temperature...

Nearing 5am the sky was getting brighter and changing to various shades of blues, yellows and oranges...Minute by minute the landscape changed as the sun rose and displayed to us the volcanic line along the western highlands...It was magnificent. And still freezing. And for those of you who know how much I hate the cold, and how I am always cold - trust me, EVERYONE was freezing!!!

At one point, I curled up beside some rocks to use as shelter and encouraged all three dogs to climb on top of me. I really learned what it meant to be a three dog night!! And I was grateful that my fuzzy friends had decided to make the trek with us!

As another saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words...Enjoy the views in my photo gallery!