Ep 176 w/ Nick Cohen – We Hiked Acatenango Volcano to See Fuego and Chaos Ensued for Nick!

We paid that money, the group that were really fast, they ran off with the guide. We were trying to chase after them, basically. Because we had to go down the bit that we'd just come up. Going down is much slower, much harder going up, because it's really slippy. It's almost easier going up when it's really slippery, that gravelly surface. In order to get to Fuego, you have to go down until they come up again. At that point, was about 5 p.m. or something, so the light was starting to go.

bear in mind this highly reputable company decided that it's a good idea that we didn't need any torches or any of sort of stuff. I think that was probably one of the big red flags for me at that point. You're asking us to do this hike in the middle of the night and you're not giving us any torches or even tell us that we need to have a torch or a light. They just said, they just were like, oh yeah, we just do it. We ended up having to use our phone light, which felt super sketchy and it's pitch black. The light was going, we're going down this path and the other guys had just run off.

I going give you mine, yeah.

and were kind of going along, we could see them in the distance and we were trying to keep up with them but we also saw these great views of the volcano and we were like, I want to take pictures of them so you don't want to rush too much, so why are we rushing? It's going to get dark anyway, let's try and enjoy it and get some good pictures and stuff. Anyway, there was this rush to try and get up the Fuego almost as quickly as possible.

Do you love spontaneous adventures, travel tips and stories that will inspire you to pack up and go? Well, welcome to the Wigginit Travel Podcast. I'm James, your host, and each week I bring you travel tales, practical advice and interviews with travellers from around the globe. Whether you're planning a big trip or just dreaming about one, you'll find everything from hidden gems to epic fails.

because travel is not perfect and that is what makes it beautiful. So grab your backpack and let's wing it. New episodes every Monday, wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube too. You can find Winging It and more fantastic travel podcasts from around the world at voyescape.com. The link is in the show notes. Let's go and explore the world. Hello and welcome to this week's episode in which I'm joined by Nick Cohen.

I met Nick in Santa Ana in El Salvador and we hiked the Acatenengo volcano together in Guatemala. And we also hung out in Antigua. So we're going to talk about that hike and Guatemala as a whole. Also we'll touch on El Salvador too. And we've got some tips, do's and don'ts and some funny stories in this one. So Nick, welcome to the show. How are doing?

Yeah, I'm good. Thank you. Thanks for having me on. It's been a few weeks since we met, but yeah, thanks for having me on. Yeah. All good. Thank you. Yeah.

Yeah, the last time we saw each other was... When was that? It must have been Antigua, right?

Yeah, it was Antigua. think it was just maybe after the volcano hike that we did. Yeah.

Yeah,

I think we got dropped off at a hostel, is another thing to know.

central hostel that wasn't in the center town.

But

do remember the driver just like dropping everyone off at their respective hotels and hostels and we thought, well, we think we're in the right area, but he just said, yeah, you get off here and that was it. We had to walk another 10 minutes.

recognize the road we are, we recognize that shop that looks that looks familiar, regularly familiar. Yeah, I think this is where we are. We'll just walk from here.

Just off you go. Yeah. We'll see you We've got some more stories of that hike coming up, which are quite funny. But please tell the listeners, where are you currently based?

Yeah. So thanks. So I'm based in London at the moment, sunny UK. I've been here pretty much all my life really, kind of where I live. And yeah, I kind of wanted to do a trip. I've always like traveled around different places, mainly kind of long haul around the winter time. And this was kind of one year I was looking to go somewhere different. So yeah, I decided to go to Central America and that's where I kind of picked Guatemala and El Salvador.

Awesome. Okay. And what'd you do in London? What's your job?

So I work in a travel company in the UK. So I've been there pretty much like seven years now. And it's kind of one of the reasons I've gone to a lot of long haul places because we do get stuff discounts to some of these cheap kind of destinations, either in Mexico or to Thailand and other places like that. So I thought whilst I'm here, might as well try and take advantage of them. Yeah, that's, that's kind of where it came about.

interesting because when we first went for a coffee maybe after we first met each other I think I was asking you about this you get quite a good concessions right with your company where they give you options to work abroad remotely I think you get a decent vacation but you can do maybe an extra trip and a concession in terms of an allowance as well yeah

So

we get like an allowance every single year where we can travel to different places. So we get, it's like a voucher in a sense, and we can put like different percentages of that towards a holiday that we want to do. Cause I work in a company in the UK called TUI, it's like a very large UK travel company and they kind of specialize in packages, package holidays are kind of their bread and butter, but they've also got flight only deals. so, and the flight only ones is where you can put the maximum amount percentage of the voucher onto that.

Which means that you might only have to pay like 30 % of your cash of the flight. so it's actually quite attractive. so I was trying when I speak to my colleague, colleagues, I always say you need to use your concessions, need to do, because like it's such an incredible opportunity and you get to go to some of these places for like virtually very, very cheaply and it's yeah, you can have great experiences. So yeah, definitely worth it. And then the other bit is the working abroad. So this is a scheme they introduced a couple of years ago.

And it basically allows you to work remote. It sort of came about through COVID really, because you have that whole period of working remotely and all that sort of thing. Yeah. They kind of want to try it. It was always been something they'd been looking at for a while, but because of like tax reasons, they've never been able to secure it. But because they've managed to work out a way to do it. So we get a certain number of days that we can use per year. And they're like almost like annual leave days, but they're basically like working days abroad and you just have to book them into a system and then.

You can say, this day I'm going to be working in another country and you can work in that other country. So as long as you've got decent wifi and you can obviously work based on the hours that the UK hours, then it's absolutely fine. So yeah, it's one of the great perks that I have, fortunately, I'm obviously using.

Yeah, I couldn't believe it and I was hearing it.

Cause you can piggyback your, guess if you do two weeks working, that scheme, I guess you then can piggyback a week vacation on top of that and have essentially three weeks in somewhere new. But I guess two of those three you are working, but it's somewhere new and it's somewhere different,

That's right. Yeah. But I think that's one of the advantages of it because a lot of people, they want to go to different places and they might find it's quite a long way to go, but for only two weeks or one week. this gives them an opportunity to actually, um, like go for a much longer period of time. So you've got, we have a work colleague at the moment, um, who I think she's just started quite recently started and she went to go to, she wants to go to India, but she didn't quite have enough leave. You know, with sometimes when you.

You join not at the very start of the holiday year and you join a little bit way through and you get pro rata a little bit. You don't have quite the number of leaves to actually take a walk. So she was actually able to go to use this scheme to basically go and see her family over in India and maybe have a little bit of holiday, but also be able to work out there as well. So yeah, it's really good for things like that.

So what's next for you for that type of scheme? Because I you're going away soon,

Yeah. So the next one for me is in India. I'm doing it. did the Philippines earlier this year. my friends always joke, do you actually do any work? I can confess I do, but it's one of those things that I did it earlier this year for two months in the Philippines. And so I did a combination of that that was, I did a bit of like working, couple of days working, couple of days holiday each week.

I had about three weeks leave at that point. So I just kind of spaced out over the time. So I did that earlier this year and I want to do something again. I usually do it in the winter time. So I've been to Thailand, done around, I've been to Thailand a few times. I've kind of taken on all these countries. I want to do something a bit different. So I've never been to India and I thought I need to take the plunge. need to go. know everyone's, whenever you mention you're going to India, people go, okay. Everyone has like a horror story associated with India. The other guy is sick.

although he knows he's got very ill or has to be hospitalized. And so whenever you explain to people, they always give you this whole kind of barrage of, this is terrible. You're going to have almost like a scare story to start off with. you're like, okay, I think I'll be all right. I should be all right. Have I made the right decision here?

Ha

Yeah.

I think if you just avoid certain things like, you know, drink bottle water, you'll be all right. And then you got to rely on luck to not get anything extra than that. But I think my mistake was I, I think I had a bit of fruit or it could have been a bit of salad and that put me in bed for three days and I was done. Like both ends coming out. It was pretty horrendous. So I think most people do have those stories, but I think if you're, if you're switched on, you'd be fine. Yeah.

Yeah, I think that's thing. If you take sensible, common sense precautions, you'll be all right. So far, I've actually been all right. I haven't really got any travel sickness so far, even in some of the countries I've been to. So think India is like a next step up. I've done the base of other countries now. I've built up the stomach for it. think India is the next step.

That'd be awesome. Where does, um, Oman come into this? Cause I know you're going there as well, right?

Yeah. So it's sort of my 30th. I've just turned 30 at the moment. when my sister's then turned 30, was we as a family went away somewhere around that time for her 30th. And I kind of wanted to do something similar for mine. And we were looking at some places and I'd been to like Thailand and Asia, Central America a bit. And we were looking at other places as well. And I think we didn't want to go too far either.

So it was kind of like a balance of what we all wanted to do. And I think we were looking at Egypt for a bit, but I we've been to Egypt a few times. Let's do something a bit different. So we kind of looked, looked on the Google maps as you do, just I see what, what country looks interesting. And then this one Oman popped up and I'm like, let's go here. And my sister, my sister, my sister, my brother-in-law and my parents had been before. And they said it was good. So I thought, and I hadn't been at all.

So I was like, actually quite, and the more I looked at them, I was like, actually quite allowed to go here.

Pretty incredible. Yeah. I think you've got a, yeah, yeah. We went for 10, no, it must've been 12 days actually in the end. Okay. I don't know if I, if you remember me telling you on on the hike, but we tried to wild camp in May and it's like 38 degrees. So like, we can't really tent here. We can't get cool. Um, but we, I think we done four or five days camping and then the rest of it was in guest houses and hotels, but the roads are great. It's super safe. it?

If you road trip, the petrol is super cheap. think was one of the cheapest in the world. So I think it can be expensive on hotels, but you do save money through that and they have like mega malls and good supermarkets. So, just the amount of waddies you can go and stay in and swim in, like in the middle of the desert, you find this like little oasis of a palm trees. There's loads of those type of activities and some islands. So overall, it's a great country to go and visit and travel into. And I think you'll love it.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it anyway.

Yeah, should be good. Okay, cool. Yeah. So, yeah, mine would be great. I'd love to delve into some previous travels actually, before we get stuck into Guatemala. where did travel initially come as an interest to you? Was it, family trips or was it a bit older maybe when you're in university, maybe when you're thinking about traveling around, like where did it come from?

big proper trip that we did where we actually did like multiple centers and it was in a completely different country. And I think any of your viewers know like going to Thailand is a very different place to go into anywhere in Europe. So if you go there for the first time, it's like, wow, this is a very different place. Very exciting. What's going on?

And it's just also so affordable. You know, can get around, accommodations really cheap, food is really good. I think that was the one thing that really impressed me on the first time I went to Thailand was just how nice the food was. All the curries, different types of curries that you can get, the pad thais and the dims, like all the different types of food. It's just really, really cool. And I think we did like a, we did a bit of a multi-sense. started in Bangkok, the classic tourist route, I guess.

was like Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and then down to Koh Samui, like the classic one. But it was just really, really nice. was really well organized, it really well. it just worked out really well. after that I like, I like, I'd to do more of this. Cause also at the time when I was like 18 as well, when I was thinking, you know, become more independent and all that sort of stuff. it just had, it just kind of came at the right time where I thought I'd like to do more of these sort of trips.

Ha

and these old rickety cars that, um, like some of them we went in where you could actually like see the floor straight through the car. And some people had taken like the chairs out or the car seats out of the car and I put the household furniture in. was just mad. I just remembered that. And they drive them like lunatics as well, like 60 or 70 miles an hour down these like roads. And I just remember the household furniture in the car. Like whenever they break the car, the furniture would like move slightly forward.

Any seat belts?

for a long run by for the taxi. yeah, think we did like quite a few, I mean, they were kind of memories that we had. So I guess things like that from my childhood probably were a little quite exciting at the time. That may have just like added like a bit of a foundation, but I think that probably the finer one was probably going to Thailand at the end of my kind of childhood years, I guess. yeah.

He's sort of traveled from there on and then joining Tui is obviously a great advantage as well, Because obviously he to travel and work in a travel company as well.

Exactly.

I think from them, from that point on, just, whenever it was in the uni summer holidays, I try and do some travel where I could. And then, you know, at that point I was kind of running out of money. So I was like, I probably need to get a job at some point because they're not cheap. And so from that point on, yeah, I got, I got like a few internship jobs in the summer, saved up some money. went with some friends after I finished uni to America. And then, yeah, just from that point on, I was just trying to do trips where I could. And then I think.

COVID, but I feel like it was COVID where it really flipped for me. Cause I think up to that point, had done, I started to do trips, more international trips, but they were mainly sort of either with my family or with some of my friends. But I think COVID was like the big year because that was the year when obviously everything was shut down. And that's when you kind of more appreciated going abroad to them in these places. suddenly they just could close the border. You can't go anywhere. You're like, oh, you really kind of miss it in some ways.

Um, so as soon as, as soon as the COVID was, was lifted, was kind of all for going to more places. And think that's where I started to try and do more solo trips. Cause I'd done maybe like weekends here and there by myself, but I'd never retaken the full plunge to say I'm going to go like away somewhere two weeks. I don't know anybody or three weeks, whatever, two weeks. And I don't know anybody there, but I think COVID was like the flipping point for me for that. was like, you know what? want to try and do more of that stuff. So.

That's when I started to do more of that. And whilst I was there, I was working for TUI. So I had the opportunity, fortunately, to sort of take these cheap flights. Cause I see so many of them and I'm like, it'll be fun to go. But I don't know who else I would go with. But as soon as the COVID happened, was like, screw it. I'm going to do it and see what happens. yeah, so that's kind of where I, that's where I started to do it properly. And after I done one or two, I was like, oh, actually.

I, is fine. Like, and as you, as you know, think we kind of met solo traveling as well. It's so easy to meet people and a lot of the fears and reservations that you might have about it are just not really grounded in reality. yeah, from that point on, was like, I can do this. then the more you do, the more you kind of get, work out what works, what doesn't work, what you like, what you don't like. And then, yeah, you just kind of go from there really. So.

Yeah. Cause the first time we met, which we'll go onto now with El Salvador, we'll touch on that and then go into Guatemala is that I think I had been on a day tour with people from your hostel. And we tried to crop the Santa Ana volcano in two days and we couldn't get up there. But I remember Chris who.

You may remember he's from Vancouver Island. He was telling me that you're like a bit of a solo travel superstar. You got your bike out, you went to the bike out, you're driving around everywhere, driving down to the beach. So he gave me this impression. Yeah, like obviously you're solo traveling, but you're very much getting involved with like booking a bike, go and see things on your own, which is quite cool. I think people love to hear that because they are apprehensive about doing that. Right. Especially in someone like El Salvador.

Yeah, I was definitely in that boat. So for the first few solo trips, I never used to anything. Well, I did rent a car with a friend. We went to Mexico and rented a car, but that was obviously with someone and it was different, but I'd never really rented like a motorbike or anything like that. The one trip I think that for me was one of the key things I was like, I need to learn how to ride like a motorbike was going to Laos because I just felt that that was a country that's just so difficult to go to.

If anyone who's ever been there knows, the are Yeah, the roads are crap, terrible. And a lot of the places that, especially if you go to the south of the country, if you want to go to these places, some of these cool places, you have to really ride a motorbike just to go to them. Cause there's no public transport. There's, you know, I was fortunate, I was able to get away of doing it through the hostel, but it's very limited when you go on these tours, these pre-packaged things, you don't necessarily go to see all the things you want to see.

And that was the point I was like, know what, really need to learn how to do it. So there was an opportunity that came up in a trip in Nicaragua and that's where I was like, I need to learn how to do it. And I went to one of these kind of bike places and I was just talking to them about, cause they, you know, they come up to you and be like, Oh, you know, you to, you should rent a bike. should rent a bike. I don't know. Let's see.

Beforehand, was like, oh, I'll see how I go when I get there. Maybe there's like a bus I can take around and just go and see the places by bus or something. That was kind of my original plan. And then when I got there and I was like, actually the bus, it doesn't really, it goes like once, like several times a day. It's not really a fixed schedule. It's not really great. And yeah. And that point I was like, okay, I'll go and speak to the rental people. And then I was speaking to them about it. I was like, yeah, well, I don't really know how to do it and everything. I'm like, oh, we'll show you. It's fine.

So that convinced me and they actually took me to this little field. They drove me around, they showed me how it worked. And then I think that gives you a lot more confidence. she got, had like almost like a lesson how to do it. Then it takes all like the takes a lot of the words away. And also it was a perfect place because it was really quiet. So you could, you could sort of make some errors here and there as driving along as you probably will do. As long as you don't make too catastrophic errors. Yeah.

Just a few times, yeah.

You drive about five miles an hour thinking like, is really fast. And yeah, you kind of drive along and see how it goes. And then as you, as you kind of do more of it, you go, okay. And then you go across the roads that little bit. No, no, it's good. And you think, I can manage that. It's like a incremental thing. You you start on a very smooth road, quiet. And then it gets a little bit harder. You a bit more traffic. You feel a bit nervous about it, but then you can get over that. And then there's like a rough path and then you get over that. And then as you do more and more, it's like.

Ha!

You just get better and better at it. Like again, like riding a bike and then to point where you feel a lot more confident about it. yeah, that's, that's, that's where I'm at now really having experiences like that. And then the Philippines was another example where you'll need a really a motorbike to get around. Cause it's just some of the places are just so far away from each other, no public transport. And as you, as you do more of it, you get more experience with it. Then it becomes less of a worry, but I think, yeah, my recommendation is definitely to try and.

seek out just going to a field or asking them if they can take you to a place just to show you how things work and give you like a proper lesson. Because I think a lot of the accidents happen with people that just have no experience and they, they just give these bikes to people. They don't know how to use them and they just go off and then like, cause it's really, it's really sensitive, the throttles they can just go off and they can like fall off and then yeah. So it's.

And people get, yeah, sometimes it goes the other way. If we'll get overconfident with them as well, they, yeah. Maybe like after three times, like, oh yeah, this is really easy.

release

That's what happened to me. had an automatic e-bike in the Emma and I thought, you can go in the back. Like I'll ride you in the back and I'll never do this again because of this experience. But we were driving between temples and began and it started to rain and the roads aren't paved. So they're kind of like hard gravel, which is okay. But then I think it switched to sand in an instant. I was like,

Oh God, I wasn't kind of expecting this. And then went left and right and stacked it to the left. like we both fell off. think we both got away with it. I was only going 10 miles an hour, but obviously if you and stack it on one side, the whole bike is on your left leg, for example, right? And her left left, left leg. then you do worry about, shit, like the, the window screen, not window screen, the mirror has kind of been flattened and it's like flapping at the end and like, oh, I've got to get charged for that. And then all these things go through your mind.

I think on the whole, think they do kind of be a bit, I don't know the word is, they're kind a bit loose of you. Like we took it back and I was like, oh yeah, we kind of fell over once and like, oh, don't worry about it. Are you okay? Yeah. And they saw the mirror was clearly looking like the other way. You had the mirror, it's like face that way.

I'm just imagining now like a mirror just completely bent twisted material.

Like, don't worry about it. So you did get away, but my friend crashed in Thailand and we're like scraping the bike, trying to make it look good. And we just about got away with that one as well. So there's been a few occasions, but you can't beat the freedom. I think it's the.

Yeah, think the freedom is the biggest one for it. again, it's because if you were to get, you know, you get one of these tuk tuk drivers to take you around for the day and then they'll charge you like an arm and a leg, based on their currency. They're always in a rush as well to take you to places. They just want to get it over and done with and they're always like trying to figure out a way to cut you short and stuff. And you always see you feeling like they're waiting around. just, there's that feeling of they're waiting for you.

And it puts a little bit, although you know, you're the customer and you're paying, so you can wait as long as like they say to you, like, you have to be back here in an hour. And even like 45 minutes, they're sort of hanging around the car or the tuk-tuk and you're like feeling a bit of pressure to go. And you know, you might not be influenced by that, guess, but it's just that it sort of puts pressure on you that, I want to go. You feel like you have to go now and you might not want to go.

Or if you might find something that's interesting and you want to stay a bit longer, you've got the ability to do that.

problem with India, which you might find out is that they always seem to like try and rip you off. And it is a really, it gets tiresome after a while. The first few times are fine. Like, but then you start saying that I just want to go from here to there. No shop, no restaurant in between. It's literally a 10 minute journey. just need that. And that becomes a chore sometimes, but what's changed in India is Uber. And why that's changed is because Uber is now as cheap as a rickshaw. So if you're not sure on price, what people would do is they put the journey in Uber.

get the price so they know what the price is first. Maybe, maybe you're going to speak to a rickshaw driver and ask, can you take me from here to there and see what price they give? And because they don't leave you alone that well, like you have to like really like walk away and ignore them. A lot of people just show the price of Uber and say, well, it's the price on here. Can you match it? If not, I'll just get an Uber and just press like book an Uber. I think it's different in India now because they have that. Whereas before when I went, it was just

A chore every day trying to find someone to take you somewhere and not try and rip you off.

Yeah, I can imagine. Yeah.

Part of fun for you, don't it?

Yeah, I've had some experience of that. They'll and rip you off and yeah, well they'll pretend that they haven't heard what you said. I had that in the Philippines. There was a guy who trying to charge me to go to this site and I think I wanted to go to two sites. One was like this sort of, it was weird. It was like a prison you could go to and you could actually go around it and speak to the people in the prison.

And then it was like a crocodile place, like a crocodile farm. Not farm, crocodile like a tourist attraction. Sounds quite dodgy actually. But it's like a zoo. It's a little like a zoo, but I think they were keeping them in relatively well conditions, they were like, it was like a attraction, I guess, in that sense. And it was like a recommended thing. So I did the two and I...

He gave me a price and I thought that sounds like really good price. And I said, are you sure that's for this and this? And he's like, yes, yes. I was like, are you sure this and this? And he said, yes, I'm back. Yes. He's like, okay, that's great. And then, so we got to the first place and then he was going to try and take me back. I was like, no, no, we go to the other place now. And he was like, and then we had this massive argument. And then we got to the prison and then he was like, game going back to that thing. He was just always.

trying to, waiting around, he's like, we want to go now, we want to go now. And he was like, yeah. So I've had some of that experience, I've heard India is relentless. So we'll have to see how my patience goes there.

I think it's part of the fun. think it's what people would say. yeah, I wish you luck. And what do you, before we get to Guatemala, what do you make of El Salvador as quickly as a place to travel?

Oh yeah, I liked it. actually, one of the reasons I picked it was because I saw all this stuff on the news about it becoming very safe. Cause it was used to be the murder capital of the world. And then it became, there's now this narrated like the safest country in the Western hemisphere. According to the officials there, I think it's probably true, but I don't know. Yeah, it was in a couple of years as well. So, and a lot, I saw more people going there and I thought, you know what, I think it'd be interesting to go. Southern Guatemala is a place that always kind of.

Yeah!

Turn around that is. Yeah.

been interested in going to as well. I thought try and combine the two. But yeah, I enjoyed El Salvador. was nice. think it was, we got lucky with the weather, think, there, unfortunately, at that time. think you and I experienced that. There was this tropical storm that hit sort of in around Honduras that brought, although it wasn't stormy weather, it brought a lot of rain to the region. So, and it wasn't just the thunderstorm, one hour shower and then we're done. It was drizzle pretty much, not more the drizzle actually. It was more like light rain.

for the whole day. It was almost like I was back in the UK. I'm not really a big social media person who posts loads of stuff on social media, but I did post a story when I arrived saying, I've just traveled halfway around the world, 24 hours for British summer weather, 21 degrees, overcast and just rain the whole time.

Yeah, that, that there was a day where it's completely relentless. Like it wouldn't stop. And that's a day I picked my free walking tour in Santa Ana and we were absolutely soaked and we carried on anyway, cause we felt bad cause I was the three and you want to tip the guys. But there was one point where even she went, look, this is relentless. This is go to a calf, which is on the tour. We stayed in this calf like two hours. Cause what do you do? Cause it's like, even, even the umbrellas don't really keep you that

dry and I was completely soaked and we went to the cafe Caddack. don't know if you went there in Santa Ana, it's the one where you knock on the door and you go in. Okay, they had aircon, which in normal times in El Salvador was a godsend because my room didn't have aircon in my hostel and it was like warm every day. But on this day it was not needed because you're soaking wet and you're like kind of shivering in this aircon cold room. I'm Oh my God, this is horrendous.

But like we sat in there for two hours and got dry eventually and then back out into the rain. But yeah, there was one day where it just wouldn't stop. It was like a complete write off.

Yeah. Yeah.

I think that was maybe the day. Yeah. That was the day before. I that was the day I traveled up to San, or one of the days I traveled up to Santorana, but I did notice generally it was the mornings. was like drizzly, like maybe no rain or drizzly. And then the afternoons, it would be heavy. I started to notice that pattern. So I tried to do as much as I can in the mornings. And then when the rain just got too much, I was like,

I'm finished for today. It usually was about two or three. I'm like, I'm done now. I can't do this anymore. Cause you're walking around with this umbrella and your feet get completely soaked and it's just not very, not very fun. But generally overall, was, I thought it was nice. I didn't get to go to the beach, unfortunately. So I did San Salvador. spent maybe two nights there and then I went up to Santa Ana for the rest of the time. And then I went into Guatemala from there. So yeah, I did, I did this and there's a national park.

No, it's not.

near San Salvador, which is quite nice. It's like a volcano crater you can go to. And there's a picnic steakhouse. Did you go to that with the slide?

I know. Do you know what someone?

It was one of the walking tour guides recommended this is coming on there. One of my interviews I've got with him. Yeah. Yeah. But I didn't go. No. Yeah.

It

was interesting. I don't know if I'd recommend it. When I went, was obviously, I think, you it's nice. It's probably got great views, but I went, it was just clouds. couldn't see anything. And the thing which was funny about it was that on the slide on the way down, they put these penguins and stuff. So felt like you were in some sort of winter wonderland.

Hang on, real life penguins?

No, not in real life. They were like decoration. They put like penguins on the side because the picnic steakhouse is like a restaurant on this hilltop. We've supposedly got good views and they built this slide, a really steep slide that you can go down. It's like on a donut and you sit on the donut and you get pushed down. And I think in usual times it's quite nice, but it was when it was completely overcast.

And it's of drizzling with rain. It's not the best experience. I just thought it was funny when the decorations, because when I saw it on social media and everything, it looked very different to in real life. think they may have redesigned or repainted it. They painted it, when I saw it on social media, it was like a checkered color and it was very different. But when I saw it in real life, it looked like some sort of ski slope that they built.

What is their obsession with building winter wonderland stuff? Cause I was about to kick off because in San Salvador, you might've seen the building works for an ice rink. was like, you're trying to build an ice rink in 30 degrees. That's going to be like a swimming pool. I don't know how you're going to get around that one. And then when you said they've got penguins on the side, I'm like, Oh my God, they've imported penguins to make this winter wonderland again.

want the cold weather, they? think they're fine. They're just too hot for most of the air. They probably like that storm, the Caine. Four days of just drizzling rain. This is great.

I was absolutely pissed off because I think we said at the start, I tried to go up to Santa Ana volcano twice and I was done by the rain slash wind. Just couldn't go up. And, uh, I was getting pretty peed off for the rain at that point. Cause I picked November because I thought it wouldn't rain.

And I think actually that's, if there's one tip like we've maybe provided to the listeners, would be that don't go in November. All the stuff online, it says the dry season starts in November. I don't believe that. I think you might get some dry weather in November if you're lucky, but I think December, would recommend from December onwards is. Yeah. It's not. Cause I think when, when, when we left towards the end of November, the weather was really nice. It was starting to get sunny and it was really warm. That's probably the time to go.

100 %

I think November is still a bit stormy, but yeah. I just found like, think this is the thing I found with El Salvador was that it was trying to become a tourist attraction, but it wasn't quite there. I don't know if you found that. It was very nice, but I just found that in some areas it was like, you know, 80%. So was like when we went up the Santa Ana volcano, we couldn't get to the top. there was that miscommunication where they said it's open and then you go and then it's like, it's not open.

Yeah, there's literally police at the top with walkie talkies, 10 units not open. Yeah.

And then when you go, you go and then you hear people say like, you know, you can't actually go up without a guide. And then the guides, like there's no public guides available and the only ones available are private guides. And then I went there and then I was able to find a public guide and go straight up. So it was like, there are, yeah, there's just a few things there. And I think also San Salvador, it's, it's like, you could, you could tell at the center of square is nice. But then when you go like one street.

beyond it, you're like, okay, this is very, like, it's just very different. It's like a market and it's very different. can, you could really tell that that's probably what it was like before. I don't think it's a fault of the country or anything. think they're obviously trying to develop it, but you can, you can tell what they're trying to change into something and trying to create attractions. And it probably hasn't got quite enough there for maybe two weeks or something. think if you did two weeks, you did two weeks, you though? But yeah.

12 days.

You managed to do it, but I personally found that after maybe like 10 days or so, I would maybe run out of some things to do. It's not like Guatemala or Nicaragua where there's quite a lot of sites and volcanoes and things you can see. found that there were probably just a few nice things, but I wouldn't say there was anything that really stood out as outstanding. don't know if you'll agree with me or not on that one, but.

Yeah, I think I'll say 12 days and I think two of those days were either transit or because I needed an extra day because of the rain. So I think in reality it was a 10 day trip. I think that's long enough. And my feelings are you're right. They're not quite built for tourism yet and they're working towards that, which is great because it feels like a new country. And because they had like civil war gangs and now it's like super safe and Buckelo is kind of put in prison all the gang members and stuff. I think.

They had to do it in order, right? They're like, well, we need to the gangs out first. We'll get that sorted. And then he needs to win a reelection this last year, which he, which he did 84%. Maybe believe that or not, it's a different matter. But then they're like, okay, well, what's next? Well, we need to make the country better in terms of incomes. I think now is like the tourism period. So I think it's a really interesting time to go. Cause I think you're going to see, like we saw lots of building works going on. Center of San Salvador is nice and new, but yeah, you go out to the markets on the edge of that and it's

what I would consider like the real local San Salvador experience, if you like. And then, yeah, like Santa Ana volcano, for example, I went twice because I tried to go up there twice on the first time. Even the local who has taken us in the van, he's local, he's driving us up there. Even he couldn't believe it wasn't open when we got there. So he was making a few calls and obviously there's no communication from the ministry that it's closed. So that these sort of things do happen there, which is not like bad things. It's just like they're getting used to.

Tourism going up.

I

would say it was a bash on El Salvador. I think it will take time for it to develop. I think that's maybe why they're doing all the winter work. They're trying to create attractions for people to come in some ways. yeah, I think it's a nice place to come for like a week or 10 days as a kind pass through country in that region. think it's really good for that.

Okay, so we left Santa Ana on a shuttle bus to Antigua. And I'll come to Antigua in a minute, but the main bulk of this episode I think is worth talking about is the Akitenengo Volcano Hike, which is quite a well-known hike if you search on Google, but it's one of the most accessible active volcano hikes in the world. And we decided to book this tour through a hostel. So I want to go over some stuff for this hike that I think we should share with the audience. So first of all, booking the hike, we actually decided to book through

your hostel, central hostel. What's your reflections and thoughts on that?

I put my name on the waitlist. Yeah. Yeah. That might give you a clue as to what's coming up.

professional tour.

Yeah. And I hadn't done that preparation. So I literally turned up. Well, like what I, this should have been a red flag in hindsight. I, I messaged the, um, the hostel. I could be a couple of days before I was due to arrive saying, I like to do this volcano hike. How does it work? Do I need to book in advance? Cause I knew I had very limited time to actually do it. I didn't want to turn up and then have no, no possibility of doing it. So I kind of messaged them a couple of days before.

Cause I usually book locally anyway. don't usually book too far in advance cause I find the local ones usually get a better price and think better value. So that was kind of my thinking from my previous trips I've done. So that was kind of my, my thinking about it, but I messaged them about it and said, do we need to book before? And I said, no, they said, no, no, you don't need to worry about that. And I said, okay. And it said to me, I said, you know, is it, is it going to be spaces that are going to fill up like quite soon? And so you don't need to worry about that. There's always availability for this too.

And let's contrast that with my experience where I got advice from a Guatemalan tour guide. So this is like a local to Antigua. He's like, Oh yeah, you should go with these guys because they're top notch, they're professional, slightly more expensive, but you should go with them. So I think the first off the bat is, you know, take your advice wisely from locals. So I, yeah, what I did is I contacted this tour company and they were sold out for like a month.

So I put my name on a wait list, which I think there's an opportunity on the Tuesday or Wednesday that were there for me to join them. But I didn't book on, but I was there on the wait list. So we've got this contrast here of your experience of like, yeah, you can go anytime. Where in my mind I was thinking, no, we missed the boat. This is all booked out. yeah, that was the...

worried

about you seeing us. was thinking, oh, it's fine. And that's how I usually do it. just contact the hostel and pay some stay. usually they're okay. They're decent. Cause I've had some good tours through hostels before. I thought, this is going to be just another one. It was a well-reviewed one on booking.com as well. So maybe a bit high. Some maybe reviews I'm not sure.

Yeah, it'd have been paid CIDA, think.

Yeah, but it was, yeah, it was an interesting experience. I'm sure we'll get into the detail of it, but yeah.

Yeah, so we booked with Central Hostel and I think the price, what was the price? 40 US dollars.

Yeah. So what's that? Yeah. 300 Kwanzaa less.

Yeah, so about 40 to 50, 40 to 45 US dollars, I think something like that. Whereas again, in contrast to what I wanted to book originally is a hundred dollars. So there's double the price. Um, and the costs included, which is only 30 to 40 pounds, I guess, or 45 US dollars. This included transport there and back, uh, all the costs involved in hiking up the volcano, accommodation, food, and a three liter bottle of water.

and some coats and lunch. Is that about right?

That's about right. Yeah. You had to pay extra if you wanted a walking stick there. remember that. wasn't really a walking stick. was this, it was this, I think they literally just took a piece of wood from the shrub or something. They painted it white and they had all a stack of them and they were like, yeah, it's a pound or whatever, two or three dollars for this stick that you can have for the trip.

yeah, which I...

Yeah, I £10 for that.

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and TikTok. Simply just search for Winging It Travel Podcast and you'll find me displaying all my social media content for traveling, podcast and other stuff. Thank you. The first couple of red flags for me was that we jumped in the minibus. They picked us up. Pretty much already full I think. We managed to find a seat on the bus and the guy who picked us up didn't speak English. So okay, fair enough. He might be just transporting. That's okay.

And then he started asking us questions if we want coats. Now for me, I knew it was going to be cold because we packed the warm weather gear in our bags. I was like, Oh, do we need it or not? Like, I think he should be telling us that we need the coat. He started asking us, do we want coats? We're like, Oh, I think so. We don't know. Yeah. And he got, I think he got bit arty with us like, cause no one was answering really. And so he sort of shoved the coats in the van and then he gave us all lunch, which was okay. Like he, which was cooked and gave us all lunch. And then.

Do you want them on that? Yeah.

The red flag for me was instantly was the three liter bottle of water. This might sound a bit, not even that important, but I assumed that three liters bottle of water would be like individual bottles, like one liter each. But actually they gave us a three liter bottle of water.

It was massive. It so big. It was absolutely huge. And then you didn't have enough space to put it in your bag. was like... Yeah.

no space.

think everyone's reaction was like, what do we do with this bottle of water? Cause we have no space in our bags. Like it's kind of the running joke for like about 15 minutes on the bus, right? Cause we all just like trying to carry this three liter bottle water onto our seats. And then I started analyzing my own bags. I don't have space for this. And luckily I bought, I think I bought one liter with me, but I was like, what, what do I do? Cause they also say in the brief that

This was used for your own cooking, which was a bit confusing, wasn't it? Yeah.

That was right. We never actually use it for any cooking, did we? All the meals were prepared anyway in the camp. So was like, I was expecting there'd be like some sort of campfire and then we'd need to like put it as makes some sort of soup or something. What they were going to do with that. but the other thing about that was that they gave, they literally, the guy had, it's almost like the guy had all this stuff in this shop that he had like for this trip. And he was like, I have my responsibility is just to give all this stuff to the people on the bus. So he just literally said, God, I'm giving coats.

Three middle of the water, lunch. He literally just gave it all of this stuff at once. So we literally, the people just had all this stuff in their hands. Just cooked lunch, three middle of the coat, gloves, then, do you need a hat? Just throw that in as well. It was just, yeah, it's crazy. It's usually they give it to you as you go along. Like that's why these things sometimes they give you like the bottle, like a one liter for now, then you've got another two liters later or.

It's chaos, isn't it? Yeah.

They'll have, you know, you'll have something else like the food, the lunch, they'll give you later when you need it, but it was almost like giving us all the stuff beforehand.

Yeah. And it wasn't clear for us to leave space in our bags for this. Well, I didn't find it clear. I thought it might be just giving to you as you go. I don't even know what I was thinking, but I didn't think I'd need to leave space in my own bag to put stuff extra in there, which was the case, which then brings us onto when we first arrived into like the, I guess it's like their base, if you like, their little house area.

we all started to analyze our equipment and I realized, I can't fit this in. So I had to buy an extra bag from them. And I think what literally happened is I said, I need the bag. The group who went up before literally just came back and sat down. He went straight over there, picked up the bag that they borrowed, like dusted it off a little bit and gave it straight to me. Okay. You didn't see that. Yeah. And as I need some walking poles and like you said, there's like wooden poles they got from the forest, take them white. And this costs an extra like, I don't know, $10 or something.

Yeah, I know. He looking at us,

I don't know what to go to the toilet and they charge five dollars, five dollars, probably a couple of dollars for that. I was like, okay. Um, and then the real big red flag for me, I don't know if you agree with this, when we're sort of like getting everything sorted and we're sitting there, was that the three guys that we had asked if someone in our group could speak English because they need to translate.

They didn't have any English speakers. Yeah, that was bad. They had to try to get some lady, it, from one of the customers to come up and then do like become an interpreter with all. And even she made a call and be like, I'm hoping I'm being paid for this.

Great.

I think she's one of the French ladies, I think. Yeah.

Emily was perfect. She was very good at the interpretation. It was just funny. It happened to any English speakers. They just thought, I'll just get a customer to talk it through.

So what are you thinking at this point where we've been picked up, we've got the equipment kind of sorted, we're sitting there, I guess we're kind of waiting for them to say, let's go. What were your first thoughts, impressions before we headed off onto the hike?

thought it was a little bit, I didn't have as many red flags as you maybe. I've definitely seen worse than that. I definitely felt like on the bus on the way up, with them handing all this stuff to us and there's no communication as to what we're supposed to do with their like, was this lunch? Was this breakfast? Or what was this meal? They were giving us right now nothing. And all this coats, all this three liters of water. It was like that, all that communication stuff.

Like a yellow flag, I guess. Yeah. And then when we got to the, but I didn't, I didn't have any like major issues with the translation, I guess, thing, but yeah, I didn't, then the other thing really like that wasn't probably the biggest red flag for me. The biggest red flag came Fuego later, which I'm sure we'll. But that so far, I didn't notice anything that was totally off, maybe just a little bit, a little bit disorganized, but nothing too bad.

flag, okay?

We'll come to that. Yeah.

Maybe that's fair. Maybe red flags for me are a bit harsh. think, okay, let's reduce my red flags. I think that all yellow flags, apart from I do have one red flag and that is the communication aspect. think that was definitely a red flag. I think maybe the three liter water bottle and the extra stuff that we couldn't pack is more of an annoyance. I was probably more annoyed. Like, why didn't you just tell us, like, we needed extra space for this. But I knew, I think I knew.

Cause I asked the day before at your hostel, said, can we buy sticks when we get there? Like, yeah, we've got equipment up there. So I knew in back of my head that we could buy maybe a bag or an extra equipment. So I wasn't totally worried. but when I started to realize that they can't speak English, was like, okay, that's going to be interesting. Yeah. And before we actually crack on with the hike, I think we should tell people what this volcano is, right? So we were hiking up.

Akitenengo volcano stands just under 4,000 meters. And essentially the hike is you walk up four to five to six hours, pretty much constantly uphill at the base camp. And you sit there all night looking at this active volcano kind of kicking off in the day. And then as it turns to night, it's quite a spectacle really is amazing. Really, we think about it. And then you have an optional extra to do an extra hike on top of that to Fuego, which is.

what you see from your base camp and you can get closer to it, which we'll come to in a minute, which you can decide as you walk up. So we'll come to that in a second. Is there anything you want to add to the facts there?

I think that's a very good summary. think the only thing I would maybe add is that it's probably one of the very few volcanoes you can actually climb. Like you can actually see erupting in the world. Cause a lot of volcanoes you can climb, they put like health and safety restrictions on to say you can't, if it's, if it's erupted very recently, don't let you climb it at all. But it's just one of the few places you can actually go up and see an erupting volcano. it's, think that's one of the key draws to it is you, because it's so active that it erupts every

20 minutes. it means that the eruptions, because it's every 20 minutes, know how much is going to erupt. So it sounds really dangerous, like, I'm going up this rock. You know, it's really erupting a lot, but in actual fact, because it's erupting every 20 minutes, you know how much is going to erupt and they can control for that. And they take you to places that are safe distance. yeah.

Yeah. Okay. And the hike itself. So as I said before, I think it's about four to five hours up. I knew it'd be tough because I had my physio here. She's completed it and I was getting physio because I was like, I was worried about my hip kicking off because I was going to hiking for five hours, which it didn't kick off in the end. It was fixed. But the hike was actually pretty tough. found, think the ground you're hiking on is volcanic. So it's not quite as sturdy as you might think, a bit slippery. And all I remember from the first

maybe half an hour to hour was getting used to it. It's quite hot at that point because we're kind of in altitude and we got to the first stop and the dog nixed my bread, which was a bit of a devastating start for my lunch. But as you find the first few hours, what was your impression?

I think it was quite hard. think the hardest bit was the ground, as you said. It's the fact that the gravel is so loose that you just feel like you're slipping all the time when you're walking up. That was the hardest thing. You really need a...

was meant to bring like hiking shoes with me and I've completely forgot. soon as I got to Antigua, was like, no, I haven't got hiking shoes. I was like, I can't go buy another set abroad for this hike. And I watched loads of videos before people doing it and I saw people like walking it in like trainers and other shoes. I thought if they could do it, it's probably not too bad. I mean, you can do it in those shoes, I think, but it's, I definitely would recommend.

proper hiking, because otherwise you're just going to slip everywhere. It just takes you 10 times as long to do everything. But I think the hardest thing was actually the gravel on the ground. That was the hardest thing, especially coming down, but going up. And it was quite steep in some parts as well. It's not really easy to do. It definitely takes some physical endurance to get up there for sure.

It's quite relentless, isn't it? I do seem to call it as constantly uphill. mean, when people say uphill, you might think, I don't know, 20 minutes uphill, then it might be like a five minute break where you kind of go level. But this I felt like was constantly going up, up and up. And that was really difficult on the, on the kind of calves and the thighs really, cause the ground wasn't that hard. And what annoyed me even more on the hike, I'm not a great hiker, so I will moan a lot, but it was that group who were kind of hiking with us and they kept singing that song. was like, can you stop singing?

that same song. don't even remember that. I don't even remember how it goes, but I was like, every time we sort of cut with them, was like, oh yeah, that song was kicking off again. I was like, oh, stop singing it.

Yes. I think I was just trying to get out. was like zoning out. But yeah, you're right. It was just very much quite uphill and yeah, just going off and off and off. And I think the steps as well, like they tried to put steps in some points. They didn't really 100 % work. So they just ended up giving up. was like they, can't do steps for maybe like a few meters and they just gave up. That's too much.

Yeah, yeah!

Okay.

Yeah, I'll come to those steps in a minute on the way back down because there's a few incidents on the way down. Yeah. We stopped off for breaks quite regularly, which was needed, right? I do seem to recall it was every, I don't know, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, something like that.

I felt like the, yeah, you're right. think the first, it seemed to do more breaks, which didn't really make sense. It did more breaks at the start. Yeah. Then when it got further up, was almost like there were fewer breaks. So I felt like it was, I don't know, that was my perception of it in a way.

that they could have done fewer at the start and then more later on. Cause like at the start you're like, you obviously got more energy so you can go through. And then when you get a bit further up and maybe you can then stop more frequently going to go up. But yeah, I just found that that was my experience of a little bit. They, they seem to be more at the start and then it just sort of, were periods where they were quite a long time with no break, maybe like an hour or an hour and a bit. that was, that bit was quite hard, especially when it was going uphill.

Yeah. So that was, that was the heart. And then it got to that bit where they had the cars as well. So I didn't have to do that on purpose. They sort of make some breaks, you in slowly. And then they just have this really long bit. And then they put a car and say, yeah, you can buy this extra like trip on the car up. And it's a really long way to the next breaking point.

And I do speak like basic Spanish, so I'm like, okay, I can understand some stuff. But when he said a car, I'm like, what? We're talking about a car. I was like, he must be saying something else. And he's like, no, a car. I'm like, where does a car come from? Cause we just literally came up the trail and it's barely enough for people walking side by side, letting know in a car coming up. And then when he gets to that point, you realize there's another trail coming from the left. So it must be the trail that goes down to the village.

and literally there were pickup trucks on offer. I think, were they £50 or something? I think they're on offer.

I don't know how much they were, but they weren't cheap. There were a few people that did it and it wasn't worth it at all because they go up maybe, it didn't even go right to the top. It probably just went for maybe 10 minutes or something drive and then you still had to climb the rest of the way.

So the key, the key tip here is I think when we're approaching this point, we heard rumors that there was a flat bit coming up, which is like just before base camp. I didn't really want to believe it because I don't want to get my hopes up, but I was like, ah, in the back of mind, there might be a flat part where you can sort of get to the top and you sort of walk along and go to the base camp and the car takes you from the point where they're parked to that point. So that is true. There is a flat point at the top, but that point between where they offer the car.

to the start of that point must be 10 minutes, I don't know, five or 10 minute drive. And I think it costs 500 quetzales, I think. So I think it was like 50 quid for a five, 10 minute ride. And I think if you would have paid it and fought them for it and then told us get out, not at the top, I think I would have been pissed off. think I would have been pretty.

It wasn't long at all.

Yeah, definitely. But maybe when you got to the flat point, you're like, this is not too, you made me deceive. You're like, I'm near the top now. It's just around the corner here. But it went flat for a bit. And then there was another bit, wasn't it, afterwards that was like half an hour. That was the killer, like right at the end. But the flat bit was nice actually. That was, cause it has some really good views that you can walk along and you saw like different volcanoes on your left-hand side as well. And yeah, that was really incredible.

That was nice.

Yeah, we had good weather at that point. So the clear sky, we saw views all around. I do also want to say at this point, I do remember walking up the two young girls, they from Denmark or Germany? yeah. Denmark. They were struggling a little bit. I seemed to call like their faces like, oh, yeah, that sort of sighing hiking. Cause it's quite hard, right? Yeah. was like, they'll make it. But I thought they were struggling, but I'll come to those in a bit. Cause they unbelievably went with you to Fuego. yeah.

Yeah. So we get to the flat point. think at that point I'm done with uphill, but it's quite an achievement we make at that point. And I don't think you get to enjoy that much because you do need, you kind of need to hike up and up and up and to that point. But that 45 minute walk to base camp was lovely. Like you say, volcanoes on the left, we can start seeing what we're going to see at night. And it was just a nice ease into the next part, which was the extremely uphill, slippery part of getting to the camp. And I thought this is actually quite stressful.

trying to get to the campsite. don't know what you thought because you couldn't grip anywhere and you couldn't actually, you couldn't hold yourself up. I had sticks which were crucial on the hike, but even they weren't doing too much because it's that steep and I was like, ah, do I hold onto this rock? I don't know where to go. There's no real directions.

It's almost a bit like you've got sand on the beach that was like, and you're having to walk up this sand and it's really steep and it's like, you just don't have any grip at all on your shoes. So you're literally just sliding everywhere. You're trying to find whatever you can hold onto to go up. Yeah. was, yeah, it was not, was like, and that was like the last bit as well. So you could see like the camp right at the top. I'm almost there, but it takes another five, 10 minutes probably to go like a couple of hundred meters. You're like, oh, I'll try and get up.

But as soon as we made it to the top, it was worth it 100 % because the views are incredible. When you start to see and hear the volcano erupt, right? That was pretty incredible as well.

It was worth it.

Yeah,

that's cool. think it was like the flat bit going around the corner. I it's when you started, maybe started to see it. And then when you got to the top with a base camp, that's where it really, you got an amazing view. A hundred percent. Yeah. That was really cool. Yeah.

Yeah.

And then I started to worry that it wouldn't erupt again. So I was like trying to get videos, but actually it does erupt every 15, 20 minutes. So no need to worry or panic when you get up there. I think we, as a group, we kind of just sat there on those benches and just kind of admired the views. And I kind of felt like a sense of achievement. That was like probably my number one aim or thing of the trip that I was on for a month. So I felt like, ah, I've made it. I was worried about my hip that survived and I survived the four or five uphill, five hours uphill, which was pretty, uh,

Pretty good for me, I think.

Yeah, no, was really good. I had an issue with my back as well. So I was like, yeah, I'm not trying not to take it. I was like trying to walk up and make sure I don't like pull anything. I felt like go a little bit like, you know, twist twang a little bit at some points. was like, it's probably similar to you. I was like, I'm so happy I got here in one piece. I can still walk. I'm not stranded on the side of this volcano. So that was an achievement. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

And then the next red flag for me, which is definitely a red flag, is they said, okay, so you need to go and choose your, or not choose your accommodation, but go and see it or put your bags down on your accommodation. Now at this point, I thought, I thought we would have cabins that maybe were like five or six of them, they house three to five people each. That's what I thought we were going to be in. That's probably based on what I was booking from the professional tour company that I didn't go with.

but what actually occurred was there's this big queue and like, why are we queuing up? I think you might've asked that question. And I was like, Hey, I don't really know. Then we walked into the accommodation building and what that was, was two very big bunk beds and one small bed by the door, which I managed to claim in the end. But effectively what you're sleeping in is one bed next to random people on your hike. And there's no real space to fit everyone in. don't think I sort of realized early doors that.

I don't think you can fit 15 people in these two beds.

looked

like a shed. It was basically a shed on the side of a volcano. The two sheds. And they just put a floor down with mattresses, with foam, on two levels. And then that was the accommodation. was it. And then a toilet outside.

I was slightly fuming at this point. was like, I just want a nice, fair, I'm not expecting the ritz, but like just a nice little comfortable bed just to sit on and relax. I felt like, especially on the top bunk, you couldn't really relax because you have to climb up and then your bags got stayed down. it was just a, yeah. So I quickly claimed the bed by the door, which I knew would be good because I could sit on it, but not so good because people got to climb on it to get up to the bunk. also there's a gap in the wall.

other people.

of the shed. So I knew there was going to be a draft at night, but I sort of accepted that. But you mentioned the toilet. Now I have seen in my time, some bad toilets, whether that's at festivals, campsites or just areas of the world where we travel where it's not been so good, but this was a different level. Yeah. There's one toilet, right? think.

There were two, I did find a second one but it was exactly the same. I went searching for another one, one, it must be a better one than this one and it turned out there wasn't, it was exactly the same.

This was absolutely disgusting, wasn't it?

Yeah. It was basically, I won't go into too much detail, literally once just a hole in the ground, like a toilet seat and a hole in the ground. was it. No flush. Cause that's the crazy thing. I've done some of these ones in the Philippines, for example, I've done similar things where you have a toilet and they'll help. They'll give you like a bucket, which, cause obviously you have a flushing system. It might not have that in the middle of a jungle, which makes sense, but they'll give you like a bucket of water and then you then flush that way. Yeah. They didn't even have that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

it was literally just a hole and that was it. And then it was just horrendous. so I didn't end up using it. think I just went off into the bushes and then that was it. To go into, to go into that was like, yeah, I felt a bit sorry for the woman actually, cause they were sitting out to use it. was like,

Oh yeah. Yeah. That's not good too much in the detail, but sitting on the toilet wouldn't have been advisable based on what I saw. So I didn't use it because I thought, oh yeah, I'll go into bushes and that'll be fine. But yeah, if you're a woman, it's a nightmare. But if you needed a number two, that's also a nightmare. And I think I had to trade my mind to not think about that and, and try and save it for when we get back down the next day. Cause that was different level. Yeah. Great. So at this point we're kind of settled in.

Yeah.

amazing views, the volcanoes kicking off, getting photos and videos. But as we mentioned earlier, there is an opportunity to go and do an extra hike to Fuego, which is the volcanic volcano that's kicking off. And what you do is effectively put your hand up and pay when you get up there and you decide, because obviously you might be too tired. And I think out of the group, would you say 75 % said, yeah.

I was trying to think about this earlier. It probably was like a majority. mean, because you stayed back. Yes. So you had probably a good feel for the number of people.

I think so.

I think it was six or seven of us. Yeah. So I feel like it was less than half.

Yeah. Okay. I think it makes sense that I think the majority of them did actually end up doing it.

Talk us through the process and obviously, because I've decided no at this point, I'm just sitting there on the bench, kind of just monging out, looking at the volcano, taking photos and maybe chatting to people who not interested. so I wasn't really involved in the commotion, but yeah, just talk us through what happens.

Yes, I had, I wasn't originally going to plan to do it either because I'd heard all these rumors, I think like you did that it was not worth doing. even the guy in the hostel, the central hostel that we were staying at, even like one of the staff members told me privately, it's like, yeah, it's not worth doing. So I was kind of in my mind was thinking, I'm not going to do this. But then we spoke to those Norwegian girls actually on the bus on the way up and they were saying something completely different and on the hike as well, they were saying something completely different.

saying it, you you get a different view of the volcano. They'd been sold a story that this was the best thing, do you have to do this hike? And I was in two minds about it. there was a part of me that thought, I don't know, because I've heard so many from so many people that it wasn't worth doing. But then there was also part of me thinking, if they're right, then I would might miss something. And there was that obviously that niggling doubt that I just thought.

Whilst I'm here, might as well do it and then I'll know for sure if you know what I mean? Yeah. And I didn't, at the time that I did, by the time I did that hike, I still felt I had the energy to do another hike. So I was like, I could do it. That wasn't my concern. It was more just whether it was worth like the money to do it. So I was like, okay, I'll do it. And that was kind of the decision making process.

I think a few other people decided to do it. There were a couple of other people in our group that were really keen hikers. They were really fast. I think they got the camp hours before us probably. They were super fast and super fit, super fast. They were obviously in on it 100%. Then there were probably people in the middle, guess, people like myself. Then there were the two Norwegian girls and then Ethan Deguy who... Yes.

was the American guy. So he, I think they, he decided to do it. I think the two Norwegian girls were not Norwegian, sorry. The two Danish girls, were kind of, I didn't think they were going to do it. And then suddenly they made a decision that we're going to do. I'm really surprised. Like, really? was like, learning the whole way up. I was like, why now you decided to come? was like, just suddenly the switch. I just think in my head, I was like, I think they're going to come to regret this.

I can't it.

just like.

I didn't say anything. was like, that's their decision and that's what they want to do

Yeah, just quickly. reacted like in disbelief. I, do you know what? Fair play. And they started to walk off maybe and I was like, Oh, do you want my sticks? They're like, Oh yeah, we might need them. I'm like, you don't even think about that. Like you might need some sticks to help you up. So yeah, I offered my sticks cause I think they had a pair between them. So now had a pair each. Yeah. And I sort of waved them off with my sticks. And I Oh, good luck with that. Yeah.

So that's, so that's where I started and then so as soon as we paid the money, I don't actually have all the money to do it. And so I had to think of borrow some money from you. So I ended up paying, to pay, them for the hike through your health. then we started off as soon as we started, as soon as they took the money, they literally were like, right, we're off.

How much was it? 200 I think, wasn't it extra?

Was it? Yeah, I think it was, yeah, it was 200. That's right. 300 was the normal one. 200 was yeah. So 200, which is what like 20 pounds or 30, $40 or something. Yeah. So we, we, paid that money. Then they, the group that were really fast when they ran off with the guide and we were like trying to chase after them basically. Because we had to go down the bit that we just come up and going down is much slower, much harder going because it's really slippy. It's almost easier going up when it's really slippery.

that gravelly surface and it's going down, it's much harder, much slower. So we had to go down really, really slowly to go down. And the way that the kind of is designed, so it's like you've got Akitanango volcano, which is adjacent to the Fuego, but in order to get to Fuego, you have to go down to then come up again. so we had to go down and it was at that point, it was what about 5 PM or something. the light was starting to go. And bear in mind, you know, this

highly reputable company decided that it was a good idea that we didn't need any torches or any of sort of stuff. So that was another thing. I think that was probably one of the big red flags for me at that place. You asked us to do this hike in the middle of the night and you're not giving us any torches or even tell us that we need to have a torch or a light. Yeah, they just said, they just were like, oh yeah, we just do it. And so we ended up having to use our phone light, which felt super sketchy to get, and everyone was just using their phone lights just to go down this path and it was pitch black.

I'll give you mine. Yeah.

The light was going, we're going down this path and the other guys are just run off. And we were kind of going along. You could see them in the distance and we're trying to keep up with them. But we also saw these great views of the volcano. We were like, want to take pictures of them. So you don't want to rush too much. Why are we rushing? It's going to get dark anyway. Let's try and enjoy it and see, get some good pictures and stuff. Anyway, there was this rush to try and get up the Fuego almost as quickly as possible. We had to, we wanted to stay back to get good pictures, but we also wanted to not lose the group at the same time as well. So we ended up having to like try and.

race them. And then at one point we actually ended up losing them. So we're like, did they go this way or this way? So we had to sort of make some judgements as to where we were going to go to go down. And eventually I think somehow, I'm not sure how this happened, but I think there was another guy, I think we lost them at some points and we were trying to make our way down the path. And eventually a guide came from the other direction. I think he was maybe from another group. I'm not sure. Maybe he was from the same group because maybe he noticed that we weren't there.

So he came and he actually joined us and we told him, stay with us, don't run off. Cause at one point he was like, everything, like we were almost just saying like we've broken English or whatever, like, good, let's go. And he was like, just walk, he was just going to run off with the other guy. I was like, oh, back, with us, don't run off. So we were having to go with him and yeah, we stayed with him the whole way. And eventually we had the help of the two Danish girls who spoke some Spanish and they were staying in Costa Rica at the time, so they'd learned some Spanish.

I was sort of using offline Google translate to just to show them like, stay with us, don't go. Yeah, we made it up the top. had to go through these bars and whatever with the lights, but yeah, we, just kind of went along with it, but I think quite soon on, think we all sort of slightly, I was probably the most, I was probably more optimistic. felt I paid my money. Yeah. Let's go and enjoy it. See what happens if it's, I don't really see it as a negative thing.

If it's chaotic, then it's interesting. It's an experience in itself. I don't really see it as a negative experience. thought it's an experience in of itself. Even if it goes very wrong, it's still an experience. don't see it as negative thing per se. So I was kind just going along, just thinking, it's been pretty, it's been a bit chaotic so far. This isn't the gold standards of tours. Let's just enjoy it and see where. But I think they were, they have a different mindset. They were a lot.

Thank

But they were, think they had regretted their decision probably within about 10 minutes of making it. And obviously there's no refunds that are given. So you need to cut sick, you're done. So yeah, basically they were very kind of, yeah, they were kind of moaning the whole way going down and then going off as well. Easton slipped at one point, completely slipped over and he was, he was quite worried because he like slipped over and banged his head. Like when he slipped and came, he was worried like the whole time that he'd like,

done some injury to his brain, a hush and I was like, let's see, know, your body is relatively resilient to some extent. So we were kind of just going up, we got to the top of this. Eventually we got to the top of the Fuego and pitch black and it got to the Fuego once it got to the very, very top and we were trying to walk on, we had to walk along this ridge to get to the viewing point and this ridge was completely exposed. So it was.

Yeah.

black sand and basically sheer drops to the side and it's freezing cold as well so it was like it's difficult to explain without seeing the picture but the picture from the from the base camp you can see the ridge that I think you might be able to envision it.

I remember seeing it, yeah.

That was where we went to and that's completely exposed. There's sheer drops either side, black sand and it's really, cause it's so exposed, it's really windy and it's one or two degrees, it's super cold. you're like, was going to walk, he was basically trying to walk along this ridge all the way to the end to this hill. I was, I got to the, they were all going to do it. And I got to the point I was like, you know what, I'm done here now. Cause I'm not, I didn't really, I wasn't, I didn't really like the fact that there was sheer drops.

It was so windy as well. like, you one wrong step, you're going to go down that hill or down that mountain. This is not fun. This is not good. So, and again, the guy didn't speak any English and he didn't understand. So he was like, did it just come this way? It's fine. No problem. And I'm like, no, I'm going to stay. So I think I then, I think I got to a point was like, you know what? I've got, I'm not going to get any better view here. Like if you walk to a place a hundred meters, it's going to look exactly the same.

And I'm not going to get any benefit from walking out. I'm just going to stay here, get the, get the pictures, get the videos and stay back. So I stayed back and I think one of the, the Danish girls saw me and she, she then thought, okay, cause I'm staying back, she'll stay back. So she stayed back with me and then we ended up staying back. We just sat on the sort of the gravel and just got some pictures and then eventually they came back to join us and we came back down again. yeah.

At what point were the Danish girls, I think you said to me, I couldn't stop laughing at the time. They were literally on there. They're literally sitting down, pulling themselves up with the, with the hike and poles.

That

was, that was, I think that was, that was when we were on that roof, that ledge. So we were on that ledge, that ridge. We just, I think she sat down and I sat down cause I was like, I might as well sit down. Cause it is quite windy. So you feel like more exposed when you're like having to battle the whole body into the wind. So you sit down cause you feel like, you feel more secure sitting down. But once you sat down, it's windy. You're like, know, you felt more, you felt like really risky standing up. you literally just like sliding along the ridge.

with your poles like you're going down like a toboggan or something like that.

Yeah. So we ended up doing that. think I've mentioned, we got to a point where we've got to stand up at some point. So we kind of kept it for as long as we could. And we're like, all right, now I think it's fine. up. So like, I'll just stand up quickly now when the wind isn't quite as strong.

Yeah. So at that point I'm just sitting at the camp. I've had dinner. I think we're past the, and during the night it just kicks off, right? The volcano. So we just sat there and enjoyed the views, got videos and stuff, but we could see, like you mentioned the ridge and we can see the headlights and we're like, Oh God, those headlights are getting quite close to volcano. We're like worried that the volcano is going to spew some rocks onto that ridge. But yeah, we can see the trail of headlights all the way down. Now.

I know when you look online, it says, I think it was four to five hours extra that hike. So we got in probably about four to five PM. I can't remember the time. You probably set off at half five, maybe six. I can't remember. And I thought you'd be back at least by nine or at least by half nine, 10 for us when we're getting into bed and, and stuff. And I actually thought by the time I was in bed that you were just like back earlier, you're chilling by the campfire having dinner, but you actually got back quite late. Didn't you?

about 11 or 11.30. But that's the thing. think they missed out. They were like, it's, only like an hour. They were sort of saying, they were always making out like, cause I was only 45 minutes. And it was not that at all. It was about two hours each way. And so yeah, it was, was a long, it was a long trip. was a long way. And was going back. was like, and

It

Yeah.

I think they were kind of almost pitching us like, yeah, we'll just do like now 45 minutes there, 45 minutes back. So it'll be like five now. So we'll get back like seven ish and we can have all dinner together on a pitch. That did tell us we were kind of joking together as we're walking down thinking like, Oh, they're probably all going to be really hungry when we get back. they're waiting for us to have dinner. We're just going to just stop the food. We've to wait for them to come back before we have any dinner.

Just a note on that actually, there was a rumor even in our group, the ones who stayed back, that we're not going to have dinner until you come back. And when it got to like seven or seven thirty, bearing in mind, we just hiked the original hike. We're starving, like we can't wait that longer. So we had to like ask the guys, can you sort of cook dinner now? Cause we're starving. So like we had to push them to cook dinner and that was probably about seven. Okay. Seven thirty and we sat around the campfire and had it. But yeah, there was rumors that we're going to wait for you. But like you said, we thought, maybe that'd be like,

8, maybe 9 PM at the latest. we even then thought it was too late. But the fact you came back at 11, when you came into the dorm, I remember you coming in. I was like, Oh, maybe there's, there's ready for bed, but you couldn't find any space in the cabin, right?

Yes, because I already came back so late with the last group's back, that whole shed was completely full.

So then what happened?

So one of the things was that were like, well, actually what happened was that I wasn't really keen to sleep in that area at all. It was so many people in one space. I kind of like a little bit of space in privacy. I didn't want to be like that crammed in. And I saw a place next to it and there were only about, it was much bigger, but there were only about three or four, it was almost completely empty. There only three or four people in here. I was like, oh, this is a dream.

They're all crammed in here and there's only three people I could have like a whole, it's like a whole mattress to myself sort of thing.

So I thought, and so I kind of like sneaked in there, um, put my stuff in there and then Ethan, I think he asked to go in there and they were like, yeah, that's fine. It's fine. problem. Cause I took the view. I sneaked in and say, settle down, they probably wouldn't kick me out. That was kind of my view, but it turned out, I think that was where the staff was sleeping. Um, the crew was sleeping, was fine. Um, but I think the fact that it was bigger had a major downside, which was that it was.

cold. Because think your one, because there so many people in there, made, kind of created it. It was a lot warmer. Yeah. It wasn't that bad, but mine was freezing. I think we had the sleeping bag, I had all my layers on like coats, scarf, multiple pairs of socks on. I was, and I was still absolutely freezing.

wasn't that bad

Yeah, it was really freezing at night. went down to below minus one or two, think maybe even more. So you do need your sleeping bag, your coat. You literally sleep in what you have in terms of one clothing and then yeah, the sleeping bag goes on top. I think I was actually quite cold because I wasn't in amongst the bodies. I was on my own little beds by the door. So I think I was actually pretty cold. didn't really sleep that well, honest. And then the next morning, because you don't sleep that well, I was up anyway.

Sunrise was incredible. I thought, wow, like you see the transition from the volcano because it's still erupting. There's one eruption at night that blew the door open. don't know if you had any. Yeah, it was a huge one. Yeah.

I had one big one.

I don't think it was a 10-odd ball, so it didn't blow anything, but yeah, was.

I had to get up and close the door. Yeah. But the sunrise was incredible. Wasn't it? The cloud was like a low level.

Yeah. think I was thinking this, I think the thing, the advantage of not doing the Fuego one is that you get to see the transitions of the volcano at different stages. And I think this is something that was a bit cheeky of them when they just sent us down like the Fuego hike before the sun had set. So you never really, you never really got to see where the lava erupted from where you were at. If I think we would seen that we'd be like, actually, you know what? This is, this is really good.

Yeah.

Cause I saw your pictures, some of them were absolutely amazing. And I think the, what I, what I found out later was that you stay in the Akita Nango base camp, not do Fuego. You can get to see the sunset and you can get to, cause I think there's a balance between getting the mountain in, it being light enough, you can get the sort of the shadow and get the, the volcano in, but dark enough that you can actually see the lava.

And that's like sweet spot of the picture, like how to get it. Um, which we didn't get, we, we were just still too busy trying to go down the side of this volcano, try to track over this, make sure we don't slip and fall over and everything. So while I on our focus going down, we weren't focused too much on the actual volcano, which was a bit of a shame in some ways. Um, but I think that's where you, you got that, those good pictures and that good experience. sit over the campfire.

Yeah.

and just look out over to the volcano. think that's the sweet spot. I think we got a bit of it at sunrise as well. So we got to see that transition. So sort of got some there, but yeah, the sunset the night before was probably the ideal time to get it. Yeah.

Yeah, cause it's quite hard to explain and obviously people can choose what to do, but I, on reflection, I just didn't see too much an advantage to go to Fuego to get closer because the view from the camp is really good. Like it's just as good. Maybe you want to get closer to get, feel it. I don't know, feel the volcano more. I don't really know, but I don't know what you think about this, but I think people get confused because people think Akitenengo is a volcano.

erupting, but it's not. It's the volcano next to the one that's erupting, which is Fuego. So you can go on Fuego or you can just watch Fuego from your base camp and from your tent. And that's just as good, I think.

Yeah, yeah.

that you could feel the ground shaking a bit. can, you definitely get more of a sensation about it erupting rather than just seeing it. You get to feel it. I definitely noticed it on the way back as well that when you're walking back away from the volcano back to base camp, I did notice that you did feel like the ground shaking and there was one point where it was like quite a big eruption and I wasn't sure if like rocks were going to suddenly fly over. I was a bit worried when I was like,

Every time it sounded before it's been fine, I think this time it should be alright.

That was the running joke in the camp, like there's a big rock gun over there, like is that gonna hit the group? Yeah. Not really a joke, but yeah.

of a dark joke.

Yeah.

So sunrise, we had breakfast, had tea, coffee, got the photos, amazing views, clear sky, quite majestic really. And then what made me laugh before we sort of set off on the hike back down was that the Danish girls probably got up five minutes before we left. Whereas I think a few of us have been up for a few hours.

They were just so exhausted. So Joel was almost quite the cuego experience. They were just suddenly got up and like, we need to go right now.

They're funny. Yeah. So the hike down was relatively quite quick. mean, I am a downhill person. I don't mind going downhill. And I think there's a little group at the front of a front of the group who were just getting a move on. I think even some of the guides were taking about like, God, yeah, they want to get a move on. we sort of relatively easily got down to maybe most of it. And then we hit that point where you mentioned the steps. I do remember just before those steps, that was the hardest point apart from the initial.

hike down from the camp, was chaos going down that volcanic ash. But towards the end, towards the first stop on the previous day, quite slippery underfoot. I remember one of the French girls, looked kind of like a spider. had like poles, either side of her head, just like crawling down this part. then one of the other French girls fell over, didn't she? think. And grazed her arm.

Yeah, I think Ethan was, I think he sort of fell over as well again.

Ethan caught his hand on the barbed wire. Yeah. I was administering first aid to his hand and I thought, shouldn't this be the guy doing this? hey.

Well, that was crazy as well. have like a really slippy path and then just decided to put some barbed wire up next to it. I wonder who was in that, who was making that decision. Like, yeah, this would be a great idea to put some barbed wire next to this. A really slippy path. Yeah. That was, it was great. It was, it was really fast going down. That was really surprised me because you think it was for five hours going up and then going down was in about two or two and a bit hours. It was three hours. was, it was quite crazy when you think about it. So we got lost. Yeah. As you said, it was just really slow.

Yeah.

Yeah, think one of the girls fell over and that was the only time I saw one of the guides sort of spring into action with bit of responsibility. Cause I think someone told maybe the oldest guy, I know if remember him, but he was the oldest one that one of the girls slipped over and he sort of sprinted down the front and to make sure she was all right. So that was the only time I saw one of the guides sort of professionally act as part of the tour group. But yeah, I think she cut her arm and maybe her ankle as well. I can't remember what happened, but.

Yeah, that was kind of the last thing I remember before getting back to the base camp, I think, to where we started the day before.

Yeah, yeah, no, but the thing is what other guys from other companies and you really noticed it that you bump into them sometimes on the walk down and then some of them could speak English, you know. Yeah, they're not far by great. It was a good way to distinguish if they knew what they were doing and then they were.

They're sharing information now, yes, that part of our group, yeah.

No, but when you try to piggyback off of it, how long is the walk down? They're like, oh yeah, it's an extra hour and an hour and half to us. Okay, okay. That's good to know. Meanwhile, our guides are, know, quite far out of distance or somewhere else.

So, missing in action. I don't know where they are. So, to reflect on the hike, we get back down, we give our equipment back and obviously we completed it it was great in the end because of the views are great. But on reflection, I want to give some do's and don'ts maybe for booking this hike. I think we've given our thoughts overall on the hike, what it's like, but my first thing off the bat of a don't maybe is to of wing it in terms of booking for your hostel because you do run the risk of a company like ours.

So my first two questions is for you, would you recommend researching or taking advice maybe of other companies in the area to, would you actually recommend the company we went with? We can name them. I don't know if we want to or not, but would you recommend them either?

I was going to ask if you if we were okay to name them or not. I don't know. I don't mind if you can. I've got nothing to say.

I think it's a responsibility to name them because I think we might be overplaying it. Maybe it wasn't even that bad, but I think it's just to share experience. I think we should name. So for me, a company you should book with is called Ox Expeditions. This was a recommendation from a Guatemalan tour guide. They do fill up quickly, so you need to book in advance and they're about $99 for the same hike. And I think they have English speaking guides, better foods and better accommodation and probably a better toilet.

So they're definitely to go with and the people that we booked with, to preface this, we did not know the name of this company because we just moved to hospital, but we found out they're called Barco Expeditions. You can put them in Google. I don't think they're rated that well, but maybe even too highly.

3.4 I think it was. So, you know, if I'd seen that before, I would not have gone with them 3.4. But as you said, we didn't know, but we did actually read, it took us a while to work out what the name was. Because it wasn't really clear, didn't have any advertisements about them. The only way we found out, think we looked, they had a t-shirt on, I think, and then we looked and they kept on calling themselves Barco, Barco.

And so we put the two together and then we saw on their t-shirts, Barco Expeditions. think that's when it clicked. I was like, oh, that's the name of the company. So that's when we got down, we had a look online and then we saw that they were a company that it's this, this tour. And then we saw the reviews and then some of the reviews were saying the of the same things that we would experience. And we're like, oh, okay, this is interesting.

Imagine us finding out on the way there. Imagine we found out the name and just Google That would be worse. Imagine that.

Yeah, that would have been way worse. Yeah. I'm glad we didn't. But yeah, it's a tricky balance that because as you said, um, for the other company, it's like you have to, they have, you have to book them quite far in advance. Don't know what you're going to do. So you get, end up getting tied down. think, I don't know whether there's a company, is there a good in between that this may be a company in town in Antiqua and you can book through them or like one of the shops or.

have a company, other company online that you can book with is a bit more like, yeah, a bit in between that maybe you need a bit more noticed and like it's always available. So you see maybe you have to go to the advanced or something. Like, do you know what mean? Like something that's maybe a week and rather than a month in advance, something a more week or two in advance. I don't know. Like I think that may be question that people would need to have a look at in more detail, but that's probably the sweet spot for it.

I did hear Tropicana hostel in Antigua. They are quite well known for booking a good hike. And I think, I know we just said don't book for your hostel, but I think you can book through them because I think it's quite legit. So I think you have Ox Expeditions book in advance, maybe Tropicana hostel if you want to stay there as well. I think it's quite good hostel, but they book through their guides. I think that's a pretty well known and well hiked out adventure if you like. And I think Barco is at the other end where you kind of wing in it, turn it up last minute and

booking on a day.

it the

lowest, it's like the, it's whatever you use. It's like the, you, if you want to do it, but there's got no other options, that's the one you go for. I mean, it did the job. mean, we saw the volcano, we saw it cheaply, but I definitely think there would have been better ways to see it. But it depends what you like. It's, it was an experience and we had some funny stories and this is where I always think with these things is sometimes if it goes wrong, can be quite funny reflecting back. everything was really smooth, it's almost like. True.

worrying in a way. Yeah. things go wrong to some extent. Obviously if it's catastrophic then it can be quite stressful.

Yeah, falling down that ridge. It's not ideally ideal to talk about that. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, exactly. I also do recall, we should mention this, that we actually waited to book a hike because I think you want to go and see Attusland, which we'll come to in a second. But also because of the rain, I was also worried that if we go too soon, it'd be quite cloudy up there. So I think we timed it to make sure it was good weather. So that's the one advantage that we probably had booking barcode is that we could delay it.

two or three days and make sure we get the good views. Cause I know some people who went before us and got nothing up there in terms of like, it's just cloudy. Yeah.

That's the thing you could pay $100 and then end up loud. it's, it's a tricky one. Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay. So well worth doing an amazing experience, maybe book for a repertoire company and yeah, anything else to say before we move on?

Yeah,

the one I was going to say, one thing maybe to add is the hostel one is probably just worth, I mean, just thought this now is like something we didn't really think about, which we probably should have done when we looking at it was actually ask the hostel when you get there, like what company are you using? So then you can go around each of hostels and ask them what company you're using for your, the trip they could tell you. And then you can then look at the reviews for them. And if Tropicana has got, is linked, partnered with a good.

company, then you can go with them. if another host like Central is partnered with Barco and you see the reviews, you're like, mm, okay. That might be a good, that's probably a good, that's probably my recommendation.

Okay, yeah, I agree. I think we should have done that. I don't know why we didn't do that.

I don't know why I that, it's just something with-

The trust in the hostel maybe.

Okay. we've got 10 minutes left. So I thought I'd do seven minutes on Guatemala because we both traveled there. Yeah. And then we'll do the last two to three minutes on quick fire travel questions. So Guatemala after the hike or before and after actually, I checked out Antigua. Very nice place. Quite colonial. It's got the classic photo. You can go on Google and put central America and you're going to get a building with a volcano in the background. What did you make of the town?

I liked it to some extent, but I think for me, it was a little bit touristy, I think, in some bits. I liked it though, it was nice, but I did find that it was quite difficult sometimes just to get to see like the more authentic. It was quite expensive, I found, in some areas, but I did like it. It was nice. Like all those things you wanted to go to, you had to pay to go extra. And also some of the meals that we had, that weren't cheap either. I found in some areas it was a little bit pricey.

Yeah. Yeah.

I still enjoyed it though. I think I preferred Lake Atterdland more than Antigua. I think that if you're going to go to other Central American towns, think that I would, I think there are better ones. I don't know. Like it's difficult because Antigua is very unique and it is very beautiful. Probably isn't anything like it to be honest, but yeah, I think it was some bits a little bit touristy. That's what happened. But I did like it though. I did like it. Yeah.

Yeah, I think it's quite nice to walk around some nice cast, but I do think that it's very touristy. I know that's a bit of a cliche phrase, I was shocked by how many people were there in terms of tourists. It's pricier. And also I did do a few things there. I've done that, did you do that walk up to the viewpoint? I think it's called the Cerro de la Cruz.

Very nice. Yeah. That's, worth doing if you go early in morning, there's no one up there. It opens at seven, I think, or maybe eight, one of the two. But I walked up there first thing and got the views. That was incredible. And the Arco de Santa Catalina, which is the yellow building that is filled with people. So the only advice I can give for that is go early in the morning and try and get that photo in between the arch with the volcano. I did a few walking tours. They're pretty good.

That's quite.

Did an amazing coffee tour actually at Delahente. I booked a sort of charity coffee tour, which they kind of look after local farmers. And so it's very sustainable, eco-friendly and stuff. And we got to have a tour of this guy's coffee farm, which he owns. And we got to go to his house to have lunch and coffee with him and his wife. And I bought some coffee from there and it's amazing. So Delahente, I'll put that in the show notes, is worth checking out for a coffee tour. You mentioned Lake Ataslan. Yeah. So what do you love about that?

little villages around it. When I actually arrived, I was actually bit skeptical. So I arrived, it was raining, it was dreary. But then the next day it was just beautiful. And I had this Airbnb that had like the most amazing view, which looked out over the whole lake. And then I just looked out, it was like 30 pounds a night. Although this is great. It was quite a steep, it was a bit of a weird place. was sort of in between San Pedro and one of the other towns nearby.

So was a bit of a weird place on the road, but you could actually walk to it along the beach and it had like a beach access. You could go into it and then you just walked up the steps and you, it's quite steep steps to go up, but you walked all the way up and then it had this view all the way over the lake and it was really nice. Yeah, I liked that. And I think it was just going to the other villages like Santiago and some of the other ones, Panapache and a few others. Well, it really cool to go around. So, no, I really liked it.

Yeah, I stayed, I stayed in Pana. I can't pronounce this place. Pana Pachow, whatever that place is, the main town on the lake. And you can just stay there. And what essentially happens is there's a local boat, which goes to different villages. And you just hop on this boat and depending what village you're going to, it either takes 20 minutes or 45 minutes and you jump off and on. And that's how it works. And I thought I had a decent time there, but I was there when it's windy.

And I tried to do some paragliding. I don't know I told you this, but yeah, I tried to paragliding and he said, ah, look, may look like an incredible day, which was it's like clear sky. But said the winds are really high up there. I was like, so I couldn't book it for two days. So I didn't do it in the end. Um, but that actually makes sense because the chop, the wall was choppy and on the boat, I was getting soaked and I'm not great on boats sometimes. So I thought, Oh, do you know what? I'll, I'll do a few trips and that's it. So I didn't have the most amazing time, but I think I'd like to go back.

You know, I am sorry.

maybe not in November, maybe go back in December and January and really see summer there and enjoy it. Yeah, the little towns are really nice. They're nice little towns by the lake and yeah, pretty cool.

Yeah.

Which town did you do, do you?

San Pedro and my town. That's pretty much about it. Did I go somewhere else? No, that's it. Yeah.

And it gives a viewpoint at the top as well. think it's, call it, it's an Indian nose or sometimes it's called the Mayan nose. Nice. Cool. To a walk up there, which, which I did. So that's where we're doing. Yeah. That's nice.

yes.

Okay, and to finalize on places I went to Takao, have you been to Takao? Yes.

I

went two years ago as separatist.

Amazing, I paid so much money to go there for one day, but I thought I'm gonna...

Yeah, I heard about this and I was like, cause I don't remember being too bad. I booked through the hostel. was a better experience. I think it was only, I can't remember the exact price of it. It was obviously two years ago. I think it was only about 300, all that, where everything all in. it was like transport, the entry. think the entry for the park was only something like 200 or 250 or something from memory.

Okay. yeah.

And the guide was something like five US dollars and the transport was on five US dollars. I that was the total price of the whole thing. And everything was included. That's, that's where I remember it. I don't know. It might have changed in two years.

It's the same. What I mean is because I didn't have time, I had to fly there in black. I had to fly into Flores, back to Guatemala city, then over to Mexico city, stay there. It is a nightmare because I ran out of time. stayed too long in El Salvador. But what I mean by cost is that, but I do have a quick tip. I booked my hostel, you know, Flores is an island. I booked my hostel.

on the water across. So I'm not on the island. I have to get a to the north side, which is like across the water. yeah. I do not recommend this because the ball lake, cause you, you arrive in the dark. No one tells you there's no signs. I just got this random boat that I thought was right. It was kind of winging it, paid this guy. These drunk guys were speaking to me in the boat. I'm like, they kind of seem bit, they asked me if I want to rent a prostitute for a night. I'm like, no, like, you know, a bit sketchy at night.

Anyway, I got across and I finally got to the hostel, but the hostel had its own little boating area. So you couldn't actually walk along the front because it's flooded. So I had to like find a way for the back way. was chaos. So I would recommend going to Flores, booking a hostel on the island and yeah, from there it's fine. But the actual day itself, incredible. And you're right. It's still the same price to get the guide, the transport and stuff. It's about two to 300 quetzalas. I can't remember how much. I didn't think it was that much. yeah, definitely.

think that was one of the best things I did in Guatemala. Cause it's that, that Ticau site, think is really underrated. I think it's better than Chichen Itza in Mexico. It's, you can go around, think 90 % of it isn't, it hasn't been excavated. You can walk around, you get the guide, he talks you through everything and you can actually climb up the pyramids as well. Yeah. And you just get so much, you just get so much for the experience. And I don't know when you were there, when I went.

Unbelievable.

Who would say that? Yeah.

We had pretty much the whole place to ourselves. It was just amazing.

Yeah, I didn't think it was that busy. Yeah. Yeah. I thought there's a couple of groups there and that's it. Um, I didn't feel it was too crowded. was enough people there to kind of middle about and have enough space. So I thought it was incredible. Yeah. Probably one of the highlights in terms of a day that I've had.

No, it was really cool. I remember a flight because I flew from there from Cancun. I think the flights now stop, but I flew from Cancun to there directly. we were on this little propeller plane that had like a, painted the nose of it like a bird. looked like We had about six people on the flight as well. And the whole plane was like vibrating the whole way.

Yes.

Okay, yeah, I don't think that flight goes anymore, but you can get a bus to Belize.

Yeah

You

say it around the other way.

Okay, I'm going to do some quick fire travel questions for you just to finish the episode. These are some of your favorite things, just a two minute feature. I'm going to start with...

It's travel question time. Your top three favourite countries.

That's a tough one. think, what would I say? Top three would be Thailand, would say Philippines, and I would say maybe Vietnam as well. would probably be the top three.

Okay, and tell me three countries that next on your hit list that you've not been to.

It's not a hit list I haven't been to. so Oman coming up. Yeah. Yeah. And the third one I've got looking at the moment that I like to go to is probably Morocco. There's a place in the North Morocco I want to go to. So there are a few others that I'd like to go to as well. think they like, in, but they're not safe to go to yet. Like Myanmar and places like that. let's see. Yeah.

Okay. Which country do you think is the best for budget when traveling?

Best for budget. It's a tricky question because every country's got cheap bits. I think Laos was very cheap. I remember that that was probably the best budget destination I've been to. I wouldn't say Thailand anymore. I don't think Thailand is the best budget place anymore. You can find cheap places there, but I think Southern Thailand, specifically, has become more expensive now, especially around Phuket and some of the islands, tourists. But Laos is definitely cheap. I remember eating there.

Yeah.

having a full, it was like a Korean meal and it was like three different dishes and I think it cost me like five pounds or something.

Okay, talking of dishes actually, tell me top three favourite cuisines that you've experienced.

It would, that Thailand would definitely be up there. Thai cuisine, you can't beat it. That's number one. second one I would put as, would be the second one? Thai would be number one. I did like Vietnamese. There was certain part, not all Vietnamese cuisine like. I think the central Vietnamese cuisine I liked. And then the third one would be, what would be the third one? Maybe like the Cambodian, some of the Cambodian food was nice.

Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. You have an agent minute. Okay. My penultimate question is, me a favorite hike or walk or trek.

that would be the Mount Apo in Philippines. I that was my favorite. That was definitely my favorite. That was really amazing because it was like a couple of days hike and you got to see different things. So think it was like two or three days hike. And what was really incredible about Mount Apo is actually on the island of Mindanao. very few tourists actually go there.

Yeah, yeah.

Cause the travel advisories come out. I was a bit nervous about foregoing. They're like, Oh, know, travel advisories, like the U S government says, don't go there. The UK government's a bit more mixed. they say, like the area that I, the Mount Afro was like right on the border between all but essential travel and all travel. It was like right on the border. So like, yeah, it's essential to go do this volcano. That's kind of my justification, but yeah, that was the best one for sure. Really incredible scenery and it's got like lakes and yeah.

Yeah.

It's really cool. You've got different, different, got jungle going and all the way up. You've got boulders, you've got like a lake, a massive lake as well. Yeah. It's really cool.

Okay. And the last question is going to be in two senses. Can you give two senses as to why someone should travel if they've never traveled before or they're nervous or they can't make the leap to go solo travel, for example, what would you say?

I would say it's not as scary as you think. And my second sentence would be, you'll find you'll meet people very easily and it will be very rewarding and enjoyable experience looking back, even if it doesn't feel like it at the time. Okay.

Nick, that's great. Thanks for coming on the podcast. think we shared some valuable information about Guatemala and especially the Akita Nengo hike in Nia Antigua. So cheers for coming on. Appreciate the time. It's been a good fun. It's been a good conversation. Sorry. And a good laugh. Thanks so much.

Thanks for having me and yeah, hope all goes well. Thank you.

Cheers. Thank you.

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