Pacaya Volcano Overnight Tour from Antigua

We travelled up in 4x4s which was hilarious. Your guides are talented drivers! This was my best experience in Guatemala. My brother was taken ill an hour from camp. Our guides, Abner and Uriel stayed with him whilst another guide, Diego came to let me know and asked me about medication. This promoted me to ask others in our group to ask around camp for an inhaler and Diego allowed me to join him and bring a sleeping back down to my brother. I lit the way home for the rescue party, keeping their spirits high and slowly returning my brother safely to base camp, where an inhaler was waiting for him. We were touched by everyone's kindness, which made our adventure even more special. I stayed outside all night, mesmerised by the changing sky, the firey volcano and shooting stars, and feeling that I was with the greatest humans in the world. Trail shoes will help you grip the slippery gravel, and layer up for the night time temperature drop. Enjoy friendships with everyone in your group and listen to how they see things. A child in our group said 'nature is a gift'. Thank you Urban Outfitters for giving us the opportunity to share the beauty of nature and kindness with each other! The food was great too!

I was so excited for this tour. Unfortunately, we were unable to get to Pacaya due to the manifestaciones (demonstrations). I had been in contact with Eduardo at Old Town Outfitters all week who assured me trips would be going despite the road closures and they had gotten through all week. The morning of our trip, others at our Spanish School tried to get to Pacaya and could not due to the road closures. I told Eduardo that I'd like to cancel and get a refund but he assured me that they would be able to get through. Sure enough, we drove for an hour and were stopped in a dreadful traffic jam for miles due to the closures. Our guide told us that we would have to walk about 5k through the traffic jam and demonstration to reach another driver to take us to the next leg of the trip. Our guide and our driver were great but I was told that we would have to walk an additional 5k along the highway past the demonstrations before we could reach the other driver. I chose the Pacaya trip (not Acatenango) because I am only capable of doing shorter walks at this time due to surgical recovery from breast cancer. Additionally, our American Embassy had told us that Americans should not approach the demonstrations under any circumstances. I felt incredibly unsafe walking along a busy highway for 5k toward a demonstration and without enough water for those additional miles. I told our driver to drive us back home again, deeply disappointed. I tipped our driver and guide, as none of this was their fault and I didn't want to short them the income. We requested half of our payment returned. I understand that there were circumstances beyond their control but we should have communicated these additional miles of walking in advance. I am still waiting to hear about my refund more than a month and a half later... I would not recommend booking in advance with this company!

Adorámos esta excursão estava muito bem organizada. O nosso guia Francisco e o guia local Ermelindo foram fantásticos, muito prestáveis e foram dando informações sobre os vulcões e sobre a fauna e flora da região. Foram muito atenciosos com as crianças, elas adoraram o acampamento. Uma experiência inesquecível. Obrigada