November 29, 2025
Saturday morning we woke up and had another great breakfast at the hotel – it was included, but everything was made to order. We had thought we had given ourselves enough time because the morning before we were still chewing our food as we were running out the door, but we found ourselves in a similar situation.
We noticed two other women in a similar situation, but honestly what were the odds that they were heading on the same tour? Andy had mentioned that one of the women was sort of rude – I told him to be careful or she’d end up on our tour. (More on that later…)
We ate quick and then power walked to the tour office and rolled in right on time. Once we checked in, the man working the front desk let us know that there were a number of different tours taking off at 8:30 and that we could use the bathrooms and wander around their office.
Sure enough, the two women from breakfast walked in, which was fine. There was still a chance she could end up on a different tour. A few more minutes went by and loads more people piled in and we were finally ready to go. Our guide called out for our group, and sure enough. They were in our group!
We had to walk a short distance to get in the mini bus to where they stored their ATVs, which was about 2 hours outside of Antigua. The company that we toured with was thoughtful about the excursion – we had a lunch included, but along the way we stopped for a quick bathroom break and to pick up food if anyone wanted something additional.
You might be wondering, how did we decide to ride a couple of ATVs up an active volcano? Or you might be thinking – nothing you do surprises me anymore, Dani. Either way, here’s the scoop.
Antigua is surrounded by active volcanoes (you would see them puff smoke ever few minutes) that practically dare you to climb them.
Hiking Acatenango is a bucket-list favorite, and you know how much I love a good bucket-list item. But we were short on time (and not looking to sacrifice multiple days). So I found a smarter workaround. Pacaya: an active volcano just outside the city delivers lava fields, steaming ground, and all the volcanic drama without the long-haul hike. An ATV up Pacaya felt like the perfect way to get our volcano fix and fast.
We made it to their garage and got our helmets and a quick lesson on how to start them/operate them/stop them. I do feel like we all could have probably had a little bit of a longer safety briefing because some people didn’t grow up in central Minnesota around them… But then we were off!
We did follow a guide – and there was another guide with a camera woman who was bringing up the rear. They made sure that they were getting a lot of good footage of us. We made our way through some rural villages before making our way out into some hillside.
We rode through some pastures and that’s when things started to get a bit sketchy. They made us go up the hill one by one to make sure we could each safely make it up. Andy’s friend – the unfriendly one from the hotel – went first. Miraculously, she made it. It turns out she was a terrible driver, at this point in the day she had already gotten stopped once and needed help by one of the guides to get unstuck. (From here on out I’ll be calling her the Aussie).
I knew I needed to be able to make it up. Andy went first – and naturally, he made it. The ATVs had been used numerous times so the tires were shot, so they weren’t very grippy. You really had to give it all it had when you were going up the hill in order to make it, but you also had to hit the rocks just right. Thankfully, I made it. It was a white knuckle ride. I was so relieved to have made it through the worst of it.
After that nasty patch we were nearing the “top” of where we were going for the day. We were able to get off and walk around for a bit. We had about 15-20 minutes to take in the scenery and relax before we started the drive again.
Our next stop was a lava field. Normally, the lava field is where we would have lunch. A rainstorm earlier in the week had cooled the rocks too much and we were unable to heat our sandwiches up enough to cook them fully. We were still about to walk out there and experience the steam vent, which was cool enough in itself.
From there, our guide suggested we go to a local restaurant to sit and eat our lunches before driving to our final stop. This is where the Aussie almost flipped her ATV. Andy was directly behind her – and remember how I said our tires were bad? Our brakes were also bad, thankfully Andy and I knew how to drive so we were both able to stop. But the man behind me had been tailgating me the entire day and had almost rear ended me because he couldn’t stop.
She had no idea how close she was to flipping her ATV and at this point I’m shouting, “This is SO DANGEROUS!” Because she had no basic driving lessons – and neither did the man behind me. The ATVs just didn’t have great maintenance on them – it really could have ended up being a bad situation, thankfully Andy and I had both pulled off in separate directions and had common sense. But man, that was scary.
After lunch, we made our way to a lake. If the weather had been warmer it would have been a fun spot to swim. But we made our way back to their office and rounded out the trip.
We made our way back to Antigua after a long day on the ATVs. It was an 8 hour tour, so it had been a long day. Once we freshened up we made our way to a local restaurant, where we ended up having dinner with a solo traveler from Canada. She was a hoot and we really enjoyed our conversation with her. Like I said, Guatemala really seemed like a hotspot for people who were venturing out on their own.
After dinner we made our way back to Aqua (from our first night!) for a night cap and to take in the views from the terrace. It was a beautiful way to round out our trip to Guatemala. The next morning we had arranged transportation with our hotel back to the airport. We didn’t have too early of a pickup, so we knew we’d be able to enjoy a slow breakfast at the hotel one last time.
Accommodations: San Rafael Hotel
Up Next: 12 Night Bali, Malaysia, & Thailand Holiday Cruise
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