Quetzaltepeque Volcano

Contrary to popular belief, being a warm region, the climate is cool to cold.  Not hot at all.

At an altitude of 1.900 meters above sea Niver and sometimes covered with cold fog. It has a thick forest and the surrounding area are numerous coffee plantations.

On the way can be found sweetgum trees, which have an intense green leaves, when dried, are the perfect idea of autumn.

Climb is not difficult in itself, but is a bit long and confusing as the road is not signposted. Being a farming area with low density, ie, the houses are a great distance from one another, it is difficult to find who to ask where to follow the path. On Sundays the area is almost deserted as residents head for the city of Esquipulas.

The trip is worth it, but it is easy to miss. Your top is beautiful, but it has little visibility in dense vegetation.

It is not advisable to camp above the terrain, wet, narrow and in poor visibility. The combination of cold and humidity make the temperature drops at night punishment.

Almost no one goes ...

I stress that it is easy to miss. The road is confusing and finally reaching the summit, which coincides with the adjacent hill, the only distinguish it as being the top in the place.

We must break through the vegetation as possible. After several feet, one will find another path just visitble.

The difficult part of this promotion is that at some point, there is a large number of trails, some on the left, right, diagonally, up ... looks like a maze, and in fact is causing many people miss.

These roads are those of the settlers, and are not to reach the top, but to move in the area. Easily take the wrong rising or falling.

Even the guides have been lost ...

Talking to locals, a family told me that their kids used to guide tourists to the top, but what little promotion makes the trails are barely visible, and even their children, working as guides, were lost.

It is quite difficult to explain how this is possible, but simply the forest is thick and visibility scarce. However, the trip worthwhile. A GPS would not hurt during the ascent to the volcano.

Arriving at the volcano Quetzaltepeque

It is advisable to ask the locals to point the way by car and check every so often. It is a very busy and this will not be problem.

Once in the hills, the road only takes up without crossings or diversions to confuse. It's a bit long and eventually reaches the cruise is shown in the photo. There are few houses.

Downhill to the left is a long dirt road that takes about 40 minutes to bring the city center. In front, two paths.

Which amounts to the left leads to the volcano for a very enjoyable tour. The amounts also should continue straight on, but there is no visible path later, being necessary to go for coffee crops. We recommend the path that climbs the left and go straight to avoid ... this ends in a very rugged part of the volcano.

No doubt it is an upgrade to underestimate because of the precariousness of signage and trails. It is worth but it is risky. It is vital not just go and prepared food and water for a long walk. Do not forget to prepare for the cold and chumpa to protect from moisture in the forest ... is easy to end up soaked.