Officially our fifth volcano, Santa Maria is located a short
distance south of Quetzaltenango . Santa Maria Volcano’s greatest claim to fame
is that its 1902 eruption is considered to be the third greatest of the
twentieth century in terms of volume of ash ejected into the atmosphere after
those of Novarupta Volcano in Alaska in 1912 and Mount Pinatubo in the
Philippines in 1992. From our vantage points in Quetzaltenango to the north and
our earlier trek on Zunil to the east, Santa Maria appears to be a perfect
volcanic cone. Its profile from more westerly vantage points, however, displays
the enormous crater where the eruption took place on its southwestern flank.
The growing cone in the crater below Santa Maria’s peak is called Santiaguito
and is a very active volcano which can be observed from Santa Maria, part of
the reason for the volcano’s inclusion in our itinerary.

Our Santa Maria adventure began with a 5:00 A.M. departure
from Hotel Modelo in Quetzaltenango and a short drive to the trailhead for a
pre-dawn start to the hike. As well as a porter to carry water and lunch
supplies, we also picked up two armed policemen to accompany us on the trek,
apparently required for some hikes close to Guatemala’s urban areas where there
have been armed robberies of trekking tourists .

Santa Maria’s summit is 12,300 feet (3,750 meters), but we
started the trek at a relatively low trailhead at 8,000 feet, so the total
ascent was 4,300 feet, comparable to most fourteener climbs in Colorado and
nothing to sneeze at. The ascent began gradually enough through fields and
forest as the day dawned, and we stopped for cook Mario to make coffee in an
open field as the sun’s first rays started warming the very cold morning. That
coffee was necessary because the remaining two-thirds of the hike up Santa
Maria were relentlessly steep up a rather poor and rocky trail with significant
scrambling. Altogether the hike to the peak, including our coffee stop, took
about four and a half hours and got us to the top at 10:30.

Like all such prominent peaks the views from the top of
Santa Maria are stupendous, and the sky was especially clear in most directions
with views all the way back to the first volcanos we climbed in the area around
Antigua all the way to Tajumulco, highest in Central America, an Tacana Peak
towards the west on the Mexican border .

We descended a short distance to a better viewpoint of
Santiaguito and waited for it to do something. Much of the reason for such an
early start was to view it better since clouds usually build up by late morning
on the Pacific side of the peaks and obscure the view of its very frequent
small eruptions. Although the weather cooperated, Santiaguito did not. We
waited and waited and then went back up to the top of Santa Maria for lunch
around noon time, but Santiaguito did nothing. Of course, after Fuego’s large
eruption which we viewed from Acatenango a few days earlier, the normal belches
of smoke and ash Santiguito spews forth periodically would have been somewhat
anti-climactic.

The steep descent was almost as hard as the climb up the
mountain and was quite slow going because of frequent loose scree and slippery
spots. I have to admit to slipping and landing on my bottom a few times on the
way down. The reward for such a hard day’s work was dinner at a pizza
restaurant. After hauling myself 4,300 feet up a mountain and back down again,
I didn’t need to be counting calories that evening.