Fuego at Night

The Fuego volcano near the Guatemalan city of Antigua is one of the most active in Central America. Its last major eruption in June 2018 killed 114 people. When I climbed the twin volcano Acatenango in spring 2019, Fuego was erupting every ten minutes, manifested during the day in huge clouds of ash towering over its peak. It wasn’t until dusk when we could observe from our camp that Fuego absolutely deserved its name: glowing lava was ejected in all directions from the volcanic cone and then flowed rapidly in streams of fire down Fuego’s steep slopes.

Near Antigua (Guatemala), March 2019.