FOMO Danger

Another tourist died last night on Acatenango.

In previous years some have been washed away by torrents of water at this time of year, but 2026 has been comparatively dry and this one took the cardio-respiratory shortcut.

Prior to England's match in the Azteca last month there was a lot of detailed examination of just how oxygen-starved the players' bloodstreams would be and how much time might be needed to acclimatise in advance of the fixture, and that was just CDMX at 2240m above sea level — compared to Acatenango's 3976m.

Peer pressure mediated by social media is driving visitors up the volcano slopes often within a couple of days of arrival in Guatemala. The FOMO starts on the shuttle from the airport.

I've been here for years now and don't really feel the altitude at city level (1545m), but when I was coming in and out more I very definitely did.

Aged just 28 I participated in a Christmas expedition up to El Hato, carrying gifts up to what was then a very under-developed settlement on top of that hill. I'd only just arrived in Antigua and soon found myself gasping for air like never before in my life.

Antigua used to be a place which people came to to stick around. They'd enrol in a Spanish school and use the the city as a hub for adventures beyond. Nowadays it is more common to see the 'smash and grab' groups, in and out in a matter of days, and the volcano hike is seen as the blue ribbon Tiktokable activity.

Yet many of those involved in encouraging this are locally-based travel operators (or indeed bureaucrats) who have themselves long acclimatised to both the local conditions and the endemic levels of risk-aversion, and have seemingly no real sense of the cardio-respiratory dangers to young people with limited experience of such ascents…and none of their own responsibility thereof.

This poor chap was just 17. Maybe his parents should undertake some legal action, if only to finally encourage a bit of accountability.

Last night we could very clearly spot the little lights flashing around the edge of the crater of Fuego as it experienced multiple eruptions.