From the Ashes

San José Calderas, Guatemala

2,508 miles from San Francisco

Arrive in Antigua, Guatemala on a clear day and you have no choice but to be struck by two things. First: the sheer beauty of the original capital city, its streets littered with cobblestones that act as the frame for a large grid of colorful buildings. Second – and prompting further ebullience than the first – the city rests in the center of a ring of fire, surrounded on all sides by massive volcanoes, several of which are actively spewing lava and smoke.

Casting aside any vertiginous reservations, we decided we’d ascend the tallest of the bunch, a volcano named Acatenango. Itself a vigorous climb, the primary draw of ascending the steep, conical peak is a clear view of its neighbor, the aptly named Volcán de Fuego. Fuego is one of the most active volcanos in the world and, just four months before our arrival, it erupted with nearly 500 people killed, lost or missing.

It was in Antigua, in the shadow of both the surrounding volcanos and the dark memory of recent events, that we reached out to Catalino. There are many services offering ascents of Acatenango in Antigua, but this one was particularly unique and well-suited to us, as it included the option to spend a night at Catalino’s house, located in one of the villages at the base of the volcano. It was an opportunity, we hoped, to truly immerse ourselves in the daily occurrences of a Guatemalan pueblo. He had no website and no email, but when we sent a message to the WhatsApp number we had found, Catalino responded quickly and enthusiastically.

The next day we organized our backpacking gear and drove 40 minutes to San José Calderas, at the foot of Acatenango. Conditions were foggy, but we felt optimistic that they would improve for our hike the following day. Upon arriving in the small village marked by dirt roads and dilapidated buildings, the mood shifted quickly from unknown to welcoming, as a local took us to Catalino who greeted us with open arms. We parked the car in a neighboring lot and were immediately introduced to the whole family (and more). His wife, three sons and two young daughters were just a fraction of the crowd that quickly flurried around us. Their exuberance at our arrival was clear.

We spent the evening playing street soccer with about fifteen local children and getting a tour of the town from two of our young teammates. It was after the children went to bed, however, that the truth about life in San José Calderas, and that of Catalino’s family in particular, was revealed to us over dinner. As his wife prepared pepián, a Guatemalan stew containing chicken and potatoes in a slightly spicy broth, Catalino told us the story of how he came to form his business, an alliance of local guides he called ASOAVA (Asociación de Amigos Volcán Acatenango).

Catalino grew up not far from where we ate and his life was never easy. Poverty is ever-present in the villages encircling Acatenango, and the region was the site of many tragic events during the Guatemalan Civil war. His quest to improve his family’s quality of life led him to follow the path that many other Guatemalan men follow: he crossed into Mexico and then paid a /coyote/ $7,000, his life savings, to cross into the US at Nuevo Laredo. The next four years of his life proved arduous – a stint working merciless hours at a meat factory in Chicago and more time spent at factories in Minnesota – but the wages he was earning in a week matched his monthly income in Guatemala. Despite working in an antipodal culture and living in isolation from his family, all was going well in the United States. Yet, as we’ve learned throughout our journey, life in the US for those who enter illegally is subject to a capricious climate. After he and his friend Jorge found new work in construction, they were arrested by ICE, brought to prison and promptly sentenced to 6 months – completion of which was celebrated with immediate deportation to Guatemala. Catalino spared us this fact, but it was later confirmed by his friend Jorge (who we also spent time with and who’d been in the US with Catalino). With his savings, Catalino still returned to Guatemala feeling as though his time in the US was a success – incarceration aside. He bought a plot of land, two cows and built a modest home with 5 bedrooms and a bathroom in the shadow of Acatenango – the roof and walls of which were creatively manufactured out of scrap metal.

He also began to work as a guide for tourists eager to climb Acatenango, a mountain that he had ascended countless times throughout his boyhood. The business was run by him and his five brothers, one of whom was named Gilmer. Gilmer had spent his own stint in the US, and worked diligently to get a good handle on English in the process. The business grew rapidly, and as Gilmer took an increasingly “back office” role due to his ability to communicate with tourists, the other brothers served as guides – shuttling eager tourists up and down the volcano. Over time, Gilmer recognized his advantage. He realized that splitting profits between the whole of his large family meant a smaller share for him and, given his English fluency, he felt responsible for the growth of the business. Despite familial ties, he proved to provide a climate no less capricious for his brothers than that of US immigration officials. He cut Catalino and the others out, and took the business (along with all its profits) for himself.

As Catalino told us this story, the pain it had caused was visible. Gilmer’s actions had created a deep rift in the family, and resulting conflicts proved so intense that Catalino was attacked with a machete during an argument – the resulting scars rippled across his lower abdomen. As an aside, machetes are the tool of choice for much of the rural Latin American population, but against Catalino’s family, and sadly quite commonly in Guatemala, they have been used for violence. One of Catalino’s sons had just lost two fingers in a violent machete attack while on his way to buy tortillas 6 weeks before we arrived. He showed us the bloody and suture-laced stumps.

Catalino fell ill around the time of Gilmer’s hostile takeover and was unable to work for six painful months. His sons, who had worked as guides under the joint family outfit, were left without work following the split and could not contribute to the family’s income. They were without money, without access to the food they needed, and without hope. Yet, it was from this seemingly infertile ground that ASOAVA was born. While Gilmer falsely claimed to give back to the local communities surrounding Acatenango, Catalino wanted to create an organization that actually delivered on that promise. While Gilmer professes to offer an authentic glimpse into Guatemalan life, Catalino longed to truly create such an opportunity. ASOAVA is Catalino’s dream manifested. He fashioned it out of the ashes of his former life, and we were among the first handful of customers to experience this new paradigm of guiding Acatenango. These guides don’t do this work just to fill their pockets, they do it with dignity and respect.

The next day, shortly after dawn, Catalino’s 21-year-old son (and father to a small child of his own) would lead us up the volcano that has the capacity to secure his family’s future. After conversing with this family and learning about the path to ASOAVA however, our thirst for the summit no longer filled us. We realized that the pinnacle of this experience was having the privilege to spend time there, around their table, learning from this family.