Acatenango

There's many countries that are the land of volcanoes, but Guatemala is a pretty good one.

And if you're at Antigua, the tourist capital, you can see these two volcanoes, Acatenango and Fuego.

And you can see Fuego erupting from the town square.

It's mad.

Today's tale takes us beyond our borders, high into the mountains of Latin America, where two unforgettable adventures unfold nearly two years apart.

First in the Peruvian Andes at the world-famous Rainbow Mountain, and later on the volcanic slopes of Guatemala's Acatenango.

And the trails? Peru's Rainbow Mountain, where the journey begins around 15,000 feet and climbs toward a summit of roughly 16,500 feet, followed two years later by Acatenango, one of Guatemala's most iconic volcanoes, rising to nearly 13,000 feet above the neighboring and continuously erupting Volcán de Fuego.

And the tribulations? In July 2022, Luis and his longtime friend Carlos arrived at Peru's Rainbow Mountain, believing days of trekking through the Andes had prepared them for the extreme elevation.

But high above 15,000 feet, Carlos began showing increasingly alarming symptoms of altitude sickness, transforming what should have been a relatively straightforward tourist trek into a frightening race to get him safely off the mountain.

What Luis encountered while catching up to his friend would leave him questioning just how badly the altitude was affecting Carlos' brain and body.

Then nearly two years later on Guatemala's Acatenango, history repeated itself.

Only this time, the situation became even more severe.