Wicho & Charlie's — Attraction in Sacatepéquez

What I liked: Cool welcoming in the morning. The staff in the shop is super nice and they create great atmosphere. Also breakfast was good. The selection of the cloths for rent and the included items. There’s really a lot of stuff and a good quality too. We didn’t have anything besides the shoes and we were all packed here! The camp in the mountain has a great view and it was fun to drink hot chocolate near the fire. An eye on sustainability and environment (vegan, food for dogs) Smart pauses during the route: just in the right places to get the rest.

Thinks to improve: Above all, communication. And logistics. There are plenty of examples, here are just some of them: some people ate their 2nd day breakfast (or half of it) during the 1st lunch because it wasn’t communicated at all that we carry together with lunch our breakfast. Only during the lunch guides told it to some people (when they spotted them already eating it), but not to the whole group. The situation with additional hikes wasn’t clear at all: in the shop they said that all info about Fuego will be provided by the mountain guides, but they communicated very few. When we got to the top, after 5 hours hike and resting for like 15 mins the team leader said that who wants to join need to leave in 30 mins for the new hike, and in this 30 mins you have to give them your part of water and breakfast (so partially unpack backpacks), find your room and bed, change your cloths, get ready etc. No additional info about difficulty or what we are going to see there was provided. There was some hurry and confusion. Funny because before that we lost at least 15 mins with the bus who made 33 persons wait because we had to do full gas 5 mins after we left the shop, for example… why not before? The team leader didn’t explain anything if you didn’t ask him specifically (info how to use poles on the downhill, security and rules on the track, timing for dinner, etc). Many things were left unexplained like if everyone makes this hike every week, but actually most of the grips was completely inexperienced. But at the end he didn’t forget to remember to leave a GOOD review and to mention that tips are appreciated. The food wasn’t enough especially if you plan additional hikes. Unfortunately I didn’t bring snacks with me (I’m 60 kg fit person and eat normal portions, so I thought what included would be enough). The main reason I didn’t go to additional hikes was that I didn’t bring snacks and didn’t have enough energy for additional activity. You should advise it better. Also dinner was so small (rice and lentils) that the guides thought well to prepare for themself chicken (very “vegan”) in front of us. I asked if there was some other food or snack and they said no. We didn’t feel welcome. Already from my review above you can understand why. But just to add: the guides were by themselves, they never mixed with us (on breaks, during free time). On the track I was in the middle and almost never seen them. I mean we had 5 guides for the group but it felt like two. Luckily I asked porter as additional service, William, he was great helping me with poles, telling how much time is to the next break, asking how I feel etc. Great person, but it’s extra cost and he’s not a guide, just a hospital person. In the night it was freezing and I asked the team leader for the sleeping bag. He seemed not happy, said that they are limited and he’ll bring it later to my room (I stayed in a double). But it never happened. Also to other 2 girls happened the same. Most people didn’t even know about this option, it was never communicated, if not in a the payment email with the small font which most people didn’t even realize they have to read in advance and that it was the unique place for info, because during the tour many things were not communicated.

Summarizing I felt like Wicho and Charlie’s is good company created by professional people, who try to give maximum, but unfortunately people on place manage it...

Our review is very much a story of two halves - firstly the guides / volcano experience, and secondly the agency itself.

Guides / volcano experience - overall can’t fault the guides (Jorge, Sergio, Geoffrey, Mauricio, and Daniel), if we were rating purely on the ‘on hike’ experience, we would have given this 5 out of 5. Positive: We had five guides for a group of ~30 which was great as meant on the hike up to base camp the group was able to split into groups of different abilities / speed Positive: All the guides were super friendly throughout, and couldn’t have done anymore to make this a great experience. Positive: The base camp itself was pretty nice. There are multiple dining rooms, chairs with great views over Fuego, and the loo was decent given it’s on a mountain. The sleeping bags were warm and the food was decent. Negative: My main recommendation for improvement would be to be clearer on expectations around difficulty of hikes for fuego and sunrise and relevant time constraints (eg to get to fuego for sunset / Acatenango summit for sunrise) so that people can make informed decisions about whether to join the group for these activities as there were a couple of occasions where the group were waiting for a long time for slower members meaning reaching the destination in time was at risk and those members felt pressure to stretch their limits as they’d already committed to the hike. Alternatively, always having enough guides for a fast and slow group no matter group size would help with this.

Agency Positive: The booking experience was very smooth - clear and easy to use website and multiple accommodation options for different budgets. Positive: They have all the specialist gear you need for the trip available to rent. Positive: The actual agency office is really nice, with a great breakfast provided the morning of the hike and beers/cokes provided on arrival back from the hike. Negatives: Pre-trip communication was very confusing. We received a couple of emails before the trip but info was often conflicting with the website, for example timings of return to Antigua. We were also advised to visit the office the day before the trip to select rental equipment in specific time slots, however when we went in the morning time slot we were told lots of the equipment wasn’t available as it was in the wash from the previous night’s tour (which is fair enough but don’t advise to come at that time) and when we returned in the afternoon time slot, the staff were having lunch and seemed annoyed that we were there. There was also no packing list shared prior to the trip making it difficult to ensure we had all the right stuff packed. Negative: The woman in the agency who we spoke to the day before the trip when we visited, and who was helping organisation the morning of the hike, was very rude and seemed very annoyed with us when we asked questions, didn’t put our bags exactly where she wanted them, etc. On first visit, we thought this was maybe a translation issue, but given consistency of attitude across interactions we don’t think it was. This gave us a really negative impression of the agency, and made us quite apprehensive for the hike itself. Negative: We received an email two days before the hike apologising for the guides not speaking fluent English. This made us quite nervous about the trip. This was almost offensive on their behalf as the guides’ English was sufficient to keep us safe and even have a bit of banter, and they absolutely made this trip for us, and it was the agency which let them down.

Overall we had a great experience but the pre-hike organisation / experience could do with some...

My friends and I just went on the Acatenango and Fuego with this tour group and it was incredible!!

Main points: The guides - Sergio, Jeffrey, Daniel, Mauricio, and Jorge - were absolutely incredible! Super friendly, supportive, and I felt completely safe with them :) The food is catered by Once Once, a nearby vegan restaurant that's one of our favorites in Antigua. Their burritos, bowls, and hot chocolate at the mountain summit SLAPPED. The hikes were absolutely worth it. With minimal cloud cover and an active Fuego volcano, we witnessed lava flows and eruptions throughout the night and captured incredible footage.

Now for the details: The trip consisted of one full day of hiking, an overnight stay at base camp, and a second morning. There were two required hikes (to and from base camp) and two optional ones. The optional hikes included an evening sunset trek from Acatenango lookout to Fuego lookout, and a 4 AM summit hike up Acatenango to watch the sunrise. General level of difficulty for all the hikes were manageable but I definitely felt like the hardest hike by far was the hike to the base camp (which we were pushing pace on) ~ Because our group ended a whole hour earlier than anticipated. :') It might be more chill for you all.

Regarding the optional hikes, two people in our group highly recommended the Fuego trek as unmissable. The third person preferred to stay at base camp to watch the eruptions, noting that during the return hike after sunset, you miss some eruptions since your back faces the mountain. Our fourth friend chose to relax at camp with the other hikers, enjoying s'mores, hot chocolate, and dinner—a decision they did not regret. Take from these experiences what you will. For those interested in the Fuego hike, you'll get remarkably close to the volcano. The difficulty is moderate, with an 850 ft elevation gain over 2 hours on the way there, and a 950 ft gain over 2 hours on the return journey (after sunset).

The sunrise hike was short, but the mountain summit was freezing with strong gusting winds. I strongly recommend layering up. In retrospect, two people in our group felt it wasn't worth it since we weren't prepared for the cold. Though we didn't want to miss any experiences, and honestly, if we did it again, we'd probably still go for it and layer up a bit more!

Here are some important details that weren't clearly stated on the website:

The base camp hike is divided into two sections. For the first half, you only need a day pack since a vehicle transports your main gear. For the second half, you'll carry all your equipment. Pack both a large bag for your two-day essentials and a smaller bag for the first 2.5 hours of hiking. At base camp, they request 1 liter of water from each person to prepare hot chocolate at night and coffee/tea in the morning. Pack an extra liter for this. We each brought 4 liters, which was plenty, though 2.5 liters would be the minimum needed. The Wicho and Charlie rental store provides almost everything except hiking shoes (including jackets, water jugs, and bags). Bring your own hiking socks—their store-bought ones aren't great quality and gave me some blisters. Absolutely bring your own gloves and bean. The gloves that you can rent from the store are mainly to protect your hands during hiking and aren’t great to keep your hands warm in the cold. I would even go as far as saying to bring a thin pair for 90% of the hikes and pack a thick winter glove for the top of Fuego and Summit because you’re going...