The missed moment #6: Popocatepetl
Photographing an active volcano has been at the top of my personal bucket list for a while now. When I lived in Europe, I extensively searched for active volcanoes, both in Iceland and Italy, all to no avail. I even earned the nickname “volcano extinguisher” because I always arrived just hours after the eruptions I intended to photograph had ended.
Last year, I tried to go to Guatemala to climb Acatenango and photograph Volcán de Fuego. It seemed like a foolproof plan, since that volcano hadn’t stopped erupting, at least in recent years. I chatted with local guides and mapped out a lightning-fast trip during a holiday, just to make sure I could capture lava being spewed. And, much to the dismay of the local tourism industry in Antigua, Volcán de Fuego suddenly stopped erupting and I didn’t even go through with the brief trip to Guatemala.
My bad luck with Volcán de Fuego didn’t stop there. Flying to Mexico at the end of June, I had high hopes of seeing it from the plane window as we passed over Guatemala. I kept my eyes glued to the map throughout the flight, but the weather below was completely overcast. When we supposedly flew over Guatemala City from the southeast, all I saw were the same clouds that had followed us from Panama to our landing in Mexico City.
The day after landing, we took a bus to Oaxaca, where I was attending a tropical biology and conservation conference. And in one unexpected moment during the ride, there it was outside the window: the majestic Popocatépetl, the tallest and most active volcano in Mexico. In the distance, completely snow-capped, with a huge plume of smoke and clouds beneath, set against a blue sky above. It could have been a contest-winning photograph.
Webcam view from 27/06/2025, the day of the first sighting. It didn’t look exactly like this from the bus, as the light was better, but the view was farther away and there were fewer clouds.
I was captivated by the landscape and convinced my colleague that we had to go there once we returned to Mexico City. We only had one day, so it was going to be a rushed and awkward expedition… but I was not expecting that much.
Popocatépetl a few days before the visit – high expectations (webcam view)
As usual, I kept checking the volcano’s webcams in the days before the visit, and they were already indicating that our quick trip might not be promising. Even so, I preferred to take the risk of seeing the volcano up close, since I’d heard from an old Mexican man that “a moment is better than never.” After all, natural phenomena are random and unpredictable, so there was still a chance, however small, of a pleasant surprise with Popocatépetl.
Popocatépetl the day before the visit – low expectations (webcam view)
Although it’s relatively close to Mexico City, getting to the volcano wasn’t easy. We left early, but traffic was already chaotic, with heavy congestion, streets closed for construction, and strange routes from the location app that got us lost. After three hours of driving to cover 80 km, all we saw, again, was lots of cloud cover. For brief moments, it seemed like the view of Popocatépetl would clear, but after a long wait, some cold, and a bit of hunger, we lost patience, knowing that the return trip would also be long.
My moment with Popocatepetl
When we got home, surprise number one: the door key had fallen into a hole in the car’s center console. We had to pry open the plastic casing and fish it out. Surprise number two came when I tried to open my bedroom door to rest. It had locked from the inside and I had to wait another two hours for a locksmith, who charged me more than the trip to the volcano itself.
As the saying goes, nature photography is like being a goalkeeper. You need practice, but a little luck helps too. I didn’t get to see Popocatépetl again, not even during takeoff from Mexico City. But as we flew over Guatemala just after sunset, I finally caught a brief glimpse of Acatenango and Volcán de Fuego. No lava, no smoke, but a colorful sky outlining the silhouettes of the mountains I’d wanted so badly to visit the previous year and hadn’t managed to while there were still eruptions.
Now I don’t have any active volcanoes on my radar, just the hope of a future eruption that won’t endanger local communities and that I might get a moment to photograph. Or perhaps, extinguish once again, as has happened for the past three years in a row.