Couple on Travel Adventure Pose for Photo—Then Realize Their Mistake

A video of a couple at Guatemala’s Acatenango volcano who missed a spectacular eruption while attempting to capture the perfect photo has gone viral on TikTok.

The clip, posted by @women.love.wonder, has amassed over 927,000 views since it was posted on January 22 and highlights the unpredictability of nature—and the occasional downside of trying to document every moment.

The video, filmed from Acatenango, features the couple forming a heart shape with their arms, aligning their hands to match the peak of the volcano in the distance. Just as they focus on their pose, excited gasps and exclamations from onlookers fill the air as Volcán de Fuego, located roughly two miles away, erupts in the background.

The couple, unaware of the sudden spectacle behind them, drop their pose and turn around—catching only the aftermath of the eruption. A text overlay on the video humorously sums up the moment: “POV [point of view]: Missing the eruption trying to get a pic.”

Acatenango, one of Guatemala’s most famous volcanoes, offers a vantage point to observe Volcán de Fuego (the Volcano of Fire), one of Central America’s most active volcanoes. Overlooking the historic city of Antigua, located around 9.3 miles northeast of the Acatenango summit, the Fuego volcano is known for its frequent eruptions, often sending clouds of ash and lava flows down its slopes.

According to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, eruptions at Fuego have been well-documented since 1524, producing major ashfalls, pyroclastic flows and lava flows over the centuries. The institution notes that Fuego’s eruptions have become more mafic with time, meaning the volcano is expelling darker, denser lava with higher magnesium and iron content.

Fuego’s eruption activity has increased significantly in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Guatemala’s National Institute of Seismology, Volcanology, Meteorology, and Hydrology reported a major uptick in eruptions, prompting the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala to issue a warning on March 11 about hazardous conditions.

The embassy advised at the time that access to the Acatenango volcano had been suspended due to the danger posed by ongoing eruptions, adding that entry to Fuego’s crater and a nearby area known as “El Camellon” was also restricted.

According to The Associated Press (AP), nearly 300 families were evacuated, while another 30,000 residents were at risk as ash clouds and pyroclastic flow, a mix of ash, rocks and hot gases, continued to affect nearby communities.

An eruption of Fuego in 2018 killed 194 people, while 234 others were reported to be missing at the time, the AP reported at the time.

Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via TikTok. This video hasn’t been independently verified.