CAUGHT ON CAM: Mexican streamer films Volcรกn de Fuego blowing its top
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Mexican streamer Adriano Zendejas, known online as Maestro Shifu, caught an extraordinary piece of luck during a live broadcast from Guatemala's Acatenango volcano when the neighboring Volcรกn de Fuego erupted directly in front of his camera. Zendejas had made the roughly six-hour overnight climb up Acatenango with a group of hikers hoping to watch the sunrise, and after hours of cloud cover threatening to ruin the view, the skies cleared just in time to reveal Fuego bursting with ash and glowing lava visible from about 18 kilometers away. The unscripted moment, captured live for his audience, quickly spread across social media as viewers marveled at the timing of the eruption coinciding almost exactly with the broadcast. Zendejas can be heard reacting with visible astonishment in the footage, urging his team to keep filming as the explosion lit up the night sky.
Fuego is one of Central America's most active volcanoes, known for frequent low-to-moderate explosions that regularly send ash plumes thousands of meters into the air, and Guatemala's volcanology institute, INSIVUMEH, has continued to report ongoing activity at the site in the days since the viral clip emerged. While the eruption Zendejas filmed was described as relatively low intensity by local standards, its visibility from such close range and the fact that it happened live on stream turned an already popular travel moment into a widely shared viral sensation. The episode capped off an eventful visit to Guatemala for the content creator, who had also documented a tense roadside dispute earlier in his trip before the volcanic footage overshadowed the rest of his journey online.