Worth the Pain?

Vale la pena? Unfortunately, my crappy camera doesn’t quite capture how amazingly gorgeous this view is. It just took every last bit of my willpower to get there. The volcanoes and mountains of Central American offer some of the best hiking around. Much of the terrain is manageable for amateurs and relatively safe. Volcan Tajumulco, at nearly 14,000 feet is the tallest peak in Central America, thus one of the most popular hikes here. A group of 17 people from my school, led by one maestro, decided to make the journey to the top of Central America to see Sunday’s sunrise. Since I love to go to the tops of things, I jumped at the opportunity. The plan was to leave Xela at 10:00 PM Saturday, arrive at the base at 1:00 AM, hike for 4 hours to the top, wait for sunrise, then hike back down and head home.

First, since I failed to bring a winter hat or gloves to the tropics, I had to rent some. There’s a group here in Xela called Quetzaltrekkers that does weekly hikes to various local volcanoes. They have lots of warm clothing to rent. We could have gone with them also. They were leaving Saturday morning and planned to camp on the mountain for the night, then wake up to catch the sunrise. But we planned to hike up Saturday night and avoid carry the camping gear. I tried taking a nap Saturday afternoon, but I guess I was too excited, so that didn’t happen. So off we went at 10 Saturday night. We had a couple of private shuttle vans take us to the base of the mountain. The trip took about two-and-half hours and since we were driving on Guatemalan roads, there would be no sleeping on the way either. I wasn’t worried though, I was feeling great.

We arrived at the base, probably about a mile below the summit altitude-wise and several miles of trails to the top. We all bundled up, gathered our flashlights, water and snacks, and joyfully started our ascent on schedule at 1 in the morning. We were fortunate that it didn’t rain, except for some spitting now and then, as we didn’t have to worry about the cold nearly as much. Our leader had told us to all keep together, so with 17 people of different hiking ability, it made it slow. The first hour was almost entirely a dirt road. Why we couldn’t have driven up that far, I’m not sure, but it was pretty easy. Then we got into a meadow, which switched to a forest, which switched to another meadow, which switched to another forest, which switched to another meadow. We were now about 2.5 hours into the hike and we had a beautiful view of the lights of the surrounding towns below, plus we could see the top of the volcano. It still looked far away, mostly because it was. The temperature had dropped to the 30s, but I was sweating. Still, I started to notice the lack of sleep. My legs were beginning to burn a bit. The altitude was making me feel drunk. And the terrain was getting steeper. There were a couple of people who would have preferred to stop right there, but most of the group maintained a go-get-em attitude.

The next 1.5 hours finally produced some casualties. It had been four hours of hiking and we were supposed to be at the summit already, but we still weren’t really close. About seven people couldn’t go on anymore, but that wasn’t going to stop the rest of us. We didn’t manage to stay together, fracturing off into smaller groups. There was a group ahead of me, and a group behind me. I was exhausted, but determined. Eventually, Raji and I were on our own. She was the wind beneath my wings. Around 6 am, the sun started to come up and we were close to the top. Due to the clouds, it wasn’t quite as spectacular as it could have been, but it was amazing. Finally, around 6:15, we joined another group at the top, and the other group was right behind us.
It’s tough to tell, but that’s the horizon meeting the Pacific Ocean behind us, about 150 miles away. It was freakin’ cold up there though, so we didn’t bask in the beauty for too long. We all reconvened just down the mountain and ate some banana/apple/yogurt breakfast. My old legs were not happy that I was still walking on them, but we couldn’t wait to get back to the vans. The hike down took about 2.5 hours and by the end of it, even the young people were exhausted and bitching.

I’d have to say it was the most difficult physical activity I’ve ever done. I had completely underestimated how difficult it would be. Particularly since I had a similar view just two months ago in Hawaii. A volcano that Scott and I drove up. But I’m also proud of myself for doing it. I was so tired when we got back to the vans that I slept most of the way back to Xela. I got home around noon, showered, and only allowed myself to sleep for three hours, before getting up and getting some food. I did nothing but watch the Twilight series in Spanish all day. (I’d kill myself to have to watch them in English, but they’re really good in Spanish because the dialogue is slow and basic And I’m totally on team Jacob!) I still haven’t made it to the fair yet, but tomorrow is Guatemalan Independence Day, so it’ll be spectacular. My legs are still sore, but it’s a good sore, ya know?