After we hiked Laguna Chicabal a week ago, Jeff declared it his last hike. Yet today, we conquered Santa Maria, Central America's second highest peak. Today was definitely one of the most physically demanding days of my life.
We began the hike at 5 am this morning. Our trekking group consisted of Senor Miguel, our supersonic guide; Karmen the French micro-financer turned traveler; Jacob our fellow ICA student from Denmark who is taking a year off between schools; Jon, a fellow UVA medical student, and Jing&Jeff. Our ICA jefe was kind enough to take us to the foot of the mountain in his pick-up truck. The drive was surprsingly only 20 min. When we neared our destination, Santa Maria loomed straight ahead, with a thin halo of dim clouds, awesome and intimidating even in the dark night.
We started up the mountain in the dark, not really seeing what was underfoot, concentrating on our steps and pushing quickly past the steep altitude. Though not a morning person, I was wide awake and alert with excitment. Soon after, the sky turned bright and we became much more aware of our surroundings and of each other. Our path was a narrow, muddy trail full of jagged small rocks that made each step a calculated decision. We alo realized that the path was peppered with large yellow excrements from cows and horses. While we must have sludged right through the poop in the dark, now we step even more carefully.
An hour into the hike, we entered an open, green field where Miguel signaled for a break. Boy was I relieved. We were all breathing deeply and showing beads of sweat at this point. Everyone dug into their food supply and ate a quick breakfast. For this hike, Jeff and I brought a loaf of delicious banana bread, 3 ham and cheese croissants, ritz crackers, oreos, oranges, 4 liters of gatorade, and 2 liters of water. You can imagine that we readily consumed our food and drinks througout the hike to get it off our backs. We ate our food while enjoying the already beautiful view. We could see the city of Xela and feel its wakening energy.
The rest of the climb showed us a different terraine and vegetation every 45 minutes. The open field and farm land ended very quickly. After which was all rich black soil that turned into slippery mud since the last night's hard rain. Parts of the trail were constantly sunken lower or washed away completely. The shrubs and trees here made me feel like I was walking through a jungle. Then we came upon rocks mixed witb thin soil and the vegetation thinned out. The most fun part of the hike was climbing up big rocks near the top where wild flowers were in full bloom and tipping gentlely in the wind.
The quick altitude increase meant we constantly got better and better views. We were only half way up Santa Maria when we surpassed all the neighboring mountains. The view of Xela in the valley blanketed by morning fog was incredible. Then when we climbed above the clouds and saw their movement in relation to the mountains below, everyone just stared in wonder. Of course the best view was the absolute top. We climbed to the highest rock on the peak, exhausted and content, and looked to the Pacific Ocean!!
Ater group photos, we heard a constant roar that was nearing very quickly. Our friend Jon, always the most alert and observant, shouted some profanity and pointed in the distance. My first thought was that a nearby volvano erupted. But looking at in the direction that Jon pointed to, it was actually a jet approaching us. How cool that we were sitting at the altitude that jets flew . Within seconds, we all quickly became alarmed as the jet was flying directly AT us!!! Jon was yelling at us to take a photo... as he was scrambling off the rock for shelter. I felt the rock tremble, sat there in awe as the jet glided within 20 meters (felt like it nearly skimmed my face), and only managed to snap a photo slightly too late. The six of us screamed in fright and delight and bonded over imaginary scenarios of what could have happened.
Did I already mentioned how challenging the hike was? OH. My. God!! I´ve never had to concentrate so hard just to make myself continue to walk. Granted, each step was more like a lunge for me pretty much the whole way up. We started to take breaks more frequently, but as soon as we started again, it felt like we hadn´t rested at all. The trekk down was just as hard. Jeff and I were slipping and sliding the whole way down, much slower than the rest of our group. At times, we would encounter the local women, wearing heavy traditional outfits, carrying flowers and gifts up the mountain and climbing the same trail wearing flip flops or kitten heel sandals. I looked at my own muddy hiking boots, felt my emerging blisters, and stopped my internal whinning for a little while.
The entire trip took 7.5 hours (4 up, 1 at the top, and the rest down). Jeff and I looked pretty dogged by the end of it all, but we felt very accomplished having finished the climb. Once again, Jeff declared this his last hike, EVER.
Couldn´t resist...
The next morning, already slighting Santa Maria.
No comments:
Post a Comment