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Published: April 20th 2008
From the Nose
Three Volcans, San Pedro in the foreground, then Tomilan with the large Atitlan in the middle. I think.Hola, Nick has allowed me this once to do a travel update. The reason being we did our first proper "hike" two days ago, and in order for me to be able to move on and maybe even do another "hike" i need to express my self in words. You´ll notice i put the word hike in speech marks...thats because it was a lie...and i am still trying to think of something more suitable!!!
Let me begin, we had a choice of two hikes, both leaving at 6am in the morning from San Pedro La Laguna, one was to go up Volcan San Pedro, and the other to go up "The Indians Nose"!! We chose the nose, a shorter hike, to a view point which over looks three of the volcanoes surrounding Lake Atitlan. It wasnt a cheap tour, so i was expecting maybe a nice little mini bus to pick us up from our hotel to take us to the foot of the mountain, then maybe a snack stop (i am fully recovered from the stomach bug!) before a gentle "hike" up to the view point...
What actually happened was, we arrived at 6am, and handed over to
View from the Nose 2
Little bit more perspective of the size with Lago Atitlan at the bottom. a tour guide who could have been no more than 20. We then proceeded ON FOOT around 2/3k to the next village and the foot of the mountain. I was actually quite lively at this point, a nice steady pace, cool morning breeze, everything all ok. The turning point was when we went through the entrance of the mountain path... i am sure i heard the guide set his stop watch! And we were off, hiking up the mountain. The path to begin with was fairly steep, but considering we were climbing up a mountain, you couldnt expect flat. However the higher we got, the trickier it became, and it also appeared that the spritely young guide was picking up even more speed. At some points of the hike, the rocks we had to climb up and over, really warranted a harness and ropes (ok so maybe that is an exageration, but my short ass legs did not help matters).
We were on the tour with one other american girl. As height increased so did the sweat, and i mean sweat. Nick was fairing slightly better than myself, and i was positioned firmly at the back of the line,
this itself was a mistake, as Nick was in front of me, and he hadnt had time for his morning bathroom visit before we left, so every so often, as i was mid gasp of air....i´d have to stop breathing entirely!!!! Nick on the other hand has never had clearer lungs!
Every so often we pleaded with the still not sweating tour guide for a pit stop...and to be fair he did allow us a couple of minutes once every hour (stoppping the timer as he did so), but really i needed more. I kept coming up with reasons to pause, a drink of water, take a photo, re do my bandana...but this didnt really gain me any restbite!
Anyway, despite thinking that i wasnt going to make it, three hours later we reached the top. And it really was worth the effort. The view was awesome. The guide even gave us 15 mins before we started our decent! It only took 2 hours to get back down, and we had cut an hour of the intended hike time, which pleased the guide, as he got to go home early!
Today is two days after our hike
More Volcans
Just liked this pic, sorry to bore you! and i am still in pain...but Nick is now currently looking up two day hikes...
See now i feel better for sharing :0)
We are currently in a town called Xela. And starting Spanish school tomorrow, so heaven help the locals when we become fluent. Nick will be updating our progress..probably in spanish!
Much love to you all
Traceyxx
PS...photos to follow
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Brilliant!
Love it