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Published: November 20th 2006
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Well, I finally did it! For a while now I had really been aching to get out and go camping. In Boone, NC it is so easy to just head out for a day or two. But here I can really only go on day trips which are nice but after awhile, just don´t do it for me. I knew I had wanted to do a hike with Quetzaltrekkers for a long time now, but I was worried cause it costs about $50 US to do the hike (though it includes gear, food, transportation when not hiking, etc) and since I have time here, I really didn´t want it to rain when I spend that much money and my ONE free weekend a month.
I woke up at 4 am Saturday morning and ate peanut-buttered toast, got my stuff packed together and headed to Casa Argentina where the Quetzaltrekkers office is located. There everyone met up and we took a very cold ride in a pick-up truck to the Minerva Terminal at 4:45 am. I have never seen this normally rambunchious bus terminal so quiet, inactive, and lazy (well it was 4:45 am). So we waited and waited until we
had some more folks on the bus and then we were off to San Marcos (not de la laguna). The bus ride sucked cause my ass fell asleep, but we finally got there and ate breakfast. From there we headed to a town located just below the beginning of the trail to Volcan Tajumulco. Tajumulco, which means Feet of Heaven in Mam-Maya (probably originating from the Olmec dialect to which Tajumulco was a major religious spot, check out my future entry of the ruins of Izapa. I will be going there in a few months, it is the origin of the Maya calendar and end-date philosophy.)
It was warm when we started out. The guides pointed out the volcano, from then on the clouds and fog were always in my sight. We took a really long time because many people were out of shape and/or highly affected by the altitude. I was at the front almost the entire time because I like being the first to arrive and not have anyone blocking my view of what´s ahead of me.
We got to the campsite just before dark and put up the tents and the guides got to cooking
dinner, which wasn´t half bad. We tried gathering around a fire pit and someone tried getting the fire going, pero no go. We borrowed some gasoline from our neighbors but it didn´t go too far. Everyone went to bed very early cause we were tired but nobody slept well.
We were warm but there was a group of deaf Guatemalans camping beside us and they le gusta la gasolina (ok, for those of you who have never heard this quite popular Reggaeton song, its called La Gasolina). Every 5 or 10 minutes we would hear from inside our tent "woosh" and see a huge flame erupt outside our tent. Quite annoying.
We woke up fresh at 4 am and got ready for our hour and a half hike up to the top of Volcan Tajumulco to see the sun rise. I didn't want to get up, but am really glad I somehow managed to do it. So in pitch black, freezing cold, we began the ascent to the highest point in Central America. When we finally got there it was incredible. The morning was somewhat clear and we could see the moon (which was in crescent form).
We chilled up there for about 2 hours and just enjoyed the 360 degree view. I found myself taking picture after picture and began to realize they all looked about the same (I took over 100 pictures over the whole trip). Then I realized that I could take all the pictures in the world but it would never give justice to the true feeling and awe that I felt when I was up there.
We eventually made it back down the volcano and packed up camp. We took an alternate route down the mountain which was nice and I think I like it even better cause we walked through some beautiful pine groves and the scenery was better (even though it wasn´t too far from the first pathway). When we got to the bottom, we caught a bus back to San Marcos and ate lunch in the same comedor where we ate breakfast the previous morning. Then, back to Quetzaltenango.
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