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Published: December 17th 2007
Where to begin, I am not so sure so I will back up to the last e-mail. Since our last e-mail Tim got the job at the guide shop, the name of it is Old Town Outfitters. Those of you that don’t know Antigua means antique, this is a very old colonial town, hence Antigua or Old Town. Here is the link to the place Tim works www.adventureguatemala.com careful you might want to visit after reading all the different adventures you can go on!
Which leads me to our next topic, we have moved into a small 2 bedroom house (room for guests) it is quite quaint and cute. This house also has a roof view however it is not nearly as good a view or garden (YET) but we do have a lime and papaya tree! The house is just on the out skirts of town but still in town and at the beginning of a nice country road that leads me to my school. I am excited to ride my bike to school every morning so I can stare at the three volcanoes surrounding me, what a lovely way to start a work day. One of the volcanoes
ROOF TOP TREES
These are the lime and papaya trees that we can pluck from our roof.(la fuego) goes off almost daily and every few months makes some noises and spits some rocks and lava too.
I am not working yet because the school year here starts in Jan. and ends in Oct. However I have been day dreaming and making up all kinds of lesson plans for the school year. Thank god teaching requires organization skills; I finally have something to use my organization skills for besides driving Tim crazy around the house!
We are also new foster parents, no not a child, although we have talked about that someday too. We are helping out with a three week old baby puppy that was near death and in the middle of the road. I feel for all you moms out there breast feeding and waking up in the middle of the night!
There is already an animal rescue group going. So I called to see what we could do to help. This is why we are fostering a puppy and will be fostering other dogs through out the year. Don’t worry Singer your still our favorite (our dog at home that Tim’s parents are graciously watching…..again for us). Here just like
in Taiwan there are lots and lots and lots of strays. Over population and starvation and disease become a problem and the dogs (or any animals) are not held very high in respect. Very often you will see a stray running around with a small plastic rope around its neck so that when it grows the dog will slowly die from choking. It is heart breaking and so far only one dog has trusted me enough to come close enough for me to take the plastic rope off it its neck. I will attaché a poem that Tim wrote two years ago when we were in Taiwan and he was watching the life of stray dogs.
Now on to a more up-lifting subject! The other day Tim’s company took their annual Christmas party trip. This year it was to Tajumulco, the tallest point in all of Central America, an old dormant volcano. It is located near the Mexican border and takes a good 6-8 hours just to get there even though it is a small distance of 300 or 400 km give or take. It makes you realize how differently we measure time and distance when traveling on interstates
back home. The roads here are mostly single lane and there is lots of road construction going on. So a road could be closed for an hour or they take you on the only random detour possible that leads you down into a small village and back up on very windy dirt roads and up hills that end 30 mins later. The whole time you are on the road your dealing with crazy chicken bus drivers passing any where especially on blind corners. These busses will raise your adrenaline and make you feel like you’re in the Romancing the Stone movie! Not to worry though since we have been in Guatemala we have had more rides with friends than with the busses, not sure why I thought those busses where so fun the other times I visited. Perhaps I am getting older; I am turning 31 on the 20th of this month! The busses are definitely the signature mark of Guatemala. It just isn’t a true experience of trust in fate with out them.
Oh yeah, so once we got to our destination we had a problem to figure out, how to get nine bikes up to 13,824ft (close
THE HIGHLANDS
Looking down on the small pueblo as we begin to ascend with the clouds. to Mt. Rainier’s height)! Horses are an amazing animal is all I have to say! We got to our destination just before dark. That is around 6 ish here, equal days and night since we are so close to the equator. By that time fog and coldness was setting in and we were all grateful to see a fire already going from other campers! They shared it with us until the horses arrived with all our warm clothes. We quickly set up camp and made a fire and then the good times began. First we had hot chocolate which is a real treat at such a high altitude, then a huge dinner and next a white elephant gift exchange! I think Tim and I made out like bandits! Then a little bit of celebration as some alcohol was passed around to warm the body and tired muscles. That was all we needed we were off to bed with some sugar plums dancing in our heads, for in the morning we would be making the summit. What an amazing experience and view to have. The summit for being so high had no snow fields or glaciers because we are in Central
Mts. Awakening with the Sunrise
This is looking back at Agua, Acatenango and La Fuego (the one smoking). The volcanoes that surrond Antigua. America. The next part was a bit much for me but great fun to be had for all of Tim’s die hard adventure seeking Mt. biking co-workers. Yup we rode our bikes down from base camp. Or should I say I walked my bike more than I rode it down but hey I tried it and they did it! It was definitely a bit crazy in my book.
Right now Tim is off learning how to guide on Pacaya a very active volcano here that has lava flowing, like the volcanoes in Hawaii. He is learning this trip so that we can take a group on Christmas Eve! I could not imagine a better place to be on that day, since we are not near family. After we get home on the 24th there will be big celebrations starting at midnight here and including lots and lots of fireworks! I am very excited to see what it is like down herefor Chrstmas. Already there is so much festivity in the air and lots of activities happening this month. We will keep ya posted on the trip so look for a Christmas day blog! Lots of love to ya all
Nat and Tim! P.S. Google Earth is tons of fun if ya want to see where we are talking about!
Tim’s Part
Where to begin? Again! I am sitting in our cozy little home that Natalie has been working diligently on turning homey. Christmas Lights are up, of course, and a puppy so the floor is littered with newspaper. Natalie is sleeping after cashing in on the massage I promised her for putting up with me and another one of my mountain biking charades again.
Tajumulco was an incredible trip for both of us. Not only did we get to bond with the new crew during the many van hours, we got to top out on Central America. Hiking up the volcano was interesting. It wasn’t hard considering our bags and bikes were on the horses. Some people actually rode and pushed their bikes up instead of having the horses port them. Those people happen to be in really good shape. Riding up hill from 10,000 to 13,000 feet is quite an undertaking. Personally, I had an altitude headache that started shortly after arriving at our camp. It didn’t clear up and the rum didn’t help so I
spent a long night tossing and turning. However, that meant I was awake for sunrise so Natalie and I got the show. It was a splendid morning.
After breakfast we sent the horses packing and headed to the summit without our bikes. We camped a little ways below the summit. Then we came back down to grab our bikes and bomb it down. There were three of us shooting video of various types on the way down. Some helmet-cam and some still video shots. We might compile them into a little documentary for fun at some point. The riding down turned out to be much harder than we expected. Near the top the volcanic gravel and rocks were very rolley under tire and you couldn’t really tap the brakes without spilling. We all took some good spills I think. Further down the mountain we took rolling ridge-line traverses that were pretty nice sections of trail with steeper technical spots mixed in; lots of ruts and drops of sorts and trees. A lot of the mountain’s landscape reminded me of sparsely wooded mountain tops in western Montana.
It was a really fun trip that we all wished was a
little closer to home. So we could do it more frequently. We were especially wishing for home when we had to wait in two different spots for construction; about a half hour each. Then we got sent on a detour that dropped us down really steep and narrow roads through some villages and then back up the hill out of the narrow canyon on a dirt road. The dirt road was delightfully dusty and laden with diesel smoke from the Chicken Bus in front of us. I think the detour took about an hour and spit us out about eight miles up the highway from where we started it. What a treat. Luckily, Matt (the boss) had country roads handy for the stereo. Perfect music! Natalie mentioned all the way down the Volcano she was just wishing for a nice country road. And I noted that my folks played and sang that song at our reception. Hence it made a nice theme for the trip. I also think life, marriage and friendships are like traveling a country. The scenery is always changing and the company’s always good. Thanks all for joining us on this road.
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Aana
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Amazing
Great pictures. Absolutely beautiful country. As I read about your latest adventure, I couldn't help but think back through time. Who would have thought that we would be spending Christmas in such amazing places. We are truly blessed. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a joyous New Year!