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Published: March 19th 2010
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On The Truck
At the trail head of Volcan Santiaguito trek Time for trekking!
We started off our trek in the ruins of Viejo Palmer (old Palmar) a town that was destroyed twice, once by volcanic eruptions in 1902 and then by an earthquake in 1976. Needless to say eventually they gave up and built Nuevo Palmar a few kilometres away. We had a very hot and sticky trek but luckily after a mere 20 minutes of walking (which involved crossing a very rickety, very long wooden bridge above a canyon - pretty tricky with our rucksacks!) we came to a river where we swam, or rather sat, in the lovely warm volcano heated water! For the first 2 or 3 hours we trekked through a savanna area, which was very sunny and hot but had fantastic views of Santa Maria and Santiaguito, Santa Maria being the big volcano shaped volcano in the pictures and Santiaguito it´s very active cone, (although from most angles it looks like a separate volcano). We had a great group of trekking buddies, an Aussie and an American guide (who were both volunteers), and 4 other Americans including a history teacher, a marine biologist and a peace corps volunteer, who were all very interesting to talk
Indiana Jones Bridge 1
Volcan Santiaguito trek to (I know, and they were American!!!)
After the savannah we walked through banana plantations, jumping out of the way of the many workers going the other way. We thought our packs were heavy but these guys (and women) were carrying massive weights of wood and crops, and all on their foreheads! A quick "buenas" or "dias" and they were off, presumably (and understandably) with too much to think about without saying the whole phrase! After the plantations we started to ascend through rainforest and bamboo forest to our campsite for the night, a lookout 2 kms away from Santiaguito, and trust me, 2kms is close enough! It was a tough walk, especially with the heat and with our packs. We were carrying parts of tents, food, sleeping bags and lots of water! But it was well worth it, as we set up camp for the night we had a chance to relax, (Ben somehow bagsied a shoulder massage from a fellow trekker, a 65 year old American guy who was a professional massage therapist!) and use the toilet (using the aptly named "%&$* kit" (use your imaginations), which involved a shovel, loo roll, hand sanitiser and hole in
Swim stop 1
Volcan Santiaguito trek the ground. Santiaguito was erupting constantly and we kept hearing massive roars and seeing lots of smoke, and at 8pm we were rewarded with a huge eruption, where we could see and hear the red hot rocks rolling down the side of the volcano. A pretty impressive sight! There were eruptions all through the night but everyone was a bit too tired to have a look!!
Next morning we retraced our steps with lighter packs and detoured to have lunch and a swim in a beautiful lake where some local kids were diving for mussels. After a very hot and sticky 2 days it was very very refreshing! We had a beer that evening back in Xela with some of the guides, in a place called "Pool and Beer", which is exactly what it says on the tin!
A couple of days after the trek we visited Fuentas Georginas, another natural volcanic spring. We shared our journey up with a Spanish guy who was talking to the driver, and made us realise that we don´t understand a word of Spanish that isn´t Latin American!!! Woops... The springs were very nice and you could swim up to the boiling
water pouring out of the rockface.
It was lucky we had a relaxing day as that evening at 11pm we donned our backpacks and headed back to Quetzaltrekkers for a midnight feast of vege chilli (after a dinner of curry, a lethal combination, but possibly this assisted us in our next task...). We weren´t going insane (or possibly we were) or thinking we were back in UK time, as were really were starting a trek in the middle of the night! Our destination was the top of Santa Maria, which we climbed in the dark (with 2 dogs who came with us to the very top, and also escorted us back down!). It was tough, even though our packs were lighter, as the 4 hour 15 minute steep ascent in the dark was a mental test as well as a physical one. Especially when we estimated we had 15 minutes left only to be told "well done guys, only an hour to go!!" But we made it (among the first up!) and unrolled our sleeping bags to get a bit of sleep. This was no ordinary nap however, 1. I have never been so cold in my life (even
Indiana Jones Bridge 2
Volcan Santiaguito trek in England!), so cold it took me 10 minutes to get my sleeping bag out of its sack, 2. We were sleeping on a rockface angled down (so much that you had to prop your feet up with shoes or a bag in order to prevent yourself sliding right off the volcano, 3. If you had slid off the volcano, you might (if you were very very unlucky and possible flew a bit) fall directly into the erupting cone of Santiaguito! Not a bad view!!
However our efforts were worth every step as each of us emerged from a surprisingly good sleep to the most incredible sunrise and view. We could see volcanoes in both directions, as far as Mexico. The fault line (between 2 tectonic plates which I forget the names of) was clearly visible , as you can see from the photos. A really unforgettable experience. To top it off, Saniaguito provided us with some spectacular eruptions throughout the morning, while we shivered in our sleeping bags and drank lots of hot chocolate! We came back down to Xela that day, and dirty and tired, but very happy, packed ourselves right onto a chicken bus to Lago
Atitlan... see next blog!
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Sheila Wells
non-member comment
Wow
Guys, that looks amazing. Makes our travels seem very tame! Sheila and Jeff