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Published: December 24th 2007
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Well, after starting with a bang and writing 3 blogs in the first week i´ve returned to my old ways and seem to always find something else I´d rather do. So I guess I have a lot of catching up to do.
The hike. It was great. Started off early one morning with 9 customers and 3 guides. We we´re a motley crew of different nationalities. Me, the lone canadian, a few americans, a 63 year old dannish guy, a couple of germans, one spaniard, an isreali and a 43 year old english guy that is biking (on a bicycle) from Alaska to the southern tip of Argentina to raise money for cancer. His name is Murray Sparks and you can check out his web site if you´re interested at
www.peaktopeak.co.uk/
These days were an excellent experience
We awoke the first morning ready to tackle the mountains to find one of our guides (the spaniard) had been pukeing all night from a stomach virus and would not be making the trek. Then we were 11. We lifted our packs and started out from Nebaj. In the afternoon one of the young americans started to
fall behind a bit. It seemed something had struck him as well and he was having a hard time continuing. We divided his pack amongst us and he spent the rest of the afternoon struggling with the altitude and hot sun. We reached our destination in the late afternoon. An old schoolhouse in a mayan village nestled in the forest on the side of a mountain. Everything very basic. Most of the houses were of wood or concrete with aluminum roofing. Not everyone had electricity yet or indoor running water. I would estimate no more than 50-60 people lived there.
As we arrived all the kids came over to the schoolhouse to stare at us, play with us and laugh at the gringos in their funny clothes. Most of the people we encountered on the trek still dressed in traditional mayan clothes. Always the women, it was a little mixed with the men. The whole trek was like this. From village to village the kids would come running out of there houses to wave, say hi and have a laugh. They don´t get a lot of tourists up there so its a bit of an event for them.
There we´re seldom roads and not too many tourists hike for days to get to these places. The locals either walk in and out to get supplies or by donkey or horse.
We dined that evening on corn tomales, rice and beans with a local family. Washed ourselves in their "sauna". Thanked them for their hospitalty and returned to our schoolhouse to find our young friend pukeing. He would not be continueing with us. The next day he made the hike back to Nebaj. Then we were 10.
We started day 2 at 3:30 in the morning. It was the longest day of the trek and required an early start. We climbed the steep winding trail up the mountain in darkness. Navigating with the light beams of our headlamps. It was very steep. After about a half hour the group had dispearsed a bit an those of us up front stopped to wait for the trailers. It seemed the 63 year old danish man couldn´t make it and decided to go back and hike out at daylight with the american. It was super impressive that he made it through the first day at his age. Then
we were 9. About 10 minutes after that another guy started pukeing (a young american travelling with his girlfriend). Again we divided his pack amongst us and he continued.
We reached the summit and ate breakfast watching the sun rise over the mountains. Excellent! The rest of the day was spent hiking over a high alpine plateu at about 10,000 feet. Lots of small villages up there and great scenery. Unfortunatly this poor guy kept pukeing about every 15 min. He couldn´t keep water or food down. Which was not good on this long a hike, at those altitudes and in that heat. We were all a bit worried and his girlfriend kept getting hysterical and crying. Despite the amazing place we were group moral was not at its highest. If any of you have had food poisoning before think about having to hike 10 hours through remote mountains with it. We made it to our destination. All of us (that were left) and had a freezing cold broken down old shack waiting for us. No doors and a dirt floor but with an amazing view over the valley below. We froze in our sleeping bags that night.
Sleeping in the dirt and listening to the sounds of dogs coming into the shack and sniffing around for food. In the morning the american guy and his grilfriend hike 20 min to the nearest road and took a bus to the nearest town to go to a clinic. Then we were 7.
The next couple days were the same as the first few. Beautiful scenery and great hospitality. No one else got sick except for a little diarea but thats to be expected here.
The magnificent 7 arrived in Todos Santos ready to sink some hard earned beers. Apparently this is the place to do it. Our guides said the town has a bit of an alcohol problem. The streets were full of drunks when we got there. Hammered, everywhere. It should be mentioned that this area is also interesting because all the men still dress in traditional clothing. Same pants and jackets but with different designes embriodered on their hats and collars representing their family. So we joined in the festivities until 6:30pm when the bars close because if they stay open no one makes it to work the next day. I´ve met everyone
that got sick recently and they´re all fine. It was some kind of aomebas or bacteria and they´re taking medication now. Common thing down here. Hygien isn´t really the tops.
Now I´m back in Xela (Quetzaltenango) and just finished a week of spanish classes. Been living with a family here which includes 3 meals a day. My spanish definatly isn´t conversational but I can make my way around the markets, restaurants and bus terminals now. I was going to go back to San Pedro to celebrate Christmas with all the other tourists but the family I´m staying with asked me to stay with them. So a traditional Guatemalan Christmas should be fun.
I´ll be heading to the Copan ruins in Honduras on the 26th or 27th. Then on to Nicaragua from there.
Merry Christmas to Everyone.
Don
Oh ya, they have Egg Nog here which we don´t have in Sweden and the rum is really cheap so it will be a Feliz Navidad!!
.
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James
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Hey D.J. the trip sounds awesome, that hike sounds amazing and crazy at the same time. Missed you this christmas, see you next time your in Ontario. James