Blogs from Volcán Tajamulco, Western Highlands, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 2

Cold. Bleak. Depressing. Climbing the final ascent of Central America's highest peak was just plain frigid. Sure, it was summer below in Quetzaltenango but up there in the volcanic rise of Tajumulco hail was peppering our tents lightly as a polite patter to the not so polite rumble of my tent mate's snores. It was 4.30 Am and soon we were herded out of our tents by our school principal and a guy who looked a lot like an Ewok (However, I feel obliged to point out that he lacked the requisite agility and strength that they possess. This old geezer was always a good 45 minutes behind the group during the climb. Really, he only had the effusive body hair and sticks that he used for the dual purpose of a walking aide and to ... read more

Ok, so this may not have be the trip for most of you... but the experience was worth the effort for me. I don't know what to leave out so you can just do the editing for yourselves. On Friday evening met as a group at Quetzaltrekkers and got our gear: backpacks, sleeping bags, food, eating utensils, tents, etc. We had 15 people in the group including the two guides. My pack wasn't so heavy until I put in the required 3.5 liters of water. Our trip started the next morning at 5:00 when we (15 of us) loaded our gear and ourselves on the back of a small pickup truck to go the the local bus station. We had to stand on the back of the truck with our gear next to us and the ... read more