My first proper hike in Mexico

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Cerro Colorado is a small mountain about 3km from Tehuacan, and it's famous among locals for a few reasons; there are some caves up there that were used during the Mexican revolution, some pyramids built by the people who predate the Aztec civilization, and there's a few other reasons to go up too. The views are pretty spectacular, for one.

We, half a dozen teachers and our guide (Ruben), started early at 8am so as to avoid trying to hike upwards in the midday sun. After walking for about 15 minutes from the city center, we came upon a sign detailing that we were walking into an ecological reserve. Ruben explained to us that there are quite a few plants that are uniquely Tehuacanian (No idea if that's the correct term... It'll suffice!), and thus we would be in for a bit of a botanical treat there. Alas, I lack both the knowledge and the interest in the subject to take much more from seeing these plants than an occasional simple murmuring that some of them were quite pretty. My impression of the terrain was that it was very different to any other landscape I've ever hiked in; I'm used to hiking in jungle after having done so in both Taiwan and Indonesia before. It was dry, the plants were all desert species, and it was very rocky. The basin into which Tehuacan has just been built was actually under the sea in ancient times, and this is evident to the naked eye when you peruse the smooth pebbles that are strewn plentifully around you everywhere you walk. Another feature was the mist enveloping the mountains, which I'll go into shortly.

The first part was just a rocky, but fairly flat, trail. The second part is a steep incline that leaves you huffing and puffing. We reached the peak, and felt blast of cold air when we set foot on the rocky plateau, upon which a big white cross has been erected. We ate lunch, and relaxed (ignoring the religious iconography, and attempting to feel spiritual, in my case) and took in quite a scenery. It was about 12pm, and the mist had surrounded the mountains quite thoroughly. There were gaps though, and through those gaps you could look at the verdant green, lush, rolling hills that the people have been utilizing here for centuries. It's hard to put a scenery like that into words, because I loved the historical significance and identity of what I was looking at just as much as I loved the exotic feel of the panorama afforded to us.

After this pause for both food and thought, we took a meandering, narrow route into a little corner of the mountaintop to see a kiln/forge that was used to make munitions and ammunition during the Mexican revolution. My revolution history is not up to scratch yet, so I'll not put a date on it. It piqued our curiosity though, and we headed for the next destination, and the definite highlight of the day, having had a tantalising touch of history as a warm-up.

Our next destination was a little further away, and worth it. We walked through the thick vegetation into a clearing (no, you're not reading the Lost World...) And saw some huge mounds of earth, rock, and vegetation in the center. Ruben, our guide, explained that we were looking at pyramids built by the Popolocan people before the Aztecs conquered the area. He estimated them to be about 700 years old, and added that during the conquest of the Popolocans by the Aztecs, the people would have fought and died all around the area to keep their independence. We asked a lot of questions whilst I marvelled at how easy Ruben was to understand, and at how readily he had pertinent information to hand on the topic. I felt a reverence for the pyramids; they're perfectly visible, yet they're as old as most castles in Europe, and were built by a people who never advanced past the stone age. I love my history and languages, and we moved to discussing the language that the Popolocans spoke and wrote in; called Popoloco. Ruben informed me that there are people alive today who can write in the original symbols. Most colloquial languages here have taken the Roman alphabet, and that's a shame to me; the symbols are a totally different writing method, and I'd love to learn a pictographic language that was created before English, as I know it, was being spoken. I suspect I don't have enough time left in Mexico, so I'll endeavour to make inroads into that ambition in Peru.

Back to the hike! We left the pyramids after seeing a beetle and a scorpion under an upturned rock (Ruben informed us that the beetles bite could cause necrosis of the skin, meaning that your skin starts to decay whilst you're still alive...) And we were also informed of wild cows being the main inhabitants of the mountaintop now. Ruben recounted having been chased by one on one of his many hikes in the area. We trickled back down to our lunch spot, and were met with clear skies and quite a view of the surrounding City, farms, and hills for quite a distance. It was particularly beautiful, since we realised how lucky we were to have seen both sides to the mountainous weather; Scottish highlands-esque mist, and very Mexican sunshine and clear, cool air.

On our return trip down, we meandered to take in the side of some cliffs that had been worn into being by the seemingly incessant energy of the sea that was formerly there. Photos were taken, and we moved on. Going down was easier than going up, but the weather was hotter and there were pockets of very humid air around us. We were all very happy and pretty tired once we reentered civilization and bought a beer and snacks to round off what was a particularly good day!

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