So what does the ordinary person do at 4:15am on a Sunday morning when they find themselves in Xela in northern Guatemala? Why, they get up and go volcano climbing, no reason not to I would say.
After the last attempt at getting the BIG that failed dismally I decide that another volcano, much higher makes sense. It seems that Earl has buggered off to torment some other third world nation and has given Guatemala a breather. The skies have lightened and the cloud base has started to lift, great conditions. Originally I had hoped to climb the highest point in the country but time and budget have worked against me. I have to settle for the third highest, volcano Santa Maria, at a paltry 3772m or 12375 feet for the non metric. Nothing really high but should be a decent lung buster.
Interesting fact about Xela at 5am, very little traffic. Interesting fact about Xela minibus drivers at 5am, due to no traffic they drive like coca leaf chewing Indy 500 amateur wannabe racing car drivers. Everyone knows that you can take a 90 degree corner on a narrow cobbled street at 60 miles an hour, why wouldn't you??? Sometimes traffic can be a blessing as it forces these insane dudes to actually chill out a little bit, not much but something is better than nothing!
After collecting my climbing companions for the day, 2 local dudes and their 2 Italian mates we head off into the dark early morning. Super insane minibus dude gets us there in record time and with squealing tyres we are deposited at the start of the trail. Looking up the valley at the mountain, we all say "That looks quite close", little do we know!
So off we go, trekking on up the lowlands into the wonderful forest area. One very sad thing about Central America is the insane amount of litter. Literally everything is thrown onto the ground, with absolutely no consideration for the environment. Rivers are used as rubbish dumps, trucks literally pull up to the river bank and dump the garbage down the slope into the river, it is so sad to see. I have purposely not taken any pictures of this as I get too stressed out. I asked the guide today about this and naively said to him that kids should be taught at school not to litter. His response, most of the culprits never went to school in the first place!
Anyway, moving onto something more positive, for once the clouds are keeping away, no rain, lovely sunshine and the views as we climb are getting better by the minute. The Guatemalans apply the same principle to mountain paths as the Nepalis do; "The shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line, regardless of the angle of ascent". The path is literally 1400m of altitude gain, straight up the mountain, no contours or gentle gradients!
This route is a hell of a calf buster and you can feel the strain building as you slog your way up. One thing I love about the Italians is their capacity for extreme profanity, rivalled only by the Cape Coloured community in South Africa. The Italian lady who was clearly not enjoying the climb totally turned the air blue with what she was saying, every two steps resulted in another outburst which in my perverted mind I found hilarious! One other challenge we have on jungle/forest trails in Central America is that they have been cut for growth impaired hobbits... I spent the bulk of the climb with my knees in my face, and man I have ugly knees, I never realized how ugly!! Plays havoc on your back too.
After tailgating the poor guide for 3 1/2 hours we eventually make the summit. I'm sure I put the fear of God into these tiny dudes, this large gringo lumbering along right behind them, one of my strides equal to 27 of his, poor bugger. At least I gave him a decent tip to make up for the close following. He gives me a fist bump on the summit and says, "you da man Andres, you da man!". Loving my Spanish name...
When you get to the top there are loads of locals wailing hysterically and bent over in intense prayer, crying out literally with tears streaming down their faces. I asked the guide about this and apparently this mountain was a Mayan holy place and now in Guatemala there is a lot of mixing of Mayan and Christian beliefs so the folk there are calling to Santa Maria on a Mayan holy site, fascinating to say the least. After an hour it's time to do the trip in reverse. This time it's the knees that suffer but hey-ho, no pain, no gain!
The drive back to the city, calm and sedate!! Bring on the traffic....
Hasta Luego
Andrew
After the last attempt at getting the BIG that failed dismally I decide that another volcano, much higher makes sense. It seems that Earl has buggered off to torment some other third world nation and has given Guatemala a breather. The skies have lightened and the cloud base has started to lift, great conditions. Originally I had hoped to climb the highest point in the country but time and budget have worked against me. I have to settle for the third highest, volcano Santa Maria, at a paltry 3772m or 12375 feet for the non metric. Nothing really high but should be a decent lung buster.
Interesting fact about Xela at 5am, very little traffic. Interesting fact about Xela minibus drivers at 5am, due to no traffic they drive like coca leaf chewing Indy 500 amateur wannabe racing car drivers. Everyone knows that you can take a 90 degree corner on a narrow cobbled street at 60 miles an hour, why wouldn't you??? Sometimes traffic can be a blessing as it forces these insane dudes to actually chill out a little bit, not much but something is better than nothing!
After collecting my climbing companions for the day, 2 local dudes and their 2 Italian mates we head off into the dark early morning. Super insane minibus dude gets us there in record time and with squealing tyres we are deposited at the start of the trail. Looking up the valley at the mountain, we all say "That looks quite close", little do we know!
The mountain in question
Anyway, moving onto something more positive, for once the clouds are keeping away, no rain, lovely sunshine and the views as we climb are getting better by the minute. The Guatemalans apply the same principle to mountain paths as the Nepalis do; "The shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line, regardless of the angle of ascent". The path is literally 1400m of altitude gain, straight up the mountain, no contours or gentle gradients!
On the way up
This route is a hell of a calf buster and you can feel the strain building as you slog your way up. One thing I love about the Italians is their capacity for extreme profanity, rivalled only by the Cape Coloured community in South Africa. The Italian lady who was clearly not enjoying the climb totally turned the air blue with what she was saying, every two steps resulted in another outburst which in my perverted mind I found hilarious! One other challenge we have on jungle/forest trails in Central America is that they have been cut for growth impaired hobbits... I spent the bulk of the climb with my knees in my face, and man I have ugly knees, I never realized how ugly!! Plays havoc on your back too.
After tailgating the poor guide for 3 1/2 hours we eventually make the summit. I'm sure I put the fear of God into these tiny dudes, this large gringo lumbering along right behind them, one of my strides equal to 27 of his, poor bugger. At least I gave him a decent tip to make up for the close following. He gives me a fist bump on the summit and says, "you da man Andres, you da man!". Loving my Spanish name...
View from the summit
Forrest as fresh as a dead, wilted daisy
Xela from about 3200m
The drive back to the city, calm and sedate!! Bring on the traffic....
Hasta Luego
Andrew
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