Volcanoes and Machettes

It was time to do some volcano treks in Xela. Marty and I signed up for two over night trips.  The first one scheduled was Santa Maria, the most technical of the Guatemalan volcaones.  This was to be followed by the highest volcano, Tajumulco at 4,220 m (13,845 ft).

Loading the chicken bus for Santa Maria

We went back to Quetzaltrekkers, they are the greatest, no doubt!  Our guides: Sarah, Rach and Lauren.  Our group: five Aussies, a Swiss and myself.  All looks good.  We begin our accent around 2 PM and plan on spending the night.  Everything is going well, Marty is up front with Sarah, Lauren has the rest of the group in the middle and Rach and I are having a delightful time bringing up the rear.

Santa Maria covered in clouds

El Fugo erupting at sunrise

Sunrise, cresent moon and El Fugo!!  Are you kidding me?!?!?

What I learned from this trek is that volcanos get steeper and rockier as you work your way to the top.  The switchbacks become steeper and scrambling up rocks becomes the best mode of transporting the gear to the top.  Also, the later it gets the darker it gets, I know, shocker!  It was getting darker and darker on Rach and I, with no idea how far we had left.  Problem was that our head lamps were packed at the bottom of our packs, brilliant!!  Rach saved the day when she figured out how to use the ¨flash light¨on her phone.  We had light!  Not alot of light, but light!

Meanwhile at the top of the volcano, Sarah and Marty have one tent set up as the rest of the group arrives.  I don´t know if you know this about Aussies, but they don not like the cold.  Not one bit!!  You could imagine at 3,772 m (12,375 ft) on top of a volcano, at night, it is damn cold to an Aussie.  From what I gathered later, the Aussies began to loose their minds.  Lauren was boiling water for hot drinks.  Sarah was hearding the Aussies into the tent and their sleeping bags, not an easy task.  Apparently they were walking around in circles, shaking and in shock.  She finally managed to wrangle the last one into the tent, and went to check on other things, like food.  She came back to check on them a few minutes later and they were not in their bags!!  Sitting their shivering with no clue what to do, Sarah instructed them ¨warm cloths gents and in your bags!!¨  She returned a bit later and the tallest and fittest of the group stood up and said ¨I have a strange request Sarah¨ as he raised his hands above his head.  ¨Well, out with it¨  ¨I can´t feel my fingers, will you zip my fly?¨ Normally every Aussie in the group would start laughing histerically and start verbally abusing this man to death.  No, they all nodded their heads and pleaded that she help their friend.  Sarah, now guide of the year, took care of buisness and got them all in their sleeping bags.  By the way, I am guessing it was no less than 25 degrees up there, but to their defense the wind was howling.

The sunrises!!

Back to my little, darkish hike up the volcano.  A mist set in, making it hard to see.  Rach was getting worried, making me a little anxious.  Luckily it lifted after awhile and our hike continued and continued and continued some more.  You see, with out proper lighting, climbing a volcano becomes very difficult, even more so near the top.  We eventually made it, about 5 1/2 hours after leaving, and hour after the last group.  I might be the slowest climber in the world!!  And Rach must be the most patient guide in the world!! Thank you Rach!!

Santiaguito erupting

We are all at the top, Marty is imobile in his bag grunting that he has hypothermia.  The rest of the Aussies are beginging to appear for hot drinks.  Lauren is a master with a stove, hot drinks followed by delicious noddles.  Then, to warm things up, Marty and brought wine!!  Nothing better than red wine on top of a volcano!!  Now, the cool thing about this volcano is that in 1902 it erupted out the side.  This created a sister volcano, Santiaguito, next to it that erupts reguarly.  I light hike across the top of Santa Maria and you have a great view of it.  A group went at night and were gifted with an eruption.  I, unfortunately, stayed behind with the wine.  Opps.

El Fuego´s shadow

The rest of the night was spent huddled up in the none Aussie tent telling stories, laughing and warming with wine.  Up at 5 AM, to watch the sunrise.  It was amazing.  First a perfect cresent moon with the colors beggining to change to deep blue, to reds.  Than an eruption in the distance from El Fuego.  With another eruption from the sister volcano just below us.  The sun than arose through to peaks in the east, casting the shadow of El Fuego behind Santa Maria to the west.  In total we witnessed four eruptions of the sister volcano.  Coolest sunrise I have ever experienced.  I don´t think anything will ever top that, but I will try!!

Camp

All that was left was breakfast, pack up and head down.  Much easier, but not easy.  Once the frost had melted, the trail became slippery.  Luckily no one fell and we made it down in two hours.  At this point, Marty and I were wondering what we were thinking doing back to back climbs.  So we began getting pshyced for the adventure and realized that it was going to be a ton of fun!  Same guides plus Josh, and our friend Kathrine was going to join us on this one.  Ready!!

I think we are supposed to be up there...hmmm.

We get back to the guide office and get some terrible news.  The Tajumulco trek has been cancelled.  Why?  Because two villages along the trek are in the midst of a machette war over the water source.  A machette war.  Guatemala.  Wow.  We are a bit devastated and are clueless on what to do.  Nap, sleep on it.  I wake up, shower and run into Rach.  She explains that if we do the Flores trek, that the three girls would have the day off on Sunday.  They rarely get a day off, so I talk to Martin and he is in!  Two more join us, and we are off the next day.

Santa Maria from the ridge

The Flores trek might be the greatest day trek of all time.  Twenty-six kilometers in total.  The day starts climbing a mountain and if you get lost you can climb up a mountain through a corn field.  That is great because the locals look at you like you are insane!  Once you find the trail again and make it to the top, you follow the ridge, which has amazing views of Santa Maria.  After lunch, one more accent and it is down through the cloud forest.  It was so amazing, I can not put it into words and the battery of my camera went dead, so google image cloud forest.  We were sweaty with big smiles and we arrived at HOT SPRINGS!!!  This my friends is the best way to finish of any trek!!  We lounged in the springs, enjoyed a beer and caught a ride back to Xela.

Hiking the ridge

I cannot say enough good things about Quetzaltrekkers.  These folks are amazing, always smiling, not losing it in stressful times and all around great people.  They volunteer ALL their time to their cause, the children.  Thank you Rach, Sarah, Lauren, Marcy, Brea, Mason, Malta, Josh, Matt and all the guides that passed their trial week while I was there!!  You have been missed.  I have sent many people to you, and will continue!  Best of luck to all of you!!

http://www.quetzaltrekkers.com/guathome.html

Xela to Mexico and back to Xela

Old pile of well stacked rocks

Last night with Rach

Black sand beaches, best traveled by horse

I have been neglecting my stories, mainly because I have been taking a very busy route of north, south and north again.  After the New Year I headed to Mexico, San Cristobal and Palenque.  San Cristobal was a beautiful and clean city in the mountains.  There was one huge drawback, I might as well have been in Minnesota....it was freezing at night.  Other than the city being gorgeous there really was not much to do.  We left Racheal, and went to Palenque, the main reason for going to San Cristobal.  Palenque is a Mayan site, small enough to where there are no hoards of people, but still impressive.  This site is nestled in the jungle, hot...good.  We spend the morning exploring the ruins, enjoying the heat and then headed back to San Cristobal.  So, in a nut shell, we spent many, many hours on buses to go to Mexico for six days.  I am always making smart choices!!  Truely, it was great to have a few more days with Rach and Nick, even if they were spent in transit.

Lil Hobbit

So few days spent freezing in Mexico leads to a few days sweating on a beach in Guatemala, with many hours of buses as a bonus!  Sarah and I landed in Montericco.  Lazy little town, located on a black sand beach.  Since it was Sarah´s last days in Guatemala, we sprang for a nice hostel.  The beach was beautiful, I have never seen black sands.  There was one drawback, black sand is HOT!!  I was warned going in, but did not listen and almost burned my feet to a crisp when I went swimming.  Black sand may be exotic, but by no means practicle!!  The days were spent mostly by the pool with cocktails.  We did go for a hosre ride and release baby sea turtles into the water which was pretty cool.

We returned to Antigua so that Sarah could catch her flight home.  Antigua is a cool city, although packed full of tourists.  Right, I am one of those, forgot.  Apparently there was an earthquake there, which collapsed the majority of the city.  So, what you find all over the city are these ¨modern¨ruins, really cool, I am learning things!! I was going to climb a volcanoe there, but appparently someone was shot up there a few weeks ago and they have closed the trek, safety first.  I attempted an early escape after I found that out, and after shots were fired in front of my hostel, but was convinced to stay.  Trust me, beer was not involved in that decision.... I ended up maxing out my five day rule in Antigua, meeting great people and socializing.

Once my five days were up, it was time to do some real traveling!  I returned to Xela, with Martin, to get my trekking on!!  More on that next time....

Xela to San Pedro

What to do after getting off a plane in Guatemala City and then instantly getting on a four hour bus ride to Xela?  Three day trek of course!!  Before I get into that, the bus looked nice, 1st class, comfy too!  Yet when the driver started taking switch backs down the mountain sides at 60 mph, not so comfy, it was more like a four hour roller coaster ride! Therefore, there was no needed sleep involved.  We made it to Xela, found our friends Rach and Nick, and the wine flowed!!

The trek was sold as mostly down hill except for the up bits...by Nick of course.  The up bits were explained as rough the first part of the first day, and a bit the second day...LIES!!!  Before I begin, I want to tell you a bit about the guide service that we used, Quetzal Trekkers.  The guides are all volunteers, they are from all over the place and have decided to join this organization because of what they do for the local community.  All profits raised are used for an orphanage and school that are in the area.  The villages that we pass through are also benefiting from the group. Therefore the locals are always smiling an waving as we pass through.  It is amazing what the difference they are making in this area of the world.  In addition, the guides are great!  If ever in Guatemala I highly suggest a visit with these great people and let them show you around!!

Rach and Nick ready to go!!

View from the way up

Back to the trek, it was the special New Year's Eve trek from Xela to San Pedro del Lago....46 kms.  The group, 50 people and seven guides.  I was worried about the magnitude of the group, but it all went smoothly, the guides worked it out to perfection.  The first climb was hell.  The group quickly divided into fast, average, slow and slower groups.  I was in the rear of the group, out of shape, sweaty and cursing the damn mountain!  It took over two hours, but I made it.  The views through the forest were amazing, and at the top it opened into a high mountain meadow.

Guides Rach and Amir whose favorite group was the slow group!

From there it was mainly downhill the rest of the day.  By this point we had divided into two groups, the fast group and the slow group.  The slow group....we prefered the fun group, which it was!!  Laughing all the way down steep switchbacks, littered with rocks.  People fell, we laughed, helped them up and then laughed some more.  We hiked for 10 hours that day, with the final part of the evening being a climb into the village we would spend the night.  We stayed in the city municipal center, all laid out on the floor.  The village was strange, loud music blarring for no apparent reason, warm beers (which were delicious), church bells going off radomly and dogs barking all night.  Exhausted, yet satisfied with the day, we slept...well sort of. Dogs, church bells and honking were always present.

Base of Record Hill

The next day it was up early.  Day two was said to be a heavy climb up Record Hill and then down and easy...LIES!!  My legs were stiff, back killing me and tired, but off we went, our two groups.  We, the fun group, started questioning the fast group as our numbers had grown over night.  When someone falls in the fast group, do they just push them off to the side and call them weak?  Do the guides in the fast group have cattle tasers to keep them going?  It all seemed very militant to us.  Poor folks, we laughed.  We got to record hill after about an hour of hiking.  The fast group was just beggining their ascent.  We rested and one by one began our ascent.  I started early, knowing that I would be the last up.  Thirty minutes of straight up switchbacks, lots of ¨picture¨breaks!  That climb was over, so I thought we were golden.  Not so much.  The worst part was the rest of the ascent.  Not as vertical, but never ending.  A few hours later, it was all just a memory and we were back to our old ways.  The rest of the day was great, passing through villages with locals smiling and waving, children running out to greet us, it all lightened the load.  Our final destination that night was a local residence that had opened their house to Quetzal Trekkers for all the great work they are doing.  Large amounts of food was served, the generosity was impressive.

Double eruption, what does it mean???

The next morning we were up at 3:30AM.  The goal to see the sunrise over Lake Atitlan, which is surrounded by volocanoes.  A one and a half hour steady climb and we were in a grassy field, laying out our sleeping bags.  I quickly fell asleep, but woke up to a volcanic eruption with the backdrop of a sunrise.  Perfect end to an amazing three days trek through the Guatemalan highlands.

Our treking family - Nick, Blanche, Maya, me, Kathrine, Paul and Rach

The whole group

We arrived in San Pedro on New Year´s Eve.  Some of us slept, some of us tried to sleep.  I slept.  Then it was time for New Years.  Quetzell Trekkers was holdiong a fund raiser for the orphange and school at a local bar with live music.  The whole group was there, with many others.  It was a great New Years, spending time with new friends, and old friends.  The highlight was the owner lighting off fire works from the roof and almost lighting the place on fire!  Not safety first!  As it was an exhausting trek, the night ended early...3AM.

Safety not first!!

Relax on a horse, why not!!

We spent the next couple of days relaxing in San Pedro, horseback rides, sleep, food and sleep.  A great little town on a lake.  The people were super friendly and the atmosphere perfect.  I hope everyone had a happy and safe New Year.  Until next time!!!

Here I Go Again On My Own!!!!

So, it happened again.  The greatest boss in the world told me to leave the country.  This time it was a sudden surprise, I thought I was gonna have to work.  About three weeks ago, Bill told me that he won't need me until March 1st.  Hmmmmmm, what to do?  Central America!!

This is what I know, I will arrive in Guatemala City tomorrow at 2 PM.  I will be arriving with my old traveling buddy Sarah.  She has decided to join the parade for two weeks.  I am excited to be joined by my old friend!!  We will get on a bus, and head to Xela and meet up with two of the greatest people I have traveled with, Rachael and Nick.  Sarah and I spent the holidays with Rachael in the Patagonia two years ago.  Nick is a member of the infamous Coco Loco crew that traveled from Santa Cruz, Bolivia to Rio de Janerio for Carnaval last year.  After that I have until February 23rd to arrive in the capital city of Honduras.

I will keep this updated as I my journeys take the normal unforeseen madness.  Thank you all who follow this blog, I enjoy writing about my travels and it blows my mind that you all find my rantings entertaining!

I leave you with the first picture of this journey, Christmas with the family.  The first Christmas I've spent with the folks in many years.  It was great, even though we celebrated with a bromeliad tree!

Peace and Happy New Year!!!

The Final Chapter of this Journey

What does one do after climbing a mountain in a full on blizzard?  There is only one answer....go to the biggest party in the world!!  This wasn't in the plans when I got to Santa Cruz.  But in Santa Cruz, I met Heidi from Minnesota.  As Julia was packing to make her way to Buenos Aires, Heidi and I were plotting and scheming.  I had been in touch with my old Canadian friends - Ben and Jesse - they were on their way to Santa Cruz and apparently had a place to stay in Rio de Janeiro.  Decision made, we will stay put till they arrive and then make the move!  In the mean time we met Leanne from Tahoe, and Nick from New Zealand, among many other great people.  All four of us agreed that Rio was a great idea!  Ben and Jesse finally show up and explain the living arrangements that they have set up for Rio.  They will be staying in a tent, on the roof of a hostel that is in a favela (slum).  Not ideal, not ideal at all.  In steps Leanne and she has a house that her and her friends are staying at, done Leanne is our savior!!

My first picture of Coco Loco, they weren't happy about that!

The four of us decide to make a quick stop in the Pantanal on the way, while the Canadians went straight there.  We traveled to the border of Brazil together, and then parted ways.  To get to the border, there is an option of a train.  Options?  No bus?  The train was amazing, movies, comfortable and a dining car!!  We hung in the dining car, watched movies and slept.  The train was slow, real slow.  At one point a person on a bike passed us, but who cares, it was comfortable!!

Moss covered tree

Cool trees everywhere

Coco Loco on the river

Toucan, best part of the tour

         We got to Campo Grande and found a three day tour.  The Pantanal has always been a dream of mine, I was very excited.  The Pantanal is the biggest wetland in the world and borders the Amazon jungle.  The only problem is that it is rainy season, ideally at this time of year, one would travel to the northern end of the wetland and take a tour out of there.  The southern end at this time of year is flooded, so all the animals migrate to the north.  Since we had major time issues, this was our only choice.  All I have to say is that I will have to return to the Pantanal one day and do it right.  Luckily, I was in great company and made the best of it.  The tour included a ton of mosquitoes, rain and crappy food.  The wildlife viewing was minimal, a couple of howler monkeys, some cayman, birds (including toucans which was cool) and mosquitoes!!

The tour ended, thankfully.  We were covered in mosquito bites and ready for Carnival!!  We boarded the next flight to Rio and arrived ready for the madness.  Leanne’s house was perfect, only floor space, but comfortable.  First things first, off to the store to purchase the necessities, food, wine and ingredients for Caipirinhas, the Brazilian national drink (you can see where we are headed with this).  We ate, made the necessary preparations and headed for the festivities.  The house was a bit of a haul from downtown Rio, but that’s what subways are for!

Coco Loco crew ready for the madness!!

We entered downtown Rio, it was madness and I had no idea what to expect.  Some say that Rio is the most dangerous city in the world, others tell stories of the inherent dangers associated with being at Carnival.  It was a bit daunting at first, but I soon realized that everyone was having fun and it was relatively safe.  They call this the largest party in the world for a reason, the city was packed full of people dancing and drinking.  The night went on meeting people and dancing in the streets.  If any of the Brazilians spoke English they would stop and talk to us and thank us for coming to Rio, it was incredible and these folks were great!

Downtown Rio, early in the AM!!

The following night we changed speeds and went to the beach, thinking it would be less crowded and a bit tamer.  We were right about less crowded, as for tame, no.  We got off the subway, walked onto the beach and boom – party!  We joined in, I began looking around and it dawned on me that we were definitely at the gay party.  Everyone was dancing to Madonna, Brittney Spears and more “great” music like that.  It was a blast, the girls loved it because they weren’t being approached by men constantly, and we were on the beach!  The beaches in Rio are right in the middle of the city.  One would think that they would be covered in trash and a general mess.  This couldn’t be further from the truth; the beaches are clean and have beautiful white sands.

The parade begins!!

The big thing to do during Carnival is to go to the Samba Dome.  This is where all the famous parades with the crazy costumes take place.  The only problem is that to get in you have to pay a large sum of money.  As a budget traveler, this was unfortunate.  The solution to this is to join in on the free parades that take place every day, called Blocas.  Major roads within the city are closed off.  Then a truck with huge speakers, with a band in front of it becomes the center of the “parade” on these highways.  Basically what happens is thousands of people show up, in costume, with booze and begin to dance alongside the band, following the band through the streets.  This goes on for hours and is incredibly fun!  Once again we were surrounded by fantastic and friendly people!

Love Brazilians dancing in the streets

Crazy costumes everywhere

Happy Birthday Julia!!

So that’s how it ended, well almost.  I got on a 48 hour bus to Buenos Aires, hung out with my Swedish friends for a few days and flew back to the States. 

How was it you ask?  Incredible.  There were so many amazing things that I did, so many amazing people that I met and so many amazing memories of this trip. I went over board on the outdoor activities, in the process almost dieing several times and injuring myself.  It was awesome!!

What were the highlights?  There are to many to rank them.   I was on the beach for Christmas and New Year's, I fell out of a raft while class V rafting, I slept in a cave, I witnessed an insane border crossings, I was alone in Machu Picchu, I finally made it to the Cordillera Blanca, I played soccer in Las Pampas, I attempted a summit of Huayna Potosi in blizzard conditions and I went to Rio for Carnival!!  That is just a few of the amazing things I did, they were all awe inspiring.  I will carry these memories for the rest of my life.

Would I do it again?  You have to ask?  The draw of traveling to me is the absolute freedom that comes with it.  When traveling you can change plans in a second and end up somewhere that you had no intention of going.  There are no schedules, no plans, you just do whatever makes your heart content. In addition the people that you meet are amazing!  It is like a great big family, moving across a continent.  Everyone is the same mind set, get to the next destination safely with a smile on your face.  You meet people on a regular basis that you have an instant connection with.  You learn to trust these people instantly, something that we can't find at home.

Meeting people, from locals to other travelers, expands the mind.  The experiences, from the good to the ugly, makes one stronger.  You learn to live with the basics: food, clothing and shelter.  You begin to realize that in reality we don’t need all the things that we have, and to live simply is actually easier.  There are a lot of places in this world, a lot of cultures and a lot of people, they all have something to teach us.  I look forward to the classes!

Thank you to all my friends, you guys made my trip!!  I hope to see you again in some far off country.  Always remember safety first, teamwork second and fun all the time!!

I leave you with the best of Bolivia, Brazil and my four days in Buenos Aires.

I can't get enough of this bus ride

Las Pampas, boat rides are the best

Johanna

Anaconda hunting with the best crew ever!

Safety first!  The guide dragging us around

Hiking the ridge

Break time

Insanely cool!!

Beautiful!!

Almost to high camp

Julia at high camp

5,800 meters (19,029 ft) in a blizzard

The descent is just as hard

Upscale Bolivian bus, bathroom break

Santa Cruz with friends

Why is piranha fishing such a tourist draw?

Another great idea from Coco Loco!!

Rio Carnival

Dancing in the streets

People everywhere!!

More dancing in the streets

Weird, just plane weird

Late night costume fun

Brazilians love Carnival

Best birthday party ever, we never made it out...there was only six of us!

Birthday girl and the best travel partner ever!! Thank you Julia!!