Volcano Tajumulco
Trip Start
Nov 29, 2005
1
40
73
Trip End
May 31, 2006
Tajumulco, Guatemala
Sunday, January 29, 2006
On Saturday, we met up at 6 am at the travel agency to go to the Tajumulco volcano. We were 4: Jennifer, Steven, David our guide tour and me. We took a minibus to go to the bus terminal, then a chicken bus to go to San Pedro and an other chicken bus which left us at the beginning of the track. It took us 4h, yes better not be in an hurry with the local transportation... On the bus, David met an other guide which he knows and he was with 2 guys from Austria. They were going to the volcano too so we started the hike together. The volcano is 4220m high and we started at 2800m high. It's the higest point in Central America. After 10 mn, Jennifer was feeling bad
1 Tajumulco volcano
. She's asmatic and couldn't breath. So she decided to turn back and so we let her going back to Xela and continued with David and Steven. We rapidly lost the other group as one of the guy was strugling. The hike wasn't that difficult but the more difficult was the altitude. You're short of breath and with a backpack to carry it's not easy. But well we took our time, slowly but surely. We stopped half way for lunch and a quick siesta under the sun...It gave time to the other guys to catch up with us and we finished the walk together. It took us 5h to do the 7 km but with a 1h30 break. So we did pretty weel :o)We camped at 4000m high and at night we did a fire. So nice! It reminded me of when i was scout... We ate pasta for dinner and drank tea to keep warm. It was freezing!
I hardly slept because i was too cold. My feet were frozen so i didn't arrive to warm up. We were 3 in the tent but didn't help...
We woke up at 4:30 am to climb the last part by night to get to the top for the sunrise. Amazing!! So cold and windy but the view was beautiful. We had the perfect weather for it! As soon as the sun appeared we decided to get back to the camp to have breakfast and warm up. After packing our stuff, we started the climbing down. It took us 2 hours to get back to the road to take the bus. So happy to have finished! It was a great hike but we were happy when it ended. We made our way back to Xela by chicken buses. They were absolutly packed so i was relieved when we arrived!
Tonight, will go to the bed very early to be ready for an other week of Spanish! Time to go back to class! yesssss!!!!
Comments
Hello Claire
Salut Claire, je viens de parcourir le site, (surtout les photos :-)) et ça le fait carrément ! j'imagine que sur place ça doit être encore autre chose, les paysages, les volcans et tout :-) ! Guatemala City ça a l'air assez tranquile et magnifique niveau architecture. Tu dois (et a du) te regaler ! car le temps passe vite j'ai cru comprendre que tu te rapprochais gentillement du retour.
En tout cas Amuse toi encore bien, j'espere que ça roule, j'ai vu que tu faisais meme de la promo pour cpl ! lol
A+
Romain.