Mount Celaque
Trip Start
Jan 04, 2008
1
25
59
Trip End
Jul 16, 2008
Gracias,
Honduras
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Week 8 came and went... two months here already!
Friday after school the 8 of us volunteers hopped on a chicken bus with our huge gringo packs on. After 3 buses or so we arrived in Gracias a Dios (Thank God) which is a cute little town at the base of the highest peak in Honduras. Although the mountain is only around 9,000 ft tall, the town is fairly close to sea level (1,500 ft, I think) so the mountains appear quite large. We got in town in time to walk to a quaint restaurant for some comida tipica (typical Honduran cuisine). The owner of the restaurant is also the head of the Guide Association, possibly the most organized idea that I have seen in Honduras thus far. He provides transportation to the national park entrance and also organizes the guides that are available to lead groups up the mountain. Unfortunately, we were not able to get a guide, but we got a ride. Friday night we camped out at the visitor center. The 8 of us went in on buying 2 4-person tents for the occasion. They will easily pay for themselves with the money we will save by camping instead of sleeping in hostels. We decided to do girls tent, boys tent which was quite funny because 3 out of the 4 boys neglected to bring sleeping bags or anything to stay warm with and the 4 of us girls were cozy and snug! The temperature in the mountains is much cooler than our usual climate in Cofradia. We roasted marshmallows and played my favorite game, "Mafia", all night.
Celaque is in a "cloud forest", an ecosystem that I had never been taught until arriving in Honduras. Just from observation and discussion with the other volunteers, I think that it is very similar to what we would call a "temperate rain forest". It reminded me a lot of the Smoky Mountains. Everything was covered in clouds and the plants were all covered in moss and dew. Everything was extremely damp and when the wind blew it would sprinkle down upon us. It was quite a jungle!
Saturday morning we all got up around 5 and loaded up our packs. For many people, this was their first backpacking experience in the outdoors. Backpacking is one of my favorite pastimes so I was in my glory. The trail started off as steep switchbacks and eventually became a straight up trail that required the use of our hands. We managed to reach camp by about 11 am, surprisingly quicker than anticipated. El Naranjo was a nice place to call home for the night. We set up some of our things and then I, Anne, and Toby continued our way to the summit. The trail between El Naranjo and the summit was not nearly as steep as what we had done earlier in the day, plus we did not have our packs on anymore. It was still a decent 2 hour trek. From the top, it seemed as if we were the only people in existence, standing upon the only mountain in existence. Everything around us was illuminated with white clouds. We enjoyed a celebratory Snickers bar and then headed back down to camp. Alex & Nathan had managed to get a fire going and roasted some hot dogs. I actually ate one and did not mind it! Maybe I am more American than I thought... I sat by the fire for the rest of the afternoon reading.
Sunday we hiked back down and headed back to Cofradia.
