Hike to Chopilapa (Attack of the Killer Ormigas)
Trip Start
Aug 18, 2008
1
18
22
Trip End
Nov 27, 2008
Jalcomulco,
Mexico
Saturday, November 8, 2008
The firstpart of the hike is up a winding footpath leading into the canyon. After a short walk amongst the mango trees, we came to some pools at the start of the steep canyon climb, where we stopped for a snack. To get up the canyonfrom here involved a little more effort. There were a lot of climbs up boulders and through cracks in between. There was a lot of bum pushing and arm pulling to get us all up, and Jim lent a new meaning to foot holds by allowing us to climb up his legs on acouple of occasions where there were no hand-holds. We went through a cave full of bats and climbed some rock walls and finally hiked up a hill planted with coffee before getting to the laddres. The ladders are placed in steep areas to facilitate a climb up the canyon, and are made of bamboo and wood lashed together with wire. I guess you could say they were not exactly made to code... We hiked across the flat top amongst the butterflies for a while until we came to the town of Buena Vista and our lunch.
Lunch, packed into the coolers in the van, was fantastic. We had a cheese platter, a selection of crackers, a fruit platter and Jim opened a bottle of wine to complete the meal. We sat for ages enjoying the sun and the food and the company before we finally had to move on.
We hiked a little further and came up to the very top of the canyon, from where we would drop down into the next. When we reached the top we had a beautiful view above the whole canyon and could see the hills for miles around - each having a distinctive flat top. We continued on down and through the forest before arriving tired and hot into Chopilapa where we met the lovely families who live there. After some introductions we went down to the river to bathe before heading off to another house to say hello and have a beer. All 18 of there family members were in the house - luckily Jim speaks good enough Spanish to cover for all of us! We went back to the house where we were staying and made our dinner (gnocci -mmmm) on the open firein the kitchen before heading to bed on the porch.
While we were setting out our beds we noticed the ants. They were crawling up the pillars so we made sure to move our beds closer to the wall and away from them....or so we thought! Apparently these ants (ormigas) hunt you out for the heat and, after the loud music in the village stopped (a very Mexican thing I think) the ants moved in for the kill. They were in my pants and my sleeping bag and on my arms and over Jim's face and Stef`s clothes. And they bite! I did the ant dance for a while until Stef and Jim got up. Jim went off to find somewhere else to sleep and wede-anted and woke up the others. We ended up creeping into the house in the middle of the night to move into their front room. We did finally get agood night`s sleep though.
To be continued....
