Central America 2000 - Quite high
From Worldtraveller
And so long before dawn on October 14th 2000, we set out for Volcán San Pedro. We climbed in the enjoyable company of our group of 11, which consisted of me and Moh, Ashley from Australia, Mike and Aasta from Alaska, Will and Chad from Oregon, Greg from the UK, Steve from Canada, Julie from France and Julie from Germany. An almost full moon lit our way until the sun began to make its presence felt, and we reached the end of the road just as the sun rose from behind the hills across the lake. After pausing to appreciate the view, we headed into the forest and began the climb in earnest. The going was reasonable at first, but it was not long before the relentless uphill began to get tiring. Our guide, Clemente, was an enthusiastic chap, though, and kept us all going. After about an hour, though, Julie from France dropped out, and Mike from Alaska chivalrously accompanied her back down to the village.
The rest of us carried on up. After another half-hour, self-confessed old fat guy Steve from Canada dropped out, and the eleven were now eight. Now it was down to the hard core, and we continued doggedly. The path got ever steeper and slipperier as we climbed, and the air was getting noticeably thinner. After about three hours, Julie from Germany tried to give up, but Clemente said we had 'only' an hour's climb to go, and persuaded her to carry on. At 9.25am, after four hours of climbing, we emerged from the forest to find ourselves at the 3020m summit.
The view from here was almost unbearably beautiful. The sun was shining brightly, and far below us we could see boats beginning to ply the waters between the villages around the lake. (Forgive me: I'm going to ramble a bit here). Many months before I discovered the music of the Afro Celt Sound System, and as I planned this trip and read of the beauty of Lago de Atitlán, I had a sort of vision of myself on top of a mountain looking down on the lake, listening to a song called 'Dark Moon, High Tide'. I had carried my walkman and the Afro Celts tape all the way from London to here without listening to it, preserving it for this moment. And now I was finally here, I wondered if that was just a bit silly. But when I pressed the play button, and the awesomely atmospheric music began, I was vindicated. Without the music it would have been incredible, but with the music it was an unimaginable high.
But back in the real world... Too soon it was time to leave the summit. We picked ourselves up and began the long descent back to the village. The 45° descent down the slippery path was, as I wrote in my journal, 'a total knee-fuck', and we all fell over at one time or another. I sustained a particular long and bloody cut to the arm when I tried to save myself from a fall by unwisely grabbing hold of a thorn tree. After a hard three hours, we were back in the village. We were exhausted but elated.
We spent the rest of that day, and the next as well, relaxing in the hammocks at the hotel, occasionally buying a loaf of banana bread from the Mayan children who came to sell it at the hotel, and generally waiting until we could walk normally again.
