Volcan Tajumulco

This activity deserves an entry all to itself. We participated in a weekend excursion to climb Volcan Tajumulco, the HIGHEST point in Central America. FYI: The volcano is inactive before anyone thinks otherwise.

The original plan was to drive to the base of the volcano and hike up to a base camp, which is an hour hike from the peak. The hike is intense, but the slant of the volcano is not too harsh. The intense aspect is the hiking uphill nonetheless for around 3 hours wearing huge backpacks.

Here is what actually happened. We met at the school in Xela around 7 am and began the 2 hour drive to San Marcos, the location of the volcano. We stopped for breakfast and this is where plans changed. We thought the plans changed for the better. The owner of the school accompanied us on the drive to breakfast, and he met a man who offered to drive everyone on the backroads of the volcano. The backroads would take us further up the volcano, thus reducing the required time to hike to the base camp by half.

The man's truck was a compact 4x4 with a wooden surrounding approximately 4.5 feet tall, 2.5 feet above the walls to the truck bed. There were 19 of us. How was this going to work? Let me tell you. One by one, he tied our bags to the side of the truck until every bag was tied to the exterior. Then, one by one, 16 of us hopped in the back of the pickup, with 3 squeezing into the small seats in the extended cab. This ride was an hour adventure supposedly saving us 2 hours of hiking with the backpacks uphill. Didn't happen.

Well, we would not relaize this until later of course. First let me tell you about the truck ride. If we ever wanted to experience a cattle ride, here was our chance. We stood for an hour with the wind in our face, ducking from tree branches, attempting to brace ourselves over uneven gravel and potholes, and trying to avoid breathing in the dust kicked up by the truck. We had a truck of policemen drive by laughing at us, and for those standing in the rear, apologies were in order. The dust kicked up by the truck essentially covered every inch of their upper body. All bags also were covered in dust. Fortunately Ami and I were in the middle, able to avoid a majority of the dirt kicked up thanks to our human shields standing in the rear. We were also able to bounce on and off the people in front of and behind us when we hit dips in the road. When we reached high points on the volcano, the truck refused to carry 20 people any further. This resulted in several passengers bailing, and the driver saying, 'No hay problema. Muy facil.' So with perhaps 7 or 8 less bodies in the truck, we continued on to the ultimate stopping point the driver wanted to take us to. The rest walked the 10 to 15 minutes to catch up with us.

When we arrived, we were ready for the 1 hour hike, happy to avoid the 2 hour hike by taking the truck. Our excitement grew as the pick up driver said we could make it up in 45 minutes. Sweet!

With our bags in hand, freshly dusted down with nearby bush shrubs, we set out for our hike to the camp. Not only did it take 2.5 hours, it was up the steep side of the mountain. I thought to myself, our school owner must not have done this hike. We hiked up the steep grade with our backpacks. Whew!

When we arrived at base camp, we ate lunch (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and carrot bread - everyone had to bring their own food). Then we set up camp with the tents and sleeping bags the school rented for us. Our tent was so old (no spikes), we had to tie the tent to four trees that flanked the tent corners. Great, the tent is up. Yeah, but the door is broken (well the zipper to the door) - more on this later.

Anyways, at this point it is 3:30 in the afternoon, and everyone was ready to complete the hike to the top. Again, one hour, give or take, from the camp. So, we continued our hike up and reached the top. Vale la pena! (It is worth it!) When we reached the top, all the struggles and experiences to reach the top were well worth it. We ascended above many clouds (but remained in the thick of several other clouds) and rocks and found ourselves at the highest point in Central America! There was a plaque which indicated 'Mas Alto' or Highest. After oohing and aahing at the spectacular views that presented themselves as clouds came and went, we settle in for a gorgeous sunset. Because clouds were constantly flowing over the volcano, views of the sunset came and went. But, when the clouds were thin, the reflections and colors created were a unique site. Some clouds were so thick, not only did the views and the setting sun disappear, fellow hikers only 20 feet away, disappeared. Fortunately the clouds moved rapidly, otherwise we would have been in the thick of clouds with visibility limited to 10 feet.

After the sunset, we made our way back to camp and we were welcomed by a campfire fellow hikers started. We grubbed on....peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches and carrot bread, PLUS smores! We basically sat around the camp fire and got to know some of our classmates better. The night was clear and crisp by nightfall and we enjoyed the clearest sky and the most stars I have ever seen.

About 100 feet from our campsite, you could see out over San Marcos. Our campsite was above the layer of clouds settled over the town, so we saw city lights between the layer of clouds. Also, in the far distance we saw lightening light up the sky and the lightening was below us as well.

We settled in for the night after the campfire and taking in views from the campsite. So, if you remember earlier within this post, I mentioned the tent door was broken, so using our resources, we duck-taped the door shut once everyone was settled in the tent and ready for bed. We also had layered up with clothes because the tempature was going to be freezing. I don't think anyone slept more than 2 hours because it was cold and it was tough getting comfortable. A few students slept outside and woke up with ice on their sleeping bags.

Well, the night passed and we woke up at 6 am in order to watch the sun rise. Afterwards we packed up the tent and our belongings and trekked down the moderatley sloped side of the volcano (the side we were supposed to hike up as well). A fellow student inspired us pick up as much trash as we could during our hike down, but overall it was discouraging to see so much trash amongst the otherwise beatufiul views. The hike down took around 2 to 2.5 hours and we caught a microbus bus to San Marcos and a chicken bus back to Xela.

Needless to say we were exhausted and passed out as soon as we returned home, but after showers of course!