First Make-up Installment...sorry!
Ok as always, gotta apologize for not writing in forever. This time I even got complaints that I was slacking too much. It’s just that after a while I start not wanting to write because too many things have happened and it’s backed up and seems like too much, so I avoid it. Asi es…
So as for my hike up Celaque, it was good…one of those immensely painful experiences you are glad you did. The five of us took up our backpacks full of food, water, tents, and sleeping bags….the first day we hiked about 7 hours and camped near a waterfall in the middle of a trail…we chose our location for one simple reason…we couldn’t go any further…we were exhausted. So we made a campfire and heated up some empanadas over the fire and pulled out a bottle of rum and one of coke…yes, we lugged that up the mountain, but it was worth it. It started to rain, as it usually does most evenings on Celaque so we went inside the bigger tent and drank and played cards and listened to my iPod I brought up with speakers. Celaque is a beautiful park…one of the few places left in Honduras that is preserved and unmarred by trash. Most of the mountain is covered with pine trees, and we didn’t see much wildlife…just a cool skunk like animal our last day. On top is a cloud forest, but I didn’t see much of that because our second day we started up, and after a few minutes we realized our legs were already pretty tired. I didn’t wake up sore but just tired. We walked about 8 hours the 2nd day. Around noon we got to the 2nd camp and decided to rest and leave our stuff there to sleep later on. We continued up around 2 pm. Here the trail got much more difficult…many times you had to pull yourself up by the roots in the trail it was so vertical. About 4:30 we got to the 3rd camp and there was an American couple setting up their tent. We were at 2,500 meters. They had gone to the summit that day and said we still had a good hour and a half to go to get to the summit, another 300 meters up. Two in our group had gone ahead earlier and were a ½ hour ahead of Sarah, Lester and I. We decided the best thing to do was turn back because it usually got dark about 5:30 and we had a good hour to get down to where our food, tents, and everything else was. The trail was too steep and rough to do in the dark. We didn’t wanna get stuck up on the summit because it goes below freezing and the mosquitos come out so you don’t wanna be stuck without repellent and a good jacket, which we didn’t have. So we sadly made our way back down to camp. By this point my body was hurting…but finally we made it as it got dark. We kept looking into the forest hoping Jorge and Jacob would come out, but they didn’t. The next morning they show up looking exhausted…they had slept up on the summit without any food, water, repellent, warm clothes…made a little shelter out of branches. They had my camera with them and recorded some pretty funny videos about their certain death in the cold. They used hand sanitizer for repellent and ate some crackers turned into dust in one of their pockets. I was sad I didn’t make it all the way up because the pictures of the view were incredible, but on the other hand, wouldn’t have been a happy camper (haha) up there freezing without dinner or my sleeping bag. Three of us went down the third day, but Jorge and Sarah stayed because he was way too exhausted. I wanted to stay and rest also but we didn’t have enough food so I sucked it up and started down. Every step hurt because my legs were so sore but 6 hours later we made it to Gracias, thank the Lord! Let’s just say the following week I felt like an old lady cuz I couldn’t walk…my body was majorly protesting. But I did it and that’s what counts J
The rest of Semana Santa was more laidback. I didn’t go to El Salvador, Guatemala, or Nicaragua like a lot of other volunteers cuz I was saving up my vacation days for my coming trip home to the states in May. So I left town a couple times on day trips with friends in town to go swimming in different rivers and picnics…everybody has to go to some body of water during that week, it’s tradition…like the beginning of summer vacation.
Speaking of summer, it has come and gone already in my town. It’s only about a month and a half long, characterized but heat and no rain. We have had a serious water shortage this year since it was a cold winter but did not rain enough. Many families went without running water for more than a month, try to imagine – no washing clothes, dishes, showers, anything…they had to beg neighbors or find some little spring somewhere to haul water. It’s very difficult. I was mostly ok, just had to wash clothes at a friend’s a couple times, but since I am just one person in my house, for the most part, my pila and big water barrel in the bathroom I had filled got me through pretty clean. Hopefully by the time I get back (yes, I am on 2 week vacation in the states right now) it will have started raining enough to get water more regularly.
So as for my hike up Celaque, it was good…one of those immensely painful experiences you are glad you did. The five of us took up our backpacks full of food, water, tents, and sleeping bags….the first day we hiked about 7 hours and camped near a waterfall in the middle of a trail…we chose our location for one simple reason…we couldn’t go any further…we were exhausted. So we made a campfire and heated up some empanadas over the fire and pulled out a bottle of rum and one of coke…yes, we lugged that up the mountain, but it was worth it. It started to rain, as it usually does most evenings on Celaque so we went inside the bigger tent and drank and played cards and listened to my iPod I brought up with speakers. Celaque is a beautiful park…one of the few places left in Honduras that is preserved and unmarred by trash. Most of the mountain is covered with pine trees, and we didn’t see much wildlife…just a cool skunk like animal our last day. On top is a cloud forest, but I didn’t see much of that because our second day we started up, and after a few minutes we realized our legs were already pretty tired. I didn’t wake up sore but just tired. We walked about 8 hours the 2nd day. Around noon we got to the 2nd camp and decided to rest and leave our stuff there to sleep later on. We continued up around 2 pm. Here the trail got much more difficult…many times you had to pull yourself up by the roots in the trail it was so vertical. About 4:30 we got to the 3rd camp and there was an American couple setting up their tent. We were at 2,500 meters. They had gone to the summit that day and said we still had a good hour and a half to go to get to the summit, another 300 meters up. Two in our group had gone ahead earlier and were a ½ hour ahead of Sarah, Lester and I. We decided the best thing to do was turn back because it usually got dark about 5:30 and we had a good hour to get down to where our food, tents, and everything else was. The trail was too steep and rough to do in the dark. We didn’t wanna get stuck up on the summit because it goes below freezing and the mosquitos come out so you don’t wanna be stuck without repellent and a good jacket, which we didn’t have. So we sadly made our way back down to camp. By this point my body was hurting…but finally we made it as it got dark. We kept looking into the forest hoping Jorge and Jacob would come out, but they didn’t. The next morning they show up looking exhausted…they had slept up on the summit without any food, water, repellent, warm clothes…made a little shelter out of branches. They had my camera with them and recorded some pretty funny videos about their certain death in the cold. They used hand sanitizer for repellent and ate some crackers turned into dust in one of their pockets. I was sad I didn’t make it all the way up because the pictures of the view were incredible, but on the other hand, wouldn’t have been a happy camper (haha) up there freezing without dinner or my sleeping bag. Three of us went down the third day, but Jorge and Sarah stayed because he was way too exhausted. I wanted to stay and rest also but we didn’t have enough food so I sucked it up and started down. Every step hurt because my legs were so sore but 6 hours later we made it to Gracias, thank the Lord! Let’s just say the following week I felt like an old lady cuz I couldn’t walk…my body was majorly protesting. But I did it and that’s what counts J
The rest of Semana Santa was more laidback. I didn’t go to El Salvador, Guatemala, or Nicaragua like a lot of other volunteers cuz I was saving up my vacation days for my coming trip home to the states in May. So I left town a couple times on day trips with friends in town to go swimming in different rivers and picnics…everybody has to go to some body of water during that week, it’s tradition…like the beginning of summer vacation.
Speaking of summer, it has come and gone already in my town. It’s only about a month and a half long, characterized but heat and no rain. We have had a serious water shortage this year since it was a cold winter but did not rain enough. Many families went without running water for more than a month, try to imagine – no washing clothes, dishes, showers, anything…they had to beg neighbors or find some little spring somewhere to haul water. It’s very difficult. I was mostly ok, just had to wash clothes at a friend’s a couple times, but since I am just one person in my house, for the most part, my pila and big water barrel in the bathroom I had filled got me through pretty clean. Hopefully by the time I get back (yes, I am on 2 week vacation in the states right now) it will have started raining enough to get water more regularly.
posted by Lauren @ 23:08
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