Guatemala, and The End

Guatemala, the last stop of an incredible trip. On the journey from Hawaii, there were all sorts of rumors flying. With the swine flu in Mexico, and crime rapidly rising in Guatemala, people thought that we would not by stopping, or that they would move us to some other country. They let us go to Guatemala, but gave us the most warnings. Guatemala has the same crime and risk level as South Africa, the highest possible level, outside of an all out war zone. The ship went so far as to institute a curfew, everyone had to be back on the ship by 11, unless you were staying the night in the country. They also advised against going to Guatemala City, and certain rural areas. These rules didn’t really apply to me, since I was going on a camping and hiking trip. Still, we had to be back on our guard. After China, Japan, long stretches at sea, and Hawaii, people would probably have let their guard down had they not warned us so much.
The first day in Guatemala, my trip to climb Acatenango was the first to leave, so we got off of the ship first. Acatenango is a 13,000+ dormant volcano, the third highest peak in Guatemala, and all of Central America for that matter. We drove from the port, where absolutely nothing is located, to a gas station an hour or so away to transfer from our regular bus. We got onto a “chicken bus,” one of the most common forms of transportation in Guatemala. They are used school buses, shipped from the states, refurbished, and pimped out. Ours was bright red and green, and had a huge speaker system. Every other chicken bus we saw was similar. We took this bus, Latin pop blasting away, up a dirt road to a large farm. The family that owns the farm has rights to the volcano, going back to colonial land distribution. Out hike started at 7000 feet, so it was already one of the highest spots I’ve ever been. We hiked for a short while to “La Mirador” a spot to look out over the entire valley. After lunch the trail went up into rain forest for quite a while. It was one of the steepest trails I’ve been on, and kept going up into less tropical vegetation. After being in a coniferous forest for a while, we got to base camp, set up at 10,000 feet. We got dinner and sat around the campfire, but went to sleep quite early because we were getting up at four the next morning to begin our summit push. Our guides warned us about altitude sickness, and it was somewhat harder to get a breath. No one slept great, but some were especially hard hit. I got up in the middle of the night, and had some difficulty breathing, so I was pissed if I was getting altitude sickness and couldn’t get up the mountain. Thankfully I felt great the next morning. The view from camp was incredible early in the morning, with the lights of the city of Antigua below, and a beautiful clear night sky above. Only four people decided to stay behind, and the rest of us set out after a quick breakfast. While hiking up the first section of trail, the sun came up, giving us a great view of the surrounding terrain. Pacaya, another volcano, rose up out of the clouds below us. We made it to our first real stop, and we regrouped. From here, we could finally see the twin summits of Acatenango. Our guides pointed out that we were going to the saddle in between them first, and then from there would go up to the higher summit. The hike to the saddle began similarly to the section we just finished, but then we passed the tree line and were into a steep slope of loose, black volcanic material. Small shrubs and grasses were intermittent. Once we got to the saddle, a lot of people wanted to stop there, but the guides gave a pep talk and got everyone to keep going. I went over to the other side of the saddle, for another absolutely beautiful view. We then started up to the summit. They kept us at a slower pace, to keep everyone on the hike, but then they let us loose, and the faster hikers started tearing up the peak. I ended up being the third one up, so I got to see it without too many people crowding around. From there we could look down into the saddle, and into the crater, not to even mention a sweeping panoramic view of Guatemala’s Pacific Highlands. Even though the volcano is dormant, there are numerous holes where you can stick your hand into the ground and it is noticeably warmer. While we were on the top of Acatenango, the nearby Fuego volcano was spewing dense smoke. It has been active lately, and once in a while lava will flow, but not while we were there. Still, seeing a volcano erupt very close to us was a dream come true. We took some group photos, and walked around the rim of the entire crater. By the way, at this time it was not even eight in the morning. We left after what seemed like all too short of a time, and headed down a different route from the summit to the saddle. This one was quite rocky and steep, and several people fell on the way down. We got back to the saddle and took the same trail back to base camp. When we arrived we had a second breakfast. That was one of the best pancakes I have ever had. It was probably due to my continued euphoria from the mountain, but it was delicious. We packed up and hiked down again. Going down the steep slopes through the rain forest was fun, running as fast as you dared to go, and hoping you could stop. We made it down in a fraction of the time it took to get up, and when we arrived back at La Mirador, another group of Semester at Sea students was eating their lunch their. We told them some details about what was ahead, but didn’t want to give away everything. I’d like to see how many of them made it up. From there it was back on the chicken bus to town, and then onto our regular bus for the drive to Antigua, the old capital of Guatemala. It was great to see the city that we had looked down on early that morning. We had a traditional Guatemalan meal, which was one of the best I’ve ever had. It consisted of black bean soup, steak, chicken, pork sausages, potatoes, and very small corn tortillas. I’m sure your average Guatemalan wouldn’t have three meats at a meal, but any one of them would have been fine. We had some free time to wander the city after lunch. It has some great old colonial buildings, and small, tightly packed houses and shops. The city’s landmark is an arch on the main road that leads to the city square. After leaving Antigua we drove back to the ship, where I got dinner, and then had a relaxing night before our last day in a port.
For the last day in Guatemala, and the final day in a port while on Semester at Sea, I went to the nearby town of Monterrico. It is known for its black sand beaches, and the Monterrico Nature Reserve. We took a large van, with some other students who wanted to go there. The beach was cool to see, but we did not stay long. The town itself is fairly small, it did not take long to find the nature reserve and walk there. These beaches are nesting grounds for sea turtles Most of the reserve is completely off-limits, it is solely for the wildlife. There is a small museum, and some small display zoo. We did get to see lots of small sea turtles, that they hatch and will later release when they are larger. We got lunch at a small, open-air restaurant. Just as I hoped, the food was incredible. Most of the menu was fish, but when I asked about one item, they told me it was “carne.” So I knew I was getting some kind of beef. It was a thinly sliced steak, covered with salsa, and served with the same small tortillas. We took our van back to the port, did some quick shopping from the market, and then said goodbye to our last port.
The trip now is nearly complete. Just a few short days at sea, and then its back home. I’m ready to be home again. Everything I have seen has been incredible, amazing, life changing, insert whatever moving adjective you want here. I haven’t even had that much time to reflect, I feel that that might take months or years. I am incredibly grateful for this voyage, and all that I have done and seen. I’m sure that everyone back home, who has been following this, might want some grandiose statement about the world, but the world is just so damn big, I can’t easily sum it up. People will want to know, has this trip changed you, and even to me, it has been obviously yes. People will want to hear everything, but there are memories that just cannot be put into words. People will want to hear some life philosophy, and I’ll tell them to go see the world, and come up with their own. I am capable of so much more now, I know so much more now, I’m ready to live to such a higher degree. I can’t wait to see you all when I get home, but also, I can’t wait to see where I’m headed next.

Don’t stop living in the red.

--- Jeff Malik