Miles behind on the blog, might get a month and a halfs blogging done in the next few days???
Arguably the most incredible, awe inspiring and beautiful scenes I ever had the pleasure of witnessing, an astounding adventure....... climbing the mother volcano (Santa Maria) of the live Santiaguito Volcano....
The Seven volcano's visible from the top of Sant Maria
Perfect weather and the enthusiasm to climb another volcano inspired this last minute decision to climb Santa Maria Volcano, having rounded up a few business owners, Daniel from the pool and Mike from Buddha, Jordan brought 2 girls (here for the Honduras trip), Chelsea and Nel, and Marie and Caroline, plus Petra and Emilia, loaded everyone into the back of the truck, bound for Xela (Quetsaltenango), arrived late in the afternoon, unexpectedly unable to find a large grassy area to camp, in this area every spare square foot is devoted to vegetable growing!!! After a lot of humming and haaarring, Caroline falling off her horse, the group gets split in 2.. Daniel, Mike, Marie and Carloine, head up in search of a perfect camp spot!!! Still packing the rest of us fortunately remain behind when Caroline returns unable to make it to said camping spot... it's a gravelly parking area for us, among the cattle, trukeys, chickens, dogs and ducks.. us being, Jordan, Chelsea and Nel, Caroline, Petra and Emilia.... equipped with a couple of dodgy headlamps, loads of willing and the notion that the trail to the top of the volcano is simple and straightforward, Jordan, Chelsea, Nel and I leave a freezing campsite/barn a spot later than expected 02.30, for the 4 hour climb to the summit of the volcano... An hour or so later up the trail 4 of us sharing 2 head torches and a weak flashlight, we emerge onto a grassy area, presumably this is where Daniel, Mike and Marie are, "presumably" because we can't see them, there's a split in the path, so much for simple!! we take the left fork assuming we head around the left flank of the volcano, mirador (lookout) first then on up, if its too tough going the girls can wait at the mirador we reason.. the trail flattens out even starts to drop a bit, slightly concerning as we should be climbing, but our suspect directions described a difficult first hour, then the climb gets easier, before becoming difficult again for the final ascent??? when the trail becomes loose, more steep and covered in inches of leaves, we decide we've probably taken the wrong route!! we return to the grassy area, still pitch black except for the hollow light of our torches, Chelsea with no light has almost slipped off the trail a few times, puffing and panting her and Nel call and end to our lost ramblings, head back down the trail to the comforts of camp/farmyard.. determined to reach the mirador, where we can at least see Volcan Santiaguito spewing ash into the air, Jordan and I doggedly continue!!! Turns out good decision by the girls, our elusive quest for the mirador leads us up, up, up, switchback after switchback, every time the path leavens out or does'nt make a bend, we're optimistic that the mirador lies ahead, it doesn't.. we continue scrambling up, an hour or so more, its time to give up on the mirador, the paths so steep, no end in sight, we're still going straight up, we reason we have to be summit bound, I step up the pace, if we are going to the top we need to be there for sunrise? Breathing the high, thin air, snorting, snotting and panting, the sky turns purple, a flash of mauve, another beautiful day is dawning and we're not at the top!! Plodding on, we see chipped into the rock 50 mts!! what to the summit?? Straight up!! who knows?? Unbelievably the gradient increases, mirador or summit? we certainly can't see the top!! further onwards and upwards we puff.. the trees become more scarce, branchless, gnarled old cypress trunks, the top must be close, the sun slowly rises higher changing the fuchsia to pink, purple to blue, there is an end... the trees give way to rocks, the path becomes looser, another switchback around a grey boulder, the climb is over..briefly everything disappears from view, an icy wind swirls about us, we've reached the summit... Absolutely breathtaking (not that we had very much breath!!), the silence enfolds us, Awesome, Awesome..... to the North the far-reaching Gautemala Highlands, to the East aligned in an unbelievable row the peaks of Seven Volcano's, south the Pacific escarpment disappears thousands of feet below us to the ocean and into the horizon, east more highlands Tajamulco Volcano and Mexico... and we haven't laid eyes on Santiaguito yet!!
the sun coming up 100 mts before the summit
