A La Gran Puta...
Here's a little story that outlines a very common experience for travelers and citizens of "developing" countries. Not that it doesn't happen in "developed" countries, but it happens here all the time. So a couple of us have been wanting to hike the nearly 14,000 ft. volcano Acatenengo for some time. We did our research, made a plan, and met this morning at 5 am near the "bus terminal" to catch a bus/taxi to the town La Soledad, where the trail head begins. It seemed wise to allow some extra time on both ends, public transport is unpredictable and we wanted to be up and back before dark at around 6pm. La Soledad is only about 15 minutes away by car, but hey ya never know.
I will list our morning in bullet points to speed up the story telling process. Like the show "24" right!
- 5:05 am, met Pete and Allison in the COLD dark near the market.
- 5:30 walk up to Central Park to look for taxi's after finding no buses to Duñas.
- 6 am Scrap public transport plan altogether and go get Allison's car "Fidel."
- 6:20 am parking attendant wakes up from our yelling and banging on the outside gate.
- 6:30 am leave Antigua, (as old Fidel needs time to warm up), pass through San Miguel Dueñas, and find our way blocked by two Tractor Trailers on an up hill dirt road less than 5 minutes from La Soledad.
- 6:40 am Pete and I go see whats the problem, being manly men and all. Basically the trucks are full of coffee cherries and the lead truck is unable to get traction up the hill. The good news is that the second truck is the only one blocking our way. The one that isn't stuck, so the driver says oh no problem I can move over for you.
- 7am now we are a line of 5 cars, as the other buses and cars have since turned around, the 2nd driver never moved the truck, and the first truck decides to give it another go, this time being towed with about a 1" thick metal chain! Yikes...dangerous.
- 7:25 am Dumb ass, pee for a brain, truck drivers decide to let all the traffic pass after more than 45 minutes waiting... lots of cursing at that point unfit for the children that read this.
- 7:30 we "arrive" and find that La Soledad seems to be a coffee farm, the road became a footpath, and we are unsure what to do with the car. A few people confirm its possible to hike Acatenengo from that point but its much "easier" to go a different route. Running out of time and in a weakened mental state we choose to follow their advice.
- 8:15 am finds us on another endless dirt road climbing and climbing. Fidel starts smoking a little bit, and we decide its time to reevaluate our situation. We believe the easier way was most likely an actual road that leads nearly all the way up the freakin mountain, typical. So defeated and without enough time to attempt the summit anyway, we head back to Antigua.
- 9 am finds us sitting down in a nice restaurant awaiting hot tipica breakfast and coffee. The sort of food that really, really, tastes good after a tough hike.
Damn you Acatenengo. You alluded us this time, but we've lived in Guate long enough to shake off these mind-blowingly stupid set backs, and will return with a vengeance!
Here's a little story that outlines a very common experience for travelers and citizens of "developing" countries. Not that it doesn't happen in "developed" countries, but it happens here all the time. So a couple of us have been wanting to hike the nearly 14,000 ft. volcano Acatenengo for some time. We did our research, made a plan, and met this morning at 5 am near the "bus terminal" to catch a bus/taxi to the town La Soledad, where the trail head begins. It seemed wise to allow some extra time on both ends, public transport is unpredictable and we wanted to be up and back before dark at around 6pm. La Soledad is only about 15 minutes away by car, but hey ya never know.
I will list our morning in bullet points to speed up the story telling process. Like the show "24" right!
- 5:05 am, met Pete and Allison in the COLD dark near the market.
- 5:30 walk up to Central Park to look for taxi's after finding no buses to Duñas.
- 6 am Scrap public transport plan altogether and go get Allison's car "Fidel."
- 6:20 am parking attendant wakes up from our yelling and banging on the outside gate.
- 6:30 am leave Antigua, (as old Fidel needs time to warm up), pass through San Miguel Dueñas, and find our way blocked by two Tractor Trailers on an up hill dirt road less than 5 minutes from La Soledad.
- 6:40 am Pete and I go see whats the problem, being manly men and all. Basically the trucks are full of coffee cherries and the lead truck is unable to get traction up the hill. The good news is that the second truck is the only one blocking our way. The one that isn't stuck, so the driver says oh no problem I can move over for you.
- 7am now we are a line of 5 cars, as the other buses and cars have since turned around, the 2nd driver never moved the truck, and the first truck decides to give it another go, this time being towed with about a 1" thick metal chain! Yikes...dangerous.
- 7:25 am Dumb ass, pee for a brain, truck drivers decide to let all the traffic pass after more than 45 minutes waiting... lots of cursing at that point unfit for the children that read this.
- 7:30 we "arrive" and find that La Soledad seems to be a coffee farm, the road became a footpath, and we are unsure what to do with the car. A few people confirm its possible to hike Acatenengo from that point but its much "easier" to go a different route. Running out of time and in a weakened mental state we choose to follow their advice.
- 8:15 am finds us on another endless dirt road climbing and climbing. Fidel starts smoking a little bit, and we decide its time to reevaluate our situation. We believe the easier way was most likely an actual road that leads nearly all the way up the freakin mountain, typical. So defeated and without enough time to attempt the summit anyway, we head back to Antigua.
- 9 am finds us sitting down in a nice restaurant awaiting hot tipica breakfast and coffee. The sort of food that really, really, tastes good after a tough hike.
Damn you Acatenengo. You alluded us this time, but we've lived in Guate long enough to shake off these mind-blowingly stupid set backs, and will return with a vengeance!
posted by Luke & Andrea at 1:36 PM
3 Comments:
wow i was really ticked off friday!
that totally sucked, that's why you were ticked off. what a frustrating morning. here's hoping that the rest of your travels prove more easily executed. :)
The good news is that we actually did succesfully climb Acatenango the following Monday. It was a beautiful hike but the mountain was blanketed by thick clouds with fierce winds,and offered no views. Actually we broke a few Hiking 101 rules and nearly spent the night stuck at the top unable to find our way down in the white out!
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