#1, #3, and #4 Down

On November 21st, a couple Peace Corps buddies and I climbed the highest volcano in Central America. Called Tajamulco, which translates to "the big pimple" (not true, I completely made that up), this tallest point in Central America measures almost 14,000 feet. Probably the most impressive part of the landscape is the fact that the volcano hovers right over the coastal region of San Marcos (where I live). Looking at it from the side, the skyline rips from the coast straight up 14,000 feet to the volcano.

We started our hike around 1pm on Saturday with a group called Corazon Verde ("Green Heart") that organized a garbage clean-up on the volcano. Before the hike, a group of locals, led by the mayor, held a ceremony to bless the occasion and to talk about the importance of keeping their sacred volcano clean. After the 25 minutes of speeches and prayers, we all started up. The local Guatemalans charged up the volcano with their burlap sacks, which would return full of garbage. We took a more leisurely pace, mainly because we couldn't take three steps without getting winded due to the lack of oxygen, but also because we planned to camp that night just below the summit.

After about 3 hours of hiking, we arrived at base camp. I was shocked when we arrived because the hike itself wasn't that tough and I thought it would take much longer than it did. But it was nice to get to our camp with plenty of daylight because it gave us time to get ready for the freezing cold that would come with the sunset. After collecting some firewood, a group of us summited the peak to catch the sunset over the Pacific. Even though it was cloudy, the view was incredible (photos below). We stayed there for about an hour, but like clock-work, once the sun went down, the temperature dropped to nearly freezing. We rushed down to our tents to get a fire going and eat some supper. After a hearty dinner of beans, bread, and - of course - campfire-roasted schmores, we all went to bed to try to rest before our early wake-up to catch the summit sunrise. I slept fine, but one of our buddies had a serious case of altitude sickness and was moaning and groaning all night with splitting headaches.

At 3:45am my alarm sounded...time to summit. Still freezing, we crawled out of our tents and started hiking again, but this time it felt much tougher due the to the cold and soar muscles. It was well worth it though because right around 6ish, the sun came out and we could make out the chain of volcanoes stretching from Antigua to Mexico (about 8 volcanoes in all). Definitely one of the highlights of Guatemala so far.

With Tajamulco down, I've now summited the highest volcano in Guatemala (Tajamulco), the third highest (Acatenango), and the fourth highest (Agua). Now I have the second highest in my sites, called Tacana (photo below), for January. #1, #3, and #4 highest down. Next up, #2.

#1, #3, and #4 Down Photos (click to enlarge)

Chris taking a photo with Summit in the distance

Base camp

Summit sunset. Volcano in the background is called Tacana; second tallest in Central America

Chris on the summit at sunset

6:03am. Summit sunrise over the entire chain of volcanoes in Guatemala.
I think you can make out about 8 different volcanoes.

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are"

The quote above, by Teddy Roosevelt, should really be the Peace Corps motto. It also relates perfectly to the work we've done in the park over the last month.

Since I last posted, we finished construction of a bridge that crosses a small river at the entrance of our park that swells during the rainy season. Below are some "before and after" photos. We re-used wood from an old indoor soccer field that was torn down in July. The wood from the rafters served as the base of the bridge, and 3-foot slabs from the building's facade were laid across the walkway of the bridge. Our finishing touch was to fill in the sides of the bridge with bamboo donated by a nearby coffee farm.

Shortly after we finished the bridge, I invited two bird experts from a town called Coban to come for a second visit to our park to do a bird inventory. Knut Eisermann and Claudia Avedano, from Cayaya Birding (http://www.cayaya-birding.com), know Guatemala's birds possibly better than anyone else in Central America. Just standing at our look-out, they identified about twenty different species of birds through their calls/songs. Having visited our park four months ago, this visit was focused on the migratory population of birds that cross through Guatemala on their way to the States. I never would have thought in a million years they would have found a Baltimore Oriole in San Marcos, Guatemala. Crazy! Our list of birds now includes 55 different species of birds in an area that's about 250 acres.

Continuing the bird theme, we are about two months away from quetzal nesting season (February - May). One of the main reasons the quetzal is a threatened species is because of its fickle nesting habits. It only nests in dry dead trees, which, last time I checked, have a tendency to fall over in wind and heavy rain. Did I mention we get 4 meters of rain every year? In our park, we have tons of beautiful live trees, but these are way to dense/hard for the quetzal to burrow into. So we hung artificial nests last week; essentially dry trunks hung on live trees. Last year a pair of quetzals took to one of the nest we hung, and we're hoping they do again.

So there's the recap of the last month of work. Check out the pics below and check back soon to hear about the half marathon in Xela and my trip to the tallest volcano in Central America.

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are" (photos)

Bridge Before

Bridge After

Birdwatching with Knut, Claudia, and Marcelino

Hanging an artificial nest

Artificial nest (it's the trunk on the ride side of the living tree).
If I were a bird I'd definitely want to nest there.