Sunday, June 2nd 2019

Well. . . it sounded like a good idea beforehand! Don’t get me wrong climbing the highest peak in Central America was an amazing hike, I just wish the visibility was a bit better than 20 feet. Allegedly, when you reach the top, you can see the Mexican border! I can’t attest to that fact, but I can certainly say I’ve climbed the tallest peak in Central America! Man the altitude got to me. I have gotten altitude sickness in the past, so I brought Diamox in preparation for the submit. I had one night of paresthesias in my hands as expected, and some sudden nausea while submitting, but I did pretty good otherwise! The peak is at a whopping 13,845 feet, and we started hiking at about 9,000 feet. The hike wasn’t too long, but I felt every foot of elevation gain through the oxygen deficient air. We were supposed to bring sleeping bags to the summit and watch the sunset, but the rain prevented that. We decided to summit anyways, knowing we wouldn’t see the sunrise. The summit was cold, but very doable in the morning without a pack. On the way down, we got a good two thirds of the way down the mountain with decent weather(only some fog). We called in our lunch to the local comedor, and almost instantly a massive rain/thunder/lightening/hail storm came through. The trails turned to rivers and nobody was safe from the water. Walking into the comedor, an hour later, we looked as if we had just jumped into a swimming pool with all of our clothes and shoes still on. Boy am I glad to be back in my warm bed. It was a trip that I will NEVER forget. One day I might do it again if I’m ever back in Guatemala. I’ll post a video when I can get some time to edit all the footage. I’m still backed up on the Atitlan video!

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