Being that I’m in the Sierra/Highlands region of this
gorgeous country, volcanoes and mountains are a very common thing in these
parts. And where there’s a mountain, there will be climbing! I was
spontaneously asked one morning a few weeks ago if I would like to join 3 others
from my group on a little hike up this mountain. Knowing that I have plans to
hike Machu Picchu while I’m here and understanding that this is not your
grandma’s excursion, I decided to accept every opportunity I was given as a
means of conditioning for the mack daddy! So off I went…to apparently face my
death!
What I didn’t take into account was the steepness of this mountain, the various terrains it had to offer, and the goals of my hiking partners: to just keep going! Not only was I braving this adventure in my tennies (as I did not have the time to buy nor the room to pack a pair of hiking boots before departing the US of A), I also have the balance of about that of a 2 year old. But you miss out on 100% of the opportunities you don’t take so, with inhaler in hand, I set out on this total incline adventure with 3 of the most fit and athletic people I could have possibly picked to go with. There were many stops, there were many breaks, there were many hours of pure “will it ever end” torture. We hiked through about 7 different terrains and I fell about 8 times (one time of which resulted in me grabbing a bush for stabilization…which turned out to be a thorn bush that left about 10-12 splinters in my hands). We got lost a time or two but eventually made it back about 5-6 hours later. The breathtaking view at the top was completely worth it!! Here are a few pics from the day (and for some reason they loaded top to bottom so the first ones are on the bottom):
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