On arrival at our pre trek meeting in Xela, Guatemala we were told to pick a chair - each of the chairs had various items of food we had to carry on our trek. We also had to carry a sleeping bag, 2 litres of water, shoes we could wade through rivers in, a sleeping mat, plate, knife, fork. Oh and we needed a minimum 65l backpack as more stuff would need to be carried in the morning. Looking around the group no one else seemed to look surprised or nervous. Mmmmmmmm. So this is a porterless trek, and the sleeping stuff wasn't already at point B then. Bugger.
A sleepless night ensues - had I been doing this on my own I'd have ( sensibly) pulled out.
D day arrives - and the 3 hour sheer ascent up a great big mountain ( see Philippas blog for any details, I couldn't take in any information) was utter hell on earth. At altitude. With a backpack. On an unfit middle aged woman. The rest of the group sailed up. Of course they did - 2 of them were Swiss (they climb mountains in their lunch breaks don't they?) We also had a no nonsense German with walnut cracking thighs, a Canadian who spends weeks trekking and ' trailwalker' Philippa. The situation was looking bleak.
Quite how I survived the day I'm really not sure - the up's and down's seemed endless. My saviour though was the amazing Rachel - one of the guides - who stayed with me - and mentally helped me get to the top, get back down again( along with Philippa) and made me laugh along the way. She even encouraged me to hop in the back of a pick up truck the last 30 mins of the trek. Naughty Rachel :-)
From pick up truck point onwards the evening improves - we eat doughnuts from the local bakery, the girls spend time in the village tiny Mayan sauna and we all pass out on the floor of the village town hall by 8pm.
Total km's walked: Gemma 19.5km
Rest of group 20km
Day 2 dawns - I wake feeling very chirpy and positive. Why? I'd already been told that on each trek at least one person pulls out mid point day 1 - and at various points on day 2 if I wanted to get a bus into the next point I could. Big yay. Lot of love for Rachel.
The morning starts well - we walk through beautiful villages, not a cloud in the sky, and all the farmers wielding machete's we pass seem happy to see us. Then the ascent of record hill begins. I'd been warned it wasn't great for people who were scared of heights. Bugger. Again Rachel kept me company. I made it....slowly. It would have been fine had the ascent ended there. Only it carried on for what seemed like hours more.....by 2pm the worst was all over. But I know when it's time to call it - I was utterly broken- so I missed the last 5km -but had a very funny experience with Rachel getting us two and our massive backpacks into a Tuk Tuk which already had 2 local women in the back. Much laughing. We also got attacked by a local dog walking into the village. No bites, we both ran, threw sticks and escaped. Turns out my body did have something left!
Total km's walked: Gemma 34.5km
Rest of group 40km
The final day dawns, and after a pretty ace nights sleep on the floor of a lovely local man's house we set off at 4.30am to get to our viewpoint over lake atitlan in time to see sunrise. I actually walk at the front of the group ( the swiss may be good with Mountains, but my legs can have them on a flat road any day) - the stars are out. The cup of tea while we watched the sun come up over the lake was wonderful. I even saw two shooting stars. Sigh. Philippa looks very happy.
Just a massive bloody sheer mountain to scramble down and we're here. Trek over. Looking back on it now it almost feels worth it. But then I try and stand up and realise that no it bloody wasn't.
I need a holiday, and a trip to a physio.
X
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