Volcan Tajumulcooool!

Last weekend I climbed the highest peak in Guatemala, Volcan Tajumulco (almost 14000 feet). We left on Saturday at 9 am and climbed a good portion of the day. Then we woke up at 3 am to finish the climb to the summit and to watch the sunrise. It was pretty incredible because we were above the constant accumulation of clouds and smog and could actually see the stars for once. Tajumulco is dormant, but we were able to see two other volcanoes erupt while at the summit.

Aaaaaand I still don’t have my camera, so… Photo Cred: Shannon Conk.

All of these pictures are from the top.

   

I also met a young man from Visby, a small town in Sweden and one of my favorite places in the world. Like my first teacher here told me, “el mundo es como un panuelo” (Literally, “the world is like a handkerchief,” or It’s a small world).

On the way down, we picked up trash, which sadly litters the entire country, including places that are supposedly sacred to the Mayans, like this particular volcano. The environmental situation here is pretty disheartening. Hopefully at the very least our endeavor to pick up trash will make the climb even more beautiful for the next group to climb it.

Although the environmental situation is pretty bad here (I've seen people dump bags of trash straight into rivers, and you can literally taste the pollution) the average amount of carbon emitted per person here is still less than that of the average US citizen. It was hard for me to believe when Shannon told me and told me I should write about it in my blog. So idea cred: Shannon Conk.  I think I'm going to start commissioning her to write this for me. Either her or Allison, because Allison writes very well. Bloggin is hard.