The HIGHlight of the week

Volcan Tajumulco is the highest point in Central America. Now although Central America is not a great deal bigger than Texas, this particular trek gave us some bragging rights. April and May is the rainy season in the western highlands of Guatemala and you can pretty much expect a downpour after 16:00. During the trek, the rain came as predicted allowing us to have our raincoats readily available, though we were still not pleased with the miserable liquid. After five hours of trekking, we arrived at our camping destination to set up in the most efficient and dryest way possible (quite difficult with the downpour). With no fire, we huddled under the tarp in a "calor con pasion" circle attempting strange penguin movements to get blood flowing to our frozen fingers. The next few miserable yet hilarious hours were spent waiting for dinner but more importantly waiting to climb into our sleeping bags and extra clothing. I can't say that anyone was actually sleeping when 03:45 rolled around and we woke up to hike the last few hundred meters to the summit to watch the sun rise. Huffing, puffing, and floating through the thin air, we reached the top of frigid Tajumulco in the dark and were able to witness the brilliant orange sun peek through the pink clouds and dark silhouettes of the surrounding mountains. What an incredible creator we have!

"Guardanos Señor"

Back in Guatemala, I'm being much smarter for round two. For example, I don't let them charge me the foreigners price for transportation nor market food. However, I would almost rather not ride on the public transportation here. The "chicken buses" (in the photo), supposedly called such for the chick cargo, though I'm starting to think that it originates from the fact that they play chicken with every passing vehicle and pedestrian at a minimal speed of 70 mph. They are even branded with religious phrases like "Dios te Bendiga", "Jesus es amor", and "Guardanos Señor", so that when your bus loses the fatal game of chicken; the last thing to go through our minds is El Señor. Most of my time so far has been spent coffee finca-hopping but I did throw in a macademia nut farm in which I got a macademia oil massage and facial. ¡Es la vida! May is rainy season in Guatemala and we get very predictable soaking at 4:00 every afternoon, which makes not having a watch rather simple. It is also planting season for any new coffee plants that are ready to be grounded for the next fifteen years. Harvest is still months away but the preparation, cleaning, and fertilizing takes place year round. I've sparked quite an interest in the Mayan population who traditionally come down from the high peaks to pick coffee during harvest and have been oppressed the last 500 years by governments, land owners, and even coffee plantation employers (overseers). The coffee economy of Guatemala, above all, relied on the forced labor and misery of the indigenous population.