Howdy-doo!
I’m finally sitting down to write after a whirlwind few weeks! I hope you all had wonderful New Years and are sticking to your resolutions!Yes, I have been reading every night before bed (mostly) but no yoga yet, gulp! Maybe I'll amend that resolution to be “run a half marathon" - who’s up for training!?
I’m feeling kick-ass and on top of the world after an amazing vacation to Colombia to see friends new and old. Turns out, when one group member claims that they don’t want to summit the Nevado del Tolima, it doesn’t mean that you aren’t hiking, only that you aren’t summiting the almost 6,000 meter snow-capped mountain in the middle of Colombia. I learned the hard way when I called bff Kris the day before take-off and asked, “So what are we doing in Colombia, anyway?” and she replied, “Are you serious? We’re hiking!” Queue me scrambling to prepare! Thank goodness 1) I have an amazing mother who super prepares me for everything and sent me to Panama with a passable assortment of camping equipment and 2) I grew up in Idaho where outdoor things can be sprung on me in a few minutes notice and I’ll roll with it and 3) Kris and Katie had enough extra clothing to help me survive the cold. Thanks to all!
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| Beautiful vegetation along the way |
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| Us at the base of the Nevado del Tolima |
I made it to Bogotá on 1/1/2016 where everything was closed except a 7-Eleven style store where I ate breakfast and lunch and the cable car up a big mountain called Monserrate with a stunning view of Bogotá and a bustling church where I attended my first Catholic mass of 2k16. I had a wonderful day wandering and exploring alone despite the deserted streets and lack of tangible Colombian energy I'd heard so much about. Kris and Bob made it to Bogotá in the evening and we caught up over a cold brewski and hit the hay pretty early. On 1/2/2016 we woke up and fumbled our way through the streets of Bogota, on a taxi and through various confusing bus lines, to Jake’s town. Reunited with the entire crew at last, we recounted plenty of stories, made up for lost time between best friends, and got ready for our trek. And then the fun started!
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| Cool hilly streets of Bogotá |
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| Obligatory selfie at top of Monserrate |
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| The church in the background is where I went to my first mass of 2016 |
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| Top of Monserrate |
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| Bogotá was sprawling! |
Day 1 – Trek Nevado del Tolima:
Wake up time: 2:45am
Hike start time: 5:00am
Duration: 10 hours
Terrain: Uphill, grade 85% (probably)
Slept: At a school (apparently with seven enrolled students, though I never saw one, nor even another house from which a child could come) turned hikers hostel in the middle of the greenest field I’ve ever seen in beds nearly shared with cows, chickens, mules, horses, ducks, pigs and piglets.
Momentous occasions:
1. My headlight batteries were dead when we started the hike at 5am so I got my (tennis) shoes muddy minute one of the hike. Solution: Bob had extra batteries and was quickly voted MVP of the morning.
2. Our meal of the night was meat. Yes, just meat. We quickly ran out of gas because of the long frying time meat takes. I would have voted Guide Wilo off the island at that moment if I could have.
3. Sleeping in a caved-in bed after four hours of sleep the night before and starting the vertical hike up with a breakfast of four vanilla wafer cookies. As Kris astutely remarked, “Why are we doing all this crazy uphill on wafers, are you serious?!”
Day 2 – Trek Nevado del Tolima:
Wake up time: 6:00am
Hike start time: 10:00am (due to a stolen camera mystery and lack of cooking gas for stove)
Duration: 6 hours (little did we know it’d be our shortest day and we should savor it because Guide Wilo and Guide Alex kept pushing us to go faster because of the impending rain to which I wanted to yell, Yes, we see those ominous rain clouds and hear the nearing thunder and if we could go faster, don’t you think we would?
Terrain: Paramo desert (only found in these here parts in Colombia) with plenty of fryholes (Dr. Suess trees similar to lambs ear and grow 1cm each year) and lots of uphill
Slept: On a dirt floor under a smoky enclosed cooking space at the edge of lukewarm thermal baths
Momentous occasions:
1. The wonderful lady who greeted us with agua de panela upon arrival to camp when we most needed it due to probable hypothermia (you know, for someone used to living in a tropical climate, 50 degrees feels cold) and rain
2. When the clouds finally cleared up, we could see the entirety of the Nevado del Tolima and its glory – a beautiful site to see and much needed morale booster.
3. Someone stole my coffee and I got REAL mad – two more days and I had no coffee...I was in quite a mood.
Day 3 - Trek Nevado del Tolima:
Wake up time: I never actually went to sleep, so uhhh...1am, 2am, 3am, 4am, 5am and finally out the sack for real by 6am.
Hike start time: 9:00am (but only after tuna pasta breakfast)
Duration: 8 hours
Terrain: Winding up and downhill with beautiful pastures of green passing the base of the Nevado del Tolima and a green lagoon
Slept: On the floor of a structure in the middle of a cow field with endless fresh cheese (mmmmm que rico)!
Momentous occasions:
1. Kris and Bob busting out the Fireball Whiskey!
2. Hot chocolate with cheese chunks thrown in (actually quite delicious and a Colombian specialty)
Day 4 - Trek Nevado del Tolima:
Wake up time: 6:00am
Hike start time: 8:00am
Duration: 8 long long hours
Terrain: Beautiful green trees, jungle forest trails next to rockbed rivers and creeks, and a grand finale into the Valle de Cocora with insanely tall palm trees (another Dr. Suess like endless expanse of funny-looking trees).
Slept: In coffee country in a tiny artesian village called Salento at a hostel that was essentially someone’s room in the back of a bakery because there was a town festival going on and all the hostels were booked up (Said hostel had limited running water and we smelled horrible).
Momentous occasions:
1. Arriving
2. Coffee
3. Dancing (after a long 4 days of hiking, nothing gets them quads burning like a good round of salsa and bachata dancing)
4. Food (including, but not limited to, a peanut butter brownie with ice cream, a peanut butter brownie milkshake, a peanut butter browniesans ice cream, huevos rancheros, rice and beans, and fresh mango juices).
5. WE DID IT!!!!
I’m proud of my crew of hiking bandits – we had an amazing team and worked together to survive the infamous Nevado del Tolima trail – Ibagué to Salento. It will forever go down in history as one of the top three hardest hikes of my life (topped only by some hard hike trips I did with the XC ski team in high school and Pico Duarte in the Dominican Republic).
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| WE DID IT! |
The next few days passed swimmingly, apart from the four hour “night of sleep” I got lying on the floor behind a flower-selling kiosk in the Bogotá airport before my 6am flight and the stench I managed to carry with me off the mountain. Apart from that, I made it to Panama and met another bff Jessie who came to visit me! We had a blast exploring beaches, hiking, running, biking, volleyballing, eating and gabbing about podcasts, trivia, film and everything in between.
This week, it’s back to the grind! Bummer city womp womp!
Until next time, stay weird!
Bea
