vale la pena

on a really sunny day, Xela feels something like a beach town. the sun is incessantly bright, and there's a haze over the mountains. long shadows. the air is dry. you do feel, you think, closer to the sun.

my face right now ought to be enough evidence. it's bright red, and (i think) a bit swollen. except around my eyes, and so i think i have a bit of a racoon look going.

yesterday, we met at 5:30am and drove out to the base of Volcan Santa Maria, a dormant but muy alto volcano about 15 minutes outside of town. We started hiking at around 6:30 and made it to the top around 10am. I had wrestled with going until just before I had to run out the door, and after about five steps, I knew I was in for it. From where we started, the base is at about 8,500 feet. At the summit, it's something like 11,500. The air is thin, and it's difficult to catch your breath when sitting still. We'd go for 20 minutes or so, maybe more, and stop for a break. I'd think, this is totally doable. no problem. We'd start again and within 30 seconds, I'd be sure I wasn't going to make it to the top. But we did, bit by bit.

Guatemaltecos don't mess around. It's pretty much a straight ascent at an angle of maybe 35 degrees. At the top, especially on the way down, it's basically bouldering. From the summit, you can see (when the clouds dissipate) Santiaguito, an active volcano with molten sludge running down one of its sides. You can hear it (feel it) erupt every half hour or so. We dozed and ate bananas and tortillas for over an hour before heading down.