i mentioned this before. the most exciting backpacking trip for me had to have been Guatemala. when you see guys carrying shotguns everywhere you go, you know this country is dangerous. and when you backpack, you’re kind of asking for danger…
so straight off the airplane, i decided to do something i had no idea what i was getting myself into. because if i knew, i wouldn’t have done it.
hiking up 8 hours almost dying of dehydration, wearing sneakers, and finding out i was going to sleep overnight in a small tent on the top of an active volcano??? really? cool!
then in the middle of the night, you feel the ground shaking, hear a loud bang, then look up and see flames spewing out of the active volcano? it was like a dream. jet lagged and everything, i couldn’t believe it. when you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, it’s even more breathtaking. i couldn’t believe my eyes…
then the next morning, waking up to the sunrise on top of the most dangerous place on earth. i felt like i accomplished the biggest adventure in my life. there was absolutely nothing else that could have topped that…
opps, i take that back. the next day, took this drive along a narrow slippery gravel road on a bus filled with people was even more dangerous. one slip or one flat tire, we all die. yes, it’s happened many times before on what is considered one of the worlds most dangerous roads. i tried to sleep but ended staying up the whole 9 hour ride because i was so scared.
and the homemade bridges you go over? i decided to walk across because i though our truck was too heavy. i’d rather fall alone and not in the back of a truck with people panicking.
they say never to go into downtown Guatemala because it’s one of the most dangerous cities in the world. now that i think about it, it was stupid of me to ride along the streets like a tourist on a bicycle.
but this is the best way to experience any country.
when i watched the news of the exact volcano i hiked to the top of blowing up and killing hundreds of people, i had chicken skin. i remember one of the locals telling me that we will all die when i asked him if it exploded. i just hope he wasn’t up there when it did.
would i do that hike again? no way…
