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Want to Download the Story to your Computer? Click Here! The Summit The fresh morning air, beautiful rising sun, and clear skies made me feel happy to be alive as I set out walking. About 30 minutes later, I hesitated as I came upon a fork in the pathway. My hosts had told me however, that I would have to walk very close to or even cross a small river as I made my way up to the top. To the right, I could hear the sound of running water so I chose this path. Within ten minutes, I was stepping across a small brook. I now believe that taking this route was my first mistake. The people who I had stayed with may have led me down a path that was used by natives, not foreigners. After walking for some hours, the path that I was on suddenly became very unclear. It seemed that there were a few different directions that I could follow but I had no idea where they led. Supposedly, the path to the top was easy to follow so I began climbing up the side of the mountain to see if I could get a better view of where I should go. While I was climbing, a man came down the path so I quickly descended and asked him where I should go to continue to the top. He said that we were standing on the path now and pointed to where it continued. It wasn’t so obvious to me but I was relieved to at least know where it was again. He told me that I could follow him for a while and then I asked him if this was the path that the tourists took to reach the top. He laughed and told me no. He said that this path was only used by natives. For the next 45 minutes or so, I had no trouble believing that this was true because at times we were literally rock climbing. The easy to follow, gently rising paths that I had been following since yesterday had been replaced by a more treacherous pathway that rose sharply in some places. The man that I was following had the dexterity of a mountain goat and more than once I thought I had been left behind but each time I came around a bend he was always there waiting for me. At about 3000 meters (9,840 feet), we came upon a few houses that were scattered on the side of a hill. This was where my friend lived although I was having a hard time believing that anyone would live so far up and away from civilization. My friend told me that he was sick and needed 10 pesos. I told him that I couldn’t give him any money (I didn’t want anyone else to get ideas) but I offered him a couple of chocolate bars. He took them and appeared to be very grateful. I found out later that sweets are appreciated almost as much as money up there. As I climbed past the houses, a teenager approached me and asked how much I would give him to lead me up to the top. I smiled and pointed to the top, which I could see, and said thanks but I didn’t think that his help was necessary. It took me another five hours to reach the top of Tacana mainly because I got a little lost again. When I finally did reach the summit, I was very happy, so I used my cell phone to call a few friends and let them know I was talking to them from about 13,000 feet (4000 meters). They congratulated me and told me to be careful. As I talked to them I looked all around me. The view was spectacular and I could see for miles into the countries of Mexico and Guatemala. After hanging up with my friends, I congratulated myself as well. The trip up the mountain had been even easier than I had expected. Half of my journey was over. Or so I thought. www.nathanryan.com on the world wide web |
