Climbing Acatenango: Mind over Body

I woke up yesterday at 3:30am, unable to sleep due to the excitement of climbing the third-highest volcano in Guatemala.  Acatenango is around 13,000 feet above sea level. Antigua sits at an altitude of around 5,000 feet.  Acatanango is the middle volcano (mostly covered by clouds) seen in this picture taken from the side of Pacaya. As you can see, it is big.  It actually has two peaks, but I can't remember the name of the smaller peak (not seen here).

I was glad to wake up so early.  I needed to hear the voice of the Lord saying that I wasn't stupid for trying to climb the "beast."  He spoke.  I'm SOOO glad! He gave me scriptures about hind's feet on high places, and told me not to doubt my ability to make it to the summit.  He told me I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.  He told me that nothing is impossible with Him. I wrote all of this down in my journal, as well as my heart.

Phil arrived around 5:30am or 6am and we left immediately.  Phil is an experienced climber, having spent over a year traveling throughout South America climbing and surfing.  I am NOT an experienced climber. I have not worked out in quite some time unless you count walking through Antigua as a workout.

We drove about 30-45 minutes outside of Antigua, past multiple coffee plantations.  Even though I'd heard the voice of the Lord, I was still deeply doubting that I could make the climb.  The country song, "What was I thinking?" comes to mind.

I think this is actually Fuego, not Acatenango.  But it gives you an idea of the steepness and the height of the volcanoes.  This picture was taken on our way to Acatenango, as were the ones below.

We arrived at the base of the volcano around 7:30am where a local man guarded the patrol truck and the main entrance to the volcano's path.  With layers of clothing, my good new shoes, and almost 2 gallons of water on my back, we set off.

Within minutes, I was panting and doubting.  I know I'm not in the best shape I could be in.  But I also know that I have a gift for endurance, no matter how hard the task.  I persevere.  In this case however, my mind was still not convinced of my ability to endure 5+ hours of almost vertical hiking. Therefore, my body definitely wasn't convinced.

We stopped for me to rest for a bit and eat a little breakfast.  Phil took my backpack for me and I explained to him and the police officers with us that my mind was fighting me in the worst way possible.  I asked them for words of encouragement.  I'm so grateful to know my love languages and strengths from Strengths' Finders! I am such a visionary.  Setting worth-while goals and measuring achievements towards those goals drives me.  And I need encouragement along the way to keep going towards those goals. Even though I really did want to get to the top of the volcano, I couldn't see how it was worthwhile. I didn't know why I wanted to go. Therefore, I couldn't convince myself that my current discomfort was worth it.  And I was indeed uncomfortable.

These are my police escorts and guides. This was a "flat" place to eat. Most of the trail was even steeper than this picture shows.

Phil, my supporter and new friend

The view was gorgeous!

The first part of the trek was through farmland.  Fields of corn covered either side of the path.  The second part of the trek was through thick cloud forest (rainforest).  The path was not much more than rain-wash-out.  We had to hurdle up roots and washed-out gullies made of lava-soil.  I was so focused on making it to my next imaginary goal-a tree, a rock, a curve in the path, past an extremely steep part- that I didn't take pictures of the path itself.

About 3 hours into the trek upward, I stopped setting physical landmark goals.  I found that I wanted to stop at each goal and celebrate.  That doesn't sound like a bad idea, but each goal was really only 2 minutes or less from the previous one.  My new goal became to set one foot in front of the other. With each step, I thought, "Victory. Victory. Victory."

Phil helped me so much.  At the first part of the trip, he was in front of me.  I felt so defeated because he made it look so easy.  I knew better than to compare myself to him, but I couldn't help it.  So, he got behind me.  He literally pushed up the volcano on the hard parts.  I say the "hard parts," but in all reality, the whole climb was hard. Sometimes, his push wasn't enough.  I would yell out, "Words!" and he and Socop would tell me to keep going, that I was doing good, and other such words of affirmation.

We met up with some other experienced climbers.  I wasn't sure I was going to make it all the way to the second peak of Acatenango.  But for a time, I was able to keep up with them. (I think only because Phil was pushing me.)

At some point, we stopped to eat a little more.  After this, Phil decided it was better to pull me up the volcano.  So, he grasped my hand behind him and pulled me upwards.  I watched where he stepped, put my feet where his had been and trusted his strength to help me along.  When I wanted to let go, when I wanted to quit, he held my hand tighter and pulled harder.  But when I said, "No, I really need to rest," he patiently obliged.

Even though Phil doesn't know Jesus as his Friend, he was Jesus in the flesh for me during this climb. Phil inspired me, challenged me, carried my load, took care of me, encouraged me, and accepted my limitations- and my complaints.  Jesus does that. I'm amazed by Him.

This is Benito on the forest trail below me.  This gives just a glimpse into how steep it was.

That spot above my head is a scratch on my camera lens...nothing special, only frustrating.

Double-loaded Phil. I still need to get some pictures from him.

We climbed through the cloud-forest to a stunted pine forest.  Then the pine-forest ended and there were only shrubs.  Cold wind took my breath away.  Then, the shrubs ended and only volcanic rock and sand were left to climb. 

WE MADE IT TO PEAK NUMBER ONE!!!

Raining, cold, but happy! We'd made it!

Socop drew a map of the volcanoes on his hand.  This picture shows Fuego as the big volcano on the right.  Where the pen-tip is shows that this picture was taken between two volcanic peaks. The pen is covering up Acatenango's smaller peak. There is a small triangle on the bottom that shows the height of Pacaya compared to the height of Acatenango and Fuego.

Once we reached the first peak of Acatenango, Phil decided to travel with the other experienced climbers.  He was really set on going on all the way, whereas I was not. It was another hour to climb to the top of Acatenango and I wasn't sure I could make it.

However, after our rest time between the peaks, I followed Socop and made it almost to the top of Acatengano.  As we reached the first crater, it started sleeting.  I was already so cold and wet from rain that I couldn't grip my walking stick or feel my fingers.  So we took pictures, and called 30 minutes away from the cone a victory.

The sleet was hitting my eyes!  I couldn't keep them open for the pictures!

My victory face

On the way down, I took a few more pictures of the cloud forest.  It was BEAUTIFUL!!

I absolutely LOVE this plant!

This is vertical panoramic picture of a tree.  Notice that 3 pictures put together are not enough to capture its size.

On the way down, Benito went in front.  He was practically running.  I did really good to keep up with him.  Socop was behind me.  At one point, though, Socop stayed really far behind.  I caught up with Benito and we waited for Socop.  He never came.  Benito whistled for him with no response.

We'd heard a story from another group that there were thieves on the trail disguised as police officers.  It was when we were waiting for Socop that I realized why Benito was traveling so fast.  He was running ahead with his gun in hand as a safety precaution for me. (We never saw or heard anything suspicious.)

So, when Socop didn't come or respond to his whistles, Benito pulled out his gun and fired a shot into the air.  That is something I will never forget.  From somewhere, Socop answered with two shots of his own.  And then Benito's cell phone rang. Socop had taken a different path and was waiting for us at a farmer's shack down below.

We made it down the volcano and waited a little bit for Phil to show back up.  We tried to clean the lava-rock-mud off our shoes best we could.  These pictures are after cleaning.

We decided that Phil could catch a ride with the other climbers, so we started back to Antigua.  Only a few feet from the trail-head, I pulled out my peanut-butter and bread that I'd stowed in the truck.  So, we stopped to make sandwiches.  Who comes walking down the road towards us? Phil!  It was God's perfect timing!  I was so glad to know we weren't leaving him stranded!

We headed back to Antigua, I borrowed a hot shower from Phil's hotel, and then we ate McDonald's BigMacs to celebrate the day's accent.

This experience is one that I will never forget.  I think there are lessons I learned yesterday that I will draw on many years from now.  And I think there are lessons in yesterday's hike that I won't unpack or realize until many years from now.  The biggest one I recognize now is just how powerful your mind can be.

Today, I woke up without a voice and painful kneecaps.  But I also woke up with pride: I climbed 2 volcanoes yesterday and won a battle of the mind over the body.