Santa Maria and sudden changes in plans

Friday night at 11:45 pm I climbed in a bus with ten other students to hike Santa Maria. Santa Maria is a mountain from the top of which you have a great view of an active volcano. We started the hike at midnight in order to make it to the top at 5:30, sunrise. Unfortunately, none of us napped as much as we’d hoped to that day so we were all pretty tired as we hiked up the really steep and sometimes slippery path. The difference in altitude in Xela already makes breathing hard when you’re exercising, so breathing as we hiked up Santa Maria was even more difficult at times and we stopped pretty frequently. Of course, it was dark so we were all lighting our way with flashlights…scanning the ground closely to avoid stepping in the huge piles of cow/horse poop that were pretty common along the trail. When we first started hiking it was pretty warm; I stripped down to my t-shirt and actually broke a major sweat. I actually thought of Nate Brown and how sweaty he would have been haha. As we made our way up the mountain, however, it got really cold. And at the very top of Santa Maria it was windy which made it even colder. Despite the cold and the sleep deprivation though, it was worth it because the view was spectacular. While it was still dark we could see the red glow of the volcano below us and as the sun rose we could see mountains on every side of us. It was beautiful and you can count on seeing lots of pictures soon! Anyways the hike back down was a lot warmer and faster. I still can’t believe I stayed up all night doing that hike! After we got back to Xela, David, Vat and I went out to a crepe place for lunch and then we all went home to nap before meeting up that evening for dinner. It was David’s last night in Xela so we hung out and talked for a long time and then went to dinner at a good Indian place in town. I’ve absolutely loved getting to talk and hang out with David and Vat, probably in part because I like to talk so much haha. They are both from Uva, which is also really cool because we actually have the potential to hang out when we get back to Charlottesville.

Changes in the plan. This is the only blog I’ll be posting between now and Wednesday because, as I just found out twenty minutes ago, I will be living in a community for part of the week. Unfortunately, Pacutama is even higher than Xela and therefore, is much much colder. However, the good news is that I get to start conducting the interviews and activities for my research. Wish me luck!