The Discovered Paradise

Walking up a steep hill labeled "difficult," I wondered what exactly I was doing again dizzy, losing my breath, as I had been weeks before climbing up the Indian's Nose.  Yet when I reached the top view overlooking Semuc Champey, the turquoise water pools amongst a dense forest valley, I remembered all difficult climbs in Guatemala are worth the head-rush.

The five pools are really just a small dot in the forest that rolls over the mountains continues beyond sight, but they stand out with their bight color as they break up the continuous green.

Our impatient tour guide yawned as he waited for us on the way up. His accustomed legs that climbed to the top three times a day did not want to wait for those slow-pokes like me. But the hike down to the pools from the mirador went quickly compared to the quick paced hike up. We reached the bottom and our guide led the way through each of the pools, sliding down rocks or jumping if the water was deep enough.

Within the pools itself, people splashed around, creating chaos in the calm of the forest. But by swimming backstroke, with my ears under the water and head facing up, I could get a glimpse of the tranquility that once was.

After pool hopping, our guide divided us into two groups to go tubing down the river. We waited as the first group went, watching them pass from our high viewpoint in the hostel. They unloaded the tubes quicker than expected, and before we can say it was a waste to go, we saw them climbing up to the top of a bridge about 20 or 30-feet high, and one by one they jumped in the water.

I was ready and excited for our turn to tube.  However, by the time I stood at the bridge's end, one look down convinced me not to go. I turned around and watched a few more people go. I was determined and stood at the edge to once again turn around. Finally, by the third try after everyone jumped, I tried again. My friend Ron instructed me to close my eyes, hold my nose, shut my legs and jump straight. I listened to all the advice, except the most important: jump straight. I landed in a sitting position, only realizing it when the splash shocked my butt cheeks with an terribly harsh tingle that gave me rosy cheeks as I exited the water. At least I did it, I thought, as I rubbed my bright red bum.

We walked through caves in the last part of our Semuc Champey trip, guided by small candles that barely showed five feet in front of you. Our guide stayed in back, and my friend Annie and I stood at the front to lead the group in a direction where we had no idea where we were going. We started walking through  caves with downward facing points that looked like Gothic style architecture. The further we walked, the deeper the water became, and we had to swim in sections. Yet even the best swimmer could not swim with style because we had to hold the candle above water, leaving us no choice but to doggie-paddle.

Atop the Indian Nose

Saturday morning, I sat at a restaurant with Connor and Bryan on Lake Atitlan, overlooking the mountain nariz del indio--Indian Nose--that we would stand on top of in just a few hours.  The restaurant seemed to be in no rush to serve us, and we waited impatiently for the food to arrive.  We joked that we could climb the mountain and come back before our food would be ready.  Little did we know the difficulty I would have to reach the summit.

El nariz del indio boasts the best view of the lake and its surrounding volcanoes.  As you can guess by its name, the mountain is shaped like a nose.  The area also sometimes acts as a ground for Mayan rituals, although we did not come across any on our hike.

 

Can you spot the nose?

Within about five seconds of our climb, I was already panting like an old lady who just walked up a flight of steps.  I felt, to say the least, pretty pathetic.  I downed half of my first of two bags of water so quickly that I had to watch myself and make sure I didn't finish both within the first few minutes of the hike.

 

Replenishing on liquid fuel. 

Although the view was picturesque, I mostly concentrated on how tired I felt.  I mean, really, how pitiful!  Every time I do reasonably tiring exercise I realize how much more often I should be doing it.  I felt slightly dizzy, and memories came back from all the times I have almost fainted from pushing myself too hard.  (Emphasis on almost!)  I thought about the one and only capoeira class at New York Sports Club that made me never return again.  My early morning bike ride in which I had little food in my stomach and ended up sitting on the sidewalk to wait for a friend to come get me.  Or how about my middle school gym class when I ran a mile and ended up resting for the afternoon in the nurse’s office.

I was going to make sure I would not make a fool of myself yet another time, especially because I did not want to force Connor and Bryan to wait for me.  So before I began to see black dots, I stopped following their pace and began to take breaks.  At one point, I had to lie on the ground to recuperate.  It was not too difficult putting my legs higher than my head to get the blood flowing since I was laying on an incline.  After a nice rest on the ground, two packs of Chiky cookies and my two bags of water, I was ready to go--this time at my own snail pace.

You don't have to doubt for a minute how good it felt to get to the top of the nose.  The sweat trickles and weak-feeling leg muscles screamed in delight, “I did it!” Our reward for an hour-and-half long hike that turned into two hours because of my stops?  A full view of the most beautiful lake I have ever seen.  As I’ve mentioned in posts before, Lake Atitlan, in my opinion, looks like paradise.  The lush hills protect the blue waters that from a high distance have no sign of the litter and pollution that threatens the lake.  From el nariz del indio, you can see all the towns that sit on the lake’s shore.  The volcanoes across the way do stand taller than the Indian’s nose, but that did not make the view any less spectacular.

 Our full view of Lake Atitlan

 I wasn't the only one who was pooped.  Bryan takes a quick catnap to recharge.

 The volcano across the way and the view of San Jose and San Pedro La Laguna

 The way down was much easier!

 I got a little off track on the way back down and had a chance to practice some climbing.

 View from below the Indian Nose.