Saturday we woke up at 0430 after a night of no sleep due to the loud hostel sex taking place in the next room. Again, we used the ipod as alarm clock which means sleeping with headphones in or in close proximity to your ears, with volume at maximum. There were over twenty people signed up for the Tajamulco trek and we filled the two pickups that took us to the bus station. After a 1 hour ride in the dark, we arrived at San Marcos and ate breakfast at a very long table that could accomodate everyone.

Afterwards, another chicken bus took us to the base of the volcano at 3200m. There wasn't much there so we just started hiking. Immediately the altitude was noticable. I noticed that my breathing was much heavier than normal given the trail. We walked for about five minutes just to get warmed up, and that was all it took for two people to decide that they weren't going to make it. The rest of us did introductions as they walked back to the road to wait for a bus headed back.

The hike to our camp wasn't really far and was at a pretty reasonable incline compared to many parts of the first trek, but it was really hard because of the thin air. For the first half of the day I just felt always out of breath. Lunch was the usual chips, salads, peanut butter and bread and we played some frisbee afterwards. Walking was tough after lunch. I was climbing just baby steps at a time and breathing hard for each one. Usually I hike at the front, right behind the leader, but this time I think I was almost the last one to arrive at the camp.

I had a headache and helped setup the tent in a daze. Just as the group was heading up to the smaller summit to watch the sunset, it started to rain and we all changed our collective mind about doing that. Instead some people played cards in one tent while our guides cooked dinner in our tent. It was really cold up there, but the stove kept our tent really warm. I didn't care to go outside after dinner and went right to bed. However, there were a bunch of other groups sharing the camp site and our Guatemalan neighbours' partying kept everyone at least half awake until late.

When I left the tent during the night to pee, the sky was clear and you could see the clouds that rained on us earlier way off in the distance. The cool part was that you could see lighting flashing inside the storm cloud from so far away but just the faintest sounds of thunder reached you.

We woke up in the dark again the next morning to climb to the summit and watch the sunrise. I was surprised at how fine I felt, and didn't have any trouble doing the final scramble to the top. It was freezing and so windy and Julie stole my toque. There wasn't much up there at the top but rocks and the volcano crater. The best thing to do at 4220m was shelter yourself from the wind behind a big rock, eat the provided cookies and look down at the sea of clouds.

The rest of the day was uneventful -- I felt fine for the easy hike back down. Lunch was BBQ chicken at the same restaurant as the day before. There were extra plates served for the people who dropped out. Also there was a really deluxe bathroom with toilet paper and soap!

Today we're going to start towards a place called Semuc-Champey with our friend Ruth from Oakville, ON.