Lost in the Jungle

First of all, a big hello and hug to all of my friends and family. For a while there, I thought that I might not be able to ever write again.
Next, a story that started yesterday, in the dawn hours of Monday morning, March 9, and ended this morning, March 10. As I have a pretty good amount of it written in my journal, I will copy what I´ve written there. Give yourself plenty of time to read this. Its gets a little long winded.
It goes as follows: everything in quotes is in my journal. outside of the quotes, clarifying comments.
¨10 March, 09, Tuesday - 6:30 am - somewhere on the jungle floor in the South Western slope of Volcan San Pedro - If only I could have imagined how much those limes and avocados would come in handy when I recieved them Sunday night¨ ( the night before, while I was getting ready to crawl in my tent on the beach in Santiago Atitlan, I helped a family load heavy bags of lemons onto their boat. I did not ask for anything in return, but when we finished, the child gave me three green onions, about five limes, and five avocados. These are the fruits to which I am referring).
¨The story goes as follows: Waking up early Monday morning, Salvador, the old Guatemalan, reassured me that I wouldn´t get lost, it was safe, and I needed no guide to ascend Volcan San Pedro. Feeling reassured, we set off in his kayak across the lake to the eastern slopes of Volcan San Pedro. He walked up with me to a fork in the path, showing me the right one to take, charged me 50Q for his services, and left. Already my pack seemed to be weighing me down. At first I passed through sloped farmland of coffee and maize, and looking back gave me beautiful views of Santiago, the guardian volcanos Atitlan and Toliman behind it and the sun rising to warm the valley. Smoke and fog lingered above the little villages..
¨The walk was by no means easy. My pack was heavy (probably 40-50 lbs) and the trail steep. I clocked the start time to be 7:05 am. At around 8:30, I took a ´pack-off´break, had a pb and j, and eat an avocado as well. I cut up some lime, and squeezed some of the juice into my canteen, to spice up the water and provide some extra energy and Vitamin C. At around nine, I found a deserted camp with some long sturdy branches and fashioned myself some walking sticks. As the morning wore on, it bcame harder and harder to climb. My feet ached, and the path was very steep. I would walk maybe 20 paces and then have to stop, catch my breath, look up, wonder how much further, and continue. I cam to rely heavily on the two walking sticks for support and as two extra legs. At times, the path did not seem like a path for humans, but like a path made by animals, ascending the cliff straight up. I was crowded in on all sides by tall grass, bushes, etc. The further up I got, the more crowded it got, and the less it seemed like a path. The three hours that Salvador said it would take passed painfully slow, and I had not made it to the top. At about noon, I stopped for another PB&J and avocado break, and continued up. I was extremely tired, my body ached, and I was beginning to wonder if I´d make it to San Pedro that day. The only way I figured I´d make it was if there were shuttles at the top, taking people back down. I imagined the top being a little more civilized and accessible to people, like Mt. Tam, Volcan Poas in Costa Rica. I was also low on water. (I´d only brought with me about 3L). My canteen was full, but the 1.5L plastic bottle was already drained. I hoped someone might be at the top at least with more water. Around 12:30, I started calling out to see if anybody could hear me, a signal that maybe I was close to the top. No response. The clouds above me coming from the volcano seemed close, so I figured I was close too. That kept my drive to get there up. I finally arrived, crawling over some steep boulders, to the top, or part of it, around 1:10 pm, after six hours or so of climbing. The volcano is about 3000 meters high... The top was a collection of boulders, and although trees still blocked my view south west into the volcano, I had beautiful views northward toward the lake. There was another hill to the west, so I had no view over there either, toward San Pedro. Pondering my situation, I decided no one was there to help and I could set up camp or continue on. It was too early for camp, and after a thirty minute rest, and after eating a lime to suck out all the water (a practice I learned was very valuable), I figured I had enough energy to continue on. I just had to make it somewhere! The ´path´wasn´t clearly marked as Salvador had told me, and I soon found myself down between the two top hills fighting my way through branches to the top of the second hill. Before I could get there, I saw a marker and a path ad was joyful once again. I did not want to get lost in the jungle. Well that path soon disappeared and I found myself walking down the hill southwesterly, over a ´path´that either someone had crudely made or water flowing down the hill had made. This soon ended and now I was fighting my way down the hill, through vines, plants, trees, branches, rocks and dirt. Now I was covered in dirt and who knows what else, and I found myself at times sliding down dirt, or rolling over and around vines and plants that seemed to wrap up my body and limbs and prevent me from going futher. After a while of this, and at a point of desperation, I saw a glimpse of a cleared hill, with a street, in front of me, although it was hard to say how close it actually was. This gave me some hope, and I vowed to make my way toward it, no matter what was in my way. I finally made my way from this dense growth to a ravine that cut its way between two large hills of tropical forest. Although it was dry, the growth here was not as dense, and it was a little easier going. This was much easier, but there was still long slides, and at times ten or 15 ft. dropoffs that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. One dropoff I was trying to lower myself down by holding on to a tree branch, when the branch broke loose and I plummeted to the ground below. Luckily I did not break anything. On another dropoff, I threw my bag down first, then rock climbed down, using tree roots as rope to help lower me down. By this point, I´d lost my water bottles (the little I had left), a devastating blow, my sandals which were attached at the side of my pack, and my lucky Iron Springs sweatshirt. I stopped to eat a mango somewhere around this time. I ate it savagely, not caring about dirt or any bacteria that might have been on the skin, and it was one of the most delicious fruits I´d ever eaten. It gave me a little more energy to continue on. I vowed I would continue until I couldn´t see anymore. I had to be close to that road and civilization... I´d heard that there were robbers that assaulted tourists on these volcanoes. At this point, I would have welcomed one of them into sight, for I would have loved the companionship, and they might have been able to show me off the volcano. I got out my nightlite, as it was getting darker. On another fall I lost the hat I´d boughten the previous saturday. Although my bones and muscles were fine (Just really sore), the rest of my body was covered in dirt and who knows what else. My skin was cut up from passing through sharp leaves and vines, falling on rocks, and sliding hands over vines, trying to hold on before a fall or slide. I saw an opening in the path - it was where a landslide had sometime recently occurred. I was tired and took off my pack and thought about setting up camp. After hearing some more pebbles fall down there, I decided to move further down, in case the land decided to fall more during the night. With the little strength I had left, I moved further down the ravine, and there I found I decently sized clear space, at least enough for my tent, on the jungle floor, underneath the canopy. I decided to make camp there for the night. It was close to 6 pm, the time the sun always sets here in Guatemala. I set up the tent in the crowded, small space. My brother Dan´s first aid kit came in clutch. I tended my wounds as best I could, just cleaning and bandaging some cuts and scrapes. I made another pb&j but it was hard to swallow without any saliva. The roof of my mouth hurt lots. I laid down on my sleeping bag. It felt so good to lay down. I couldn´t stop imagining water to drink. I cut open a lime and ate it, savoring whatever liquid was inside. The water, though bitter, was delicious. So many thoughts racing through my head as I laid down and tried to sleep. Not being able to fall asleep, but realizing its importance, I took a sleeping pill and passed out. That night I dreamt of people finding me in the morning and a town being close by, where there was plenty of water. The people took me to this town, or in some dreams only brought me back some water. Either way, these dreams gave me a sense of hope that night. The exotic bird calls and sounds of crawling things on the jungle floor filled my ears as I feel asleep. I woke up around 6:30 am. Feeling rested. I´m waiting till it gets a little lighter down here on the jungle floor before I get a move on. I need to make it back to civilization today. All the jungle sounds are beautiful. So many birds calling out. Leaves rustling behind me. Can´t see what it is... a bird, some other animal? Thoughts of robbers seem welcome right now. I´d like to see another human. Maybe he´d have water... ¨

PART TWO
¨10:00 am, March 10, 2009 - Cafe Internet - Back safe in civilization - After finally packing up and taking a few pictures of my jungle camp, I set off around 7 am. The ravine I was following seemed more of less to continue, and I could see the sunlight on the hill to my right. I was calm, and proceeded with caution and patience, not the hurried stumbling of the night before. I knew I could not be that far away from civilization. There were some more sudden drop-offs, but I navigated slowly and surely through them, utlizing all my techniques and experience rock climbing. After an hour, I started to get the feeling that it might not end, although I knew something had to change, as the walls were drawing in closer and closer to me on either side. I grew excited as I hit a patch of sunlight and realized that it was coming from behing me, meaning that I was walking west, and not south as I had previously thought. This was pleasant news, because on the map of Lago Atitlan I had, there was much land south of Volcan San Pedro before it hit the street, whereas the road came much closer to the west side of the volcano. Thirty minutes later, I was on a definite path, and there were no more drop-offs. I got excited and my pace quickened, until finally bam! I emerged from the jungle and onto a cleared bit of farmland. It must have been recently cleared or harvested, for nothing was growing. I came to the edge of of this plot and walked south and then I saw the two land paved road to my right. I turned west and finally made it the road. I started walking towards a farmer a little ways down until I saw a taxi van coming. They said they´d give my a lift to San Pedro. I told them my story and told them to take me somewhere I could buy water and use the internet (I had some friends from the orphanage that were staying in San Pedro and I wanted to get ahold of them). They mentioned that we were currently 4 km away from San Pedro. I had almost done it. I had almost made it up over Volcan San Pedro from Santiago, and walked back down the other side to San Pedro, without a guide, my goal in the first place.
As I recalled the prvious day and night, I counted my blessings that I had not sprained or broken any bones, not gotten bitten or stung by any venomous spiders, insects, or snakes, and that I had made it without water or much food for a day and a half in the jungle. As I descended upon the lakesdie village of San Pedro, I started to cry, the experience of the previous day cactching up with me. Not tears could come out though, as I had no water to spare losing.
Our first stop was a store where I bought a large bottle of water, and then we went down towards the lake shore, and they dropped me off at cafe internet. It was about 9:30 am. My journey was finally over.
A few thoughts and reflections about my journey
1. The vasque shoes that I bought in December at REI held up very well throughout this whole endeavor. Barely no blisters, and still completely intact (very dirty though).
2. Thanks to bro Dan for the First Aid Pack he gave me before I left. It helped me feel a little better about myself before I went to bed last night.
3. The Kelty Coyote 4900 backpack that I received for Christmas from my brother in law and sister Mireya held up extremely well throughout the endeavor. No straps or sippers tore or broke. At times, I thought I might ditch it, taking only the top portion, for the top contained the only things I couldn´t replace - namely, the writings in this journal. I´m glad I didn´t leave it behind though. I think it will serve me well for years to come. The experience did make me think though of how easily we get attached to objects and that maybe a part of this experience is the dettachment from these objects, as I was ready at points to leave behind my clothes, pack, sleeping bag, tent, etc.
4. I realized I am small compared to the world, and weak compared to its power. John Franics, the author of Planet Walker, which I´m now reading, often quotes Roderick Nash, a professor of history and enviromental studies at the Univeristy of California. One such quote goes nicely with this fourth reflection. ¨Its good to see natural pwers and processes greater than our own. The lessons of such experiences are precisely what are needed if the human-environment relations are to be harmonious and stable in the long run.¨ This leads in nicely to my fifth reflection.
5. As we drove toward San Pedro, I could see the fires blase the jungle I had just come through to make room for farmland. ALthough upon emerging from the jungle I was happy to see farm and the civilzation it represented, I was now stricken with sadness. If we burn the jungle and exert out ´power´over the earth, where will people go to obtain this ´wilderness education´Nash speaks of. We must do our part to help conserve it, so that future generatios will be able to explore it and come up with meanings of their own...
6. This experience showed the failure of the Morales ´arrogance´that I have taken up as a trait. The pride and can-do attitude is good, except when we let it come before what is logical, safe, and smart. Next time, I will take a guide with me. I can not do everything own my own, and I do not know everything...¨

And that is all. Everyone who made it this far, here are a few suggestions for the day: On your next sip of water, really enjoy it, and be thankful that you have water. Lastly, hug a loved one and tell them how much they mean to you, you never know when you´ll see them again.
-chris.