Caminando Chiapas

As if I don´t do enough walking with all my circling around town from school to school to university to home, I joined a hiking club here in town: Caminando Chiapas. They organize hikes about twice per month, and so far it has been a great way to meet people and see more natural areas of Chiapas.

The first hike seemed harmless enough, albeit a bit of a steep climb. Then, after a lovely shared picnic near the top, it turned out that our guide did not know of an actual trail to go back down the mountain. Instead, we followed the property line markers down leafy cliffs and back up muddy hills, over a creek, and again down hillsides that would have been best traversed on a sled (and many of us traversed a good portion on our backsides).

The picture doesn´t do it justice - it really was almost a 90 degree drop!

For the next hike, the organizer asked if I would be interested in an early-morning sunrise climb. "Why not?" I say, and I agree to meet her at 5:30 at the bus terminal (about half an hour from my house). In my timely gringa style, I am already at the meeting point at 5:25 when I receive a text asking if I´m awake. The group eventually shows about around 6:15, and we drive to the base of the hill. Needless to say, we missed the sunrise.

As we climb, the leader suggests we go in silence and contemplate the nature around us... and then she proceeds to spend the rest of the hike reminding us of how to place our feet, how to breathe, what to notice, etc. Then we spend as much time on a mandatory photo shoot at the top as we do on the hike itself. Even so, I can´t be too grumpy about the adventure - it was absolutely beautiful.