Do not climb Pico Duarte if you are perceived fat in the DR…
11-16-10
Pico! In the midst of all the chaos of cholera training, hurricane Tomas consolidation and hectic site weeks, I decided to continue with my plans on climbing to the highest peak in the DR, Pico Duarte.
The trip went from 12 or more volunteers participating to a mere 7 due to all the time out of site that made some volunteers feel "campo guilt" for leaving again. Glad I have no shame to leave :).
We all arrived in beautiful Jarabacoa then headed into even prettier La Cienega to meet up with the guides and mules to start the long trek. I arrived feeling great with bursts of energy, I had all my snacks packed and my backpack on snug anxious to get started. The I met the guides. The guide took one look at me and bluntly said "You are definitely going to have to ride the mule because you are fat and you should probably eat about half of what the others eat to lose some weight." Ummmm… what?! Guess thats the DR for you. I pretty much stood there holding back tears at the meanness of his comment and had no words to reply. It was then that I knew this was going to be a tough trip mentally and physically.
The first night we hiked 4 km to our cabin which was short and sweet. The second day we planned on treking to a cabin a few km short of the tip then heading out early the next day to see the top but ended up going for it and climbed all the way to the peak, a good 22 km. Yikes. When I finally got to the top I was so mad about having to climb for so long all I did when I saw the Duarte statue was cuss at it and flip it off. Not exactly the typical form of celebration but I was pretty much saying the big "F You" to all the negative comments and thoughts surrounding me and my ability to make it to the top. The climb was so much harder than I thought it would be and to be honest I am not sure I'd like to climb it again. It's pretty much one of those things where you do it to see where you fall and never do it again. Haha.
So pretty much after the 2nd day I was done. The rest of the trip was mainly going down the slopes which were extremely steep, muddy and SLOW. I thought I was slow at climbing but going down was just ridiculous. My lack of balance and surplus of scared-ness kept me from hauling ass like the other volunteers down the hill. So I felt like I had to take one for the team on day 3 and mount the mule to speed up time and get to our next site. I was riding the mule for only a little while but it was probably on the steepest parts of the mountain. I got an arm workout holding on!
The 3rd night camping was probably my favorite because it was in this gorgeous open valley where it wasn't freezing cold close to the peak. We got to bathe in the freezing river and get toasty by the campfire as we roasted marshmallows and I tried to tell scary stories. Turns out a lot of the volunteers are scared of scary stories, bummer.
Finally the 4th day we headed out of the mountain with more downscaling and even steeper and muddier slopes. I was determined not to mount the mule but then out of nowhere my left knee pretty much called it quits and wouldn't let me walk normal. Eric started calling me FrankenFoot when I walked with the stiff left so thats when I decided I had to mount the mule. Because of my overwhelming sense of pride I asked the guide if I could dismount and walk the remaining 500 meters of the trail to feel like I had actually done something. I met up with the other volunteers and we proudly walked back to start together as we ventured off days before.
I have to say the trip was amazing and even though I didn't make it all the way down on my own my only goal was to make it up and I did all by myself. I really enjoyed the camping nights and actually feeling cold in this country. The trail was definitely difficult but I recommend it to any volunteer or visitor in country because of the great sense of accomplishment and beautiful views from the DR's mountains. The guide and I made peace and even though the trip started off to seem like a disaster it actually turned out to be a lot of fun and a good getaway from site.
P.S. I'll never do it again...
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