Editor's note: The events of my last post were 90% true.
CULTURAL NOTES:
2. Why do your friends gather around so excitedly when they present you with your beautiful birthday cake? They're going to smash it in your face.
(How do you make the photos go in between paragraphs? Please refer to them in reverse order as they fit the story...)
Yes, I was lucky to spend this birthday traveling through the Huasteca Potosina with 26 of my dear friends from the mountaineering club, or "Trepacerros". We gathered in front of the school, with all the good vibrations that are always in the air when you load up a bus full of friends, food, and climbing gear.
Over four days, we canyoneered through the beautiful Hausteca, i.e. a real life Pandora (Avatar planet), sometimes floating, sometimes jumping, sometimes rapelling, and always having a great time. I won the make-a-pose-while-you-jump-off-a-waterfall contest.
On day 2, we were following the river through beautiful, open country, when all of a sudden the horizon disappeared and we arrived at a tremendous, towering cascade. It was the grandest fall I have ever stood atop.
My senses were simply overwhelmed on all fronts--the relentless thunder of the once tranquil waters, the mist rocketing up hundreds of feet and shooting past my chest, the thrill of standing unrestrained peering into the deep abyss. My thoughts were pure poetry as I absorbed it all, and I turned to my friend Marc, who was just approaching the edge. "Marc, isn't it incredible?!?", I remarked. He took one look and delivered his verdict: "Verga!" (translation: mother*$%@!)! During the next 2 minutes, the sight evoked from him about every Spanish cussword I know, and nothing else. I couldn't stop laughing. Mom, it was like an adult version of the story of Jake and Ann at Lake Powell.
My senses were simply overwhelmed on all fronts--the relentless thunder of the once tranquil waters, the mist rocketing up hundreds of feet and shooting past my chest, the thrill of standing unrestrained peering into the deep abyss. My thoughts were pure poetry as I absorbed it all, and I turned to my friend Marc, who was just approaching the edge. "Marc, isn't it incredible?!?", I remarked. He took one look and delivered his verdict: "Verga!" (translation: mother*$%@!)! During the next 2 minutes, the sight evoked from him about every Spanish cussword I know, and nothing else. I couldn't stop laughing. Mom, it was like an adult version of the story of Jake and Ann at Lake Powell.
The next morning, we awoke an hour before sunrise and trekked up the side of a mountain, and stopped for a rest beside a medium-sized mountain lake. Between my grogginess and partially-developed Spanish abilities, I had no idea what was going on, and sat disgruntled in my morning stupor. As the light gradually appeared, however, I realized that the darkness had played tricks on my sleepy eyes... we weren't at a lake at all--it was an enormous vertical cave, right there in the side of the mountain! 1,200 feet deep, do you believe that? The photos can't capture even part of the spectacle. (It's called "Sotana de las Huahuas", or swallow cave, and you can see it in Planet Earth on the cave episode.)
We waited there for about an hour, the sun still behind the mountains, when all of a sudden we heard a loud whooshing sound from the bottom of the pit. Everyone hushed and peered down. I couldn't see anything at first, but then the floor seemed to be moving... and for the next half hour we watched a seemingly endless flock of swallows ascend out of the hole, which they do every morning. This is not the lazy ascent of the falcon, however, as the swallows are to small to glide and there is no wind to prop them up. The only way to climb the 400 meters is to fly around and around to gain enough speed to get to the top! So this flock of I'm going to say at least 40,000 birds turns into a living tornado, slowly climbing higher and higher. I absolutely could not believe my eyes. This photo is taken of the laggers... at one point they were so thick you could hardly see the bottom. Click here to see a youtube video of it... but again it gives the experience no justice. To see it in person is something out of this world.
Too much swimming in chilly water and lack of sleep on the trip left me with a nasty cold, but it was worth it ten times over. My friends are so kind to take such good care of me. Andale!
P.S. LUCHA LIBRE!!!!!
P.S. LUCHA LIBRE!!!!!
Ariberibe! Fantastic! Unbelievable hike photos. You sure didn't give me any clue at all that your hike was like that when I talked to you. Talk about understating!
ReplyDeleteThat is one very pretty hermana sitting next to your sleepy face on the bus. They all look like really fun people. But of course they are...they hike!
I am in London with your sis, and we like it here.