The other amazing experience I had was a total surprise to me. The day before, they had said I was going to go to the office to take pictures for the Architect. I had been to the Office which wasn't a big trip and I knew where to take pictures but I couldn't understand why their idea of going to the office to take pictures involved me getting up early and being gone for the whole afternoon.... I soon found out the hard way. I was dressed in casual shorts and a t shirt when we left. Before we left Cristobal handed me a machette which really should have been my clue to go put on pants but I kinda just assumed we would use it a little bit. I had my backpack and camera and ipod with me. My second warning sign was when we were starting to head toward the office we didn't turn onto the office road and continued past it where we started to hike up this path on the hill. Cristobal was fascinated with this plant he called “maura” which he said they use in soups. As we started hiking there were a few plants so he stopped to pick them and then caught up to me. As we hiked higher there were more and more plants and he got more and more ambitious with his collecting going more out of his way to collect leaves an stems. This contined to increased and I started to walk really slowly hoping he would still catch up to me. When I turned around the next time he was nowhere to be found. At that moment I wasn't worried cause I knew what he was doing so I just waited in the shade and listened to my ipod some. After about two songs I still hadn't seen him so I started to wonder. Around 10 mins into his absense I yelled out donde esta? And I heard a faint oi and then “perame” which meant permit me or kinda I'll be done soon just a little longer. I listened to about 3 more songs and then came Cristobal from out of the valley canyon thing with a shirt full of maura.
The interesting part is that it seemed normal to him that he would just disappear for 20 mins and he didn't seem to be worried about time (third warning sign) We continued our hike upwards where we were almost to the top of where the erosion had started. He said he wanted to go up and around the erosion because through the valleys (I think they were more like canyons or sand) was harder. Well this plan never got carried through because I took out my camera to take a picture of the sand canyon and he said oh come down here for a better picture so I did and then he decided that we could climb up the other side pretty easily so he went down into the valley. I followed him and we began to scale the otherside which is very difficult in sand canyons because your steps tend to fall out from under you so you really have to use your upper body and find plants that have decent roots to hold onto.
We got part way up the other side when cristobal took out his machette and started hacking his way up cutting a path through the part bushy area and part black berry bush.... Oh also there are lots of ants in these locations and you don't notice them until many of them start biting your leg or arm furiously. Its not that bad but it gets annoying after a while. So we made it up the first canyon and from our view on the other side it looked like there was just one but as we got to the top there was another one right there infront of us so you can guess how excited I was for that (not very)... at this point I knew I was in for a long adventure and I just enjoyed it because Cristobal reached into his backpack and pulled out a rope to descend into the canyon. He went first and then I went second and hit many branches and things on the way down. We attached the rope to a tree root at the top and from there descended. Getting up the second one wasn't to difficult and we managed to do it little rope assistance. After every canyon Cristobal said that it would be the last one. Around the third or fourth canyon I realized he knew about as much as I did in this area of the forest. He did know the general direction we were heading though and for that I was grateful.
After the second canyon we bushwacked through jungle for about 20 feet and then reached the third canyon where we both descended with the rope one at a time and then cristobal climbed the other side and tied the rope to a tree for me to climb up. The 4th was a pretty small one that we also used the rope for. Descending that one was fun because I almost slipped and fell of the canyon cliff. If I hadn't been holding onto a tree the size of my finger I would have probably kept sliding (Aren't you glad I did this mom? going again soon...) . The 5th was an interesting one because it was pretty easy to get into but the other side was quite steep. We actually didn't end up using the rope and instead we climbed using tree roots that were sticking out of the soil to climb to the top which was quite a fun experience.
Finally we got to our destination which was a shack about the size of half a room. It was Cristobals old house! He had a hammock that I rested in for a few mins while he sifted through the sand for the key to the lock on his house (why he put it in the sand I don't know).... he never found the key and so we debated breaking in but decided it wasn't worth it and we could return later.
We then continued on to the office which we could have walked to from our starting point in like 5 mins but instead we took the long adventurous way. I'm grateful for the experience but during the experience I must say I was quite confused and in shock by the experience as it was happening. After the second canyon I really wasn't surprised by what came next I just kinda went along with it and tried not to fall into the canyon or get bite by too many ants. Around the 4th canyon I stepped on the log the was rotted and broke and a spider a little smaller than my hand ran out. It was black and fuzzy too (acutally quite cute).
I can now officially say I've been bushwhacking in El Salvador. Spanish: oyo- valley arana- spider, laso- rope cuidado- careful
What I learned:
When they hand you a machette they mean business go put some pants and shoes on.
When they say they know where they are going.... they know the general direction but they might or might not have tried this before.
Ants like to run up your arm and then all start biting you at once.
Look at what you grab before you grab it to make sure it doesn't have spines. Check if it will hold your body weight too also important!
Secrest Afuera!
No comments:
Post a Comment