Rue du Pourquoi Pas

And there he was. Watching me every morning. And I was there, thanking him every morning. Often taking the time in the afternoon to look at him. And at the end of the day, with the sunset. And sometime in the night, being amazed by is dark silhouette. Darker than the night around…

He has been calling me for a while. He has been waiting me for a while. We talked about that with Carly. We took the decision to visit him. I don’t remember when we talked about that. Neither do I remember how the decision was taken. But at some point, we’ve decided that we were going to climb San Pedro together.

Carly arrived to the bar one evening, while I was working. She arrived with this amazing beautiful smile. Full of joy. A smile like I love. Like I can’t keep my eyes away. Natural. Happy. I was holding a tequila bottle. It was obvious that we had to share a shooter. We met each other again the next evening, and share a few words, about creating link. Those links you create, or refuse to create, while traveling. I had a bit more than a week to prove my point. To prove how amazing it can be to get attached to someone while traveling. To create deep friendship, that will go further than « what’s your Facebook ». Friendship that sounds like a promise to see each other again. Here. There. Anywhere… promise to share amazing moments. And for her last day by the lake, for our last day, we went for a volcano. Starting at 1800 meters. Arriving at 3100 meters. Nice program !

Climbing the San Pedro starts a bit over the village of the same name. A place every echoes I heard about convince me not to go. A party town, where tourists go to get wasted while drinking tequila. Not my crowd. Not my world. But going to San Pedro was a nice opportunity to see an other side of the lake. A point of view I haven’t seen before.

The boat dropped us. Just the time to bought some snacks for the summit, and we were boarding a tuktuk. Yes! My first tuktuk! I didn’t have any expectation toward San Pedro, but simply crossing the village was inspiring. Once you’re away from the lake, a bit uphill, it starts to look more authentic. And nicer… We’ll see if I have more time for this place… later. What a busy man am I!

Little bit later, we were at the entrance of the park. Enjoying the view on the volcano, and taking a souvenir of my first tuk tuk ride, with Esteban our driver !

Reaching the volcano involve paying some fees. The price includes a guide for the first 20 minutes. Ascending starts through a coffee field, and the guide explained us than San Pedro’s coffee is one of the best in the world. Because he enjoys the 3 more important elements: first, height. Between 1500 et 2000 meters. Then, weather, with the cool climate of the lake. And finally, the soil. The rich volcanic solid. « tierra negra » as our guide called it.

I look at him, smiling. « There’s a fourth element, right ? ». Curious, he doesn’t say anything. « In this area, everybody is full of love. there’s love everywhere. It probably affects the coffee too ». He doesn’t say much. But is « maybe, indeed » let me think that he like my way of seeing things…

He grabs two red berries, and invites us to try. Taste is surprising. It’s sweat. Unexpected. It’s good! Inside, there’s a grain. With the caracteristical shape of coffee. But white. Not black. Not cook yet. It need ten days in the sun, and thirty minutes in the oven…

the guide left us a bit later, covering us with tons of advice. About the trail (always follow the step), the time (if you haven’t reach summit by 2:30pm, turn back), on the walk (you should take your friend bottle it will be easier for her) and for the after walk (don’t forget to give your friend a massage, she’ll like it). So careful! But I mainly like his way of talking. His voice is soft, quiet, slow. What an amazing story teller he could be…

He turned back. We keep on going, taking or time. Carly warned me. She loves hiking, but she’s not patient. She starts being a bit grumpy, but I don’t have to worry. As long as I’m warned and that I know, there’s no problem for me. She puts her headset, and keep on going, listening to her music. We stop from time to time, exchanging a few words, drinking a bit, finding our breath. Because it goes up. Quick. And even if we’ve been staying by the lake at 1500 meters for a while, we passed the 2000 a while ago, and we’re heading toward 3000…

We met almost no one during the climb. We start the hike pretty late. People usually do it early morning. But it’s not that hot today, and having the volcano just for us is pretty nice.

We leave the coffee quite soon, going though a few small corn field. But most of the time, we are in the wood. And finally, we reach the second shack. the one where it seems to be possible to spend a night…

We’ve been climbing for a bit more than two hours. We got twenty minutes left. We’re almost at the top, that we start being able to guess, in between the trees.

We start the last part of the climb, and suddenly, the landscape change. We were in a nice lively forest. But now, we’re in a rain forest. Everything is green, beautiful, full of life. Contrast is impressive. It’s probably because of this habit of the San Pedro to keep is head in the cloud…

And then, we reach the top. The lake is there, amazing. Landscape is gorgeous. I’m breathless. Wordless. Speechless. Synonym less… I’m just in love with the view, and I forgot about the words. Not about the picture, though…

And because we’re at the summit, it’s also a nice occasion to do a panoramic.

And to enjoy the company of my beautiful friend.

We stay on the summit for a while, proud of us, enjoying the sun and the view. Being happy. Before starting to climb down. I go with enthusiasm. Enjoying jumping, slipping, running… having as much fun as a kid. Until Carly tells me that I’m going a bit to fast. I apology, and slow down. I love running in the wood. I love to jump in the dust (homesick !). I love sliding down hill, to save some energy. But it’s not always easy to follow, and I slow down a bit, enjoying the smells, the birds singing, the view, and those beautiful tree I’ll never be tired of…

And then, we saw the entrance building. We did it. More than 1300 meters up, and down. In a little bit more than five hours, without any preparation or training. I guess we’re in shape!

Bit later, we’re back in a tuk tuk, and back to the lake, and back in a launch, and back at la Iguana. Happy. And proud of us !