Journey to the Summit

Ramping up for Rainier

tom_moench — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:00:00 GMT

With my visit to Guatemalan completed and my Spanish language objective achieved it is time to prepare to summit Mt. Rainier and rejoin my "Train to Climb (T2C) '09" group at the Island Fitness gym (http://www.island-fitness.com/traintoclimb.cfm). First stop, re-take my metabolic test to see what ground (cardio capacity) was lost or gained during my "sedentary" lifestyle at school mixed with my volcano hikes and during my time in Xela. Isn't my outfit lovely?

Back home on Bainbridge Is. with Rainier in my sights

tom_moench — Sat, 23 May 2009 18:06:00 GMT

Yesterday we arrived back in the US of A with wonderful memories of a second home in Xela and an appointment with a mountain named Rainier.

Gallery: Week 9 - Antigua, Guate & home

tom_moench — Fri, 22 May 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Last Supper

tom_moench — Thu, 21 May 2009 23:00:00 GMT

We took our Guate hosts for the evening--Raquel & Gustavo with sons Estuart and Samuel--for a delightful dinner and Spanish conversation at the Italian restaurant L'Osteria. Unfortunately I did not manage to get a photo of all of us, but Raquel snapped one of Theora and me of our last night in Guatemala. Afterwards Gustavo took us to McCafé, McDonald's version of Starbucks but with desserts (eg. cheesecake). Theora went to the McDonald's side for french fries. The rest of us had coffee and dessert. I tried the tiramisu, one of my favorites. It was very good. Gustavo shared some trivia with me. Did you know "la comida alegre" (The Happy Meal) was first market tested in Guatemala. More photos in the gallery. Thanks for joining me on this Guatemala section of The Journey to the top. Stay tuned for prequels and sequels.

Central Square in Guatemala City

tom_moench — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:44:00 GMT

Only spent one afternoon and evening in Guate. Took a walk up to the central square with its cathedral and fountain so typical of the cities from colonial times.

Gallery: T2C--Hiking Volcán de Pacaya

tom_moench — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:30:00 GMT

These are hiking photos taken during Week 9/our Antigua stay.

Capuchinas Convent

tom_moench — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:31:00 GMT

The morning of our last day we visited the Capuchinas Convent, one of my favorite sites in Antigua. It is the most restored of earlier churches depicting the circular convent for the nuns. Here is the courtyard with Theora peaking out from one of the living cells. The aerial view shows the convent as well as the large church courtyard. More photos including convent floor plans in the gallery.

T2C--Tom decides to stick it to the lava

tom_moench — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:10:00 GMT

I wanted to experience what it would like to push my walking stick into molten lava. It had a thick, gooey plasticity that yielded to my pusing. It was also, HOT.

T2C--Lava flow up close

tom_moench — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:04:00 GMT

Check out the flow of the lava and Theora's commentary.

T2C--Pacaya Hike--Lava Flow Up Close

tom_moench — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:02:00 GMT

Here is a Frenchman and his buddy trying to get a close up with the flow.

T2C--Hiking to the lava flow of Volcán Pacaya

tom_moench — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:00:00 GMT

My friends Rod and Lori and their two kids recently visited Guatemala and recommended this trip, as did all my classmates who visited Pacaya and returned to the school. The objective was to reach the lava flowing from Pacaya and roast marshmallows. Pacaya is an active volcano that continuously pours out lava so hikers can walk pretty close. When we reached the lava flow I took this video scan showing the active volcanos in sequence Agua (3760 m), Acatenango (3975 m) Fuego (3763 m) and ending looking up at Pacaya.

T2C--Hiking Route to Pacaya

tom_moench — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:58:00 GMT

The hike to Pacaya was not particularly difficult. The route is shown here on this trail map: 2.28 km (1.4 miles) with an elevation gain of 302 m (990 ft). Some people hire horses -- see "caballo y guia" photo in gallery.

T2C--Model of Pacaya

tom_moench — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:56:00 GMT

OK, I am a sucker for maps and little models in museums and elsewhere. Here is a model of Pacaya and some of its volcanic neighbors in a glass case in the village of San Francisco that serves as the dropoff point and trailhead for the hike to the volcano. The rivers of lava can be seen in the photo gallery of hikers walking the scree.

Frieda's Art

tom_moench — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:06:00 GMT

OK, this little video clip has nothing whatsoever to do with Antigua or Guatemala, but it is any interesting video montage of self-portraits by Frieda Kahlo's. Frieda did many self-portraits because she was often bed-ridden due to childhood polio and a serious injury in a traffic accident. The montabge comes from a museum in Cuernavaca, Mexico that happens to have a nice collection of works by Kahlo and Rivera. (Definitely worth a visit anytime you happen to be near Cuernavaca.)

Frieda's Restaurant

tom_moench — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:04:00 GMT

We decided to have lunch at Frieda's Restaurant. To practice Spanish during my time in Xela I re-watched the Selma Hyak/Julie Taymor movie, Frieda, about Mexican-born artist Frieda Kahlo so I was curious. (By the way, I recommend this movie and the special features interviews for anyone interested in the life and art of Frieda Kahlo and Diego Rivera).