Happy Friday!
Today I wanted to share my latest photography/hiking adventure. A couple of weeks ago while browsing Facebook I stumbled upon a post for a hiking group in my area that would be guiding a tour to Cerro El Espolón (a hill/mount with a height of 3,240m (10,629ft). The idea was one I hadn't seen in a long while in one of these guided hiking tours: lets hike, with a very talented photographer in what will essentially be a masterclass while you sweat and dry heave going up the very very steep hill, climb all the way to the top, and set up camp. I was instantly sold. Even with the dry heaving. So off I went on my adventure, I have to admit I had to buy gear because I was not at all ready to embark on this journey, especially the cold I would experience up there. I met up with a bunch of strangers in the downtown area of my city, and all 6 of us went on our way.
The car ride was genuinely pleasant, I had the fortune of riding in the car with our photographer, James, and I took full advantage of that, bonding with him and making him my new homie. We get there and make our way up the mount, finally making it to the top after about 2.5 hours. The view, was absolutely breathtaking. The group was crazy supportive, especially when we had to take a brief break after I started feeling lightheaded. It was too much nature all at once :o. I couldnt help but take a selfie, to commemorate the day I almost succumbed to "too much oxygen".
We arrived to the top at around 5pm and quickly set up camp, right after I finished coughing up a lung. It had been a while since I last hiked. Check out the site were we set up camp, not too shabby eh?
The sun would set very soon, so we made our way to find a spot to get the best shots of the sunset and the vegetation. This place was truly fresh and beautiful. I had been stuck at home for so long, this was bliss. Check out some of the shots I took from this spot.
The gorgeous sunset was gone too soon, as they tend to do. The vibe was so pleasant that we weren't yet ready to make our way back to camp, so we built a fire with our onsite guide, Fidel. Fidel is the nicest most pleasant man you'll ever meet. He mentioned he wasn’t aware we were coming and he was assigned to our group at the last minute. However, for a last-minute kind of thing Fidel managed to build us a comfy fire, brew us some café de la olla (coffee brewed in a clay pot, sweetened with piloncillo, a type of Mexican brown sugar with a delicious caramel taste), and entertain with his good humor. Our other trip guide, Luis, had brought beef steak and soon enough with Fidel’s help and about a kilo of tortillas and some beans, we had ourselves the best dinner one could hope for after a rough hike. We gathered around the fire and shared stories. We mostly enjoyed Fidel's stories of the tourists he gets to show around, how he takes his kids to that other mountain to collect pine kernels, which he then sells for a living.
We took a few shots of the lights from the small town below and the temperature started to drop so we decided to get back to camp and build a fire there. The plan was to wait for the sky to position itself at a better angle to take some shots of the milky way. I had never seen so many stars in my life, noise pollution in the city is insane. We waited, and 1am rolled around, I was sleepy, tired and so very cold, it was -3° C (about 25°F). Everyone else was tired from the hike, so it was just James and I on our quest to get my perfect Milky Way shot. I was very lucky to have the pro all for myself. Check out the shot I achieved
Back in my tent, I got about an hour of sleep. It was so terribly cold that I couldn’t manage to warm myself enough to get some sleep, even with how exhausted I was. The plan was to get up at 5am, and make our way down a rocky cliff that would take us to a different part of this mount where Fidel assured us we would get the best view of the sunrise. We finally got there after the rough downhill hike on a very rocky cliff, I fell on my butt once or twice but, boy, did Fidel deliver on his promise! Check out some of the shots I obtained. This first one is def my favorite. Also some others my hiking buddies got of me
A shot of good ol´ Fidel enjoying the sunrise with us
The hike was definitely worth all our hard work. Honestly, I didn’t even know I had it in me to endure all the hiking, the freezing cold and the lack of sleep. Being up there made me feel so proud of myself.
Now, we had to make our way back to camp to pack up our stuff, get some breakfast and start making our way down to where we had parked the cars when we first arrived. Check out some footage from that beautiful morning hike.
Once we had packed up and cleaned up the campsite, Fidel surprised us by picking us up in his truck to take us back down to base. I'm telling you, Fidel was a godsend. He took us all to our cars with our luggage and we said goodbye to our new friend, not before he gifted us some of the pine kernels he had picked up a week prior with his children. He told us next time we were going over, to text him and he would make sure to have pulque (a Mexican fermented maguey drink) on hand, since the previous night we told him how much all of us loved some good pulque. I'll make sure to write you guys a post about this delicious drink very soon, it definitely deserves more attention.
We took a small detour on our way back home, since we were all hungry and exhausted. We decided the only thing that would bring us back to life would be Barbacoa and the infamous aforementioned Pulque from the neighboring town of Boye. I wish I had taken a picture of my food before I set a new records and downed all of in within 2 minutes, for the sake of this post. Here is a shot of my empty plate and cup, in case you're into that kinda stuff.
An hour later, we are back in the city, being dropped off at the place where all 6 strangers met the day prior. I hope you guys can get as much joy from these pictures as I got from going on this adventure and meeting wonderful people. I'm looking forward to embarking on more adventures, and taking you guys along for the ride, on this here blog. Thanks for reading and let me know if you are curious about any additional details! **HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE PICS! **
-Light The Muse
What an adventure, and the photos you took lead to such a great reward too. Looking forward to more of your trips! Well done LightTheMuse!