| Summary | |
| Owner | Pavel Gorelik |
| Creation Date | 2008-01-02 18:41:42 UTC-0500 |
| Description | La Malinche (~14,500ft)
12/27: We returned to Tlachichuca - a `fun' 2 hour drive in an ancient 4x4 from the Piedra Grande hut. On the way down I was yet again impressed by the driving skill of our hosts; Juachin's son brought us safely back to town. Upon our arrival, Maribel was ready with yet another home cooked meal; however, we decided to chill at the Casa Blanca - a popular eating locale for fellow climbers - probably since the menu items are translated in English. Over a couple of beers, Pavel + I decided to head to la Malinche - Harry decided to head back to Boston a day early having finished our main objective. 12/28: We departed for Puebla opting for the very efficient public transit in Mexico. It took about 2 hours and $10, as opposed to the 4 hours and $90 for our taxi on the way out to Tlachichuca since buses don't generally get lost. Lesson learned: take the extra time to figure out the public transit in Mexico - it's very efficient and even though a taxi costs more, it's not necessarily better. In Puebla, we said goodbye to Harry as he headed off to Mexico City; Pavel and I hopped on a bus to Apizaco - the closest city (< 100,000 people) to La Malinche. Half a DVD later, in Apizaco, we (somewhat impulsively, ignoring our previous lesson learned) jumped in a taxi who offered to take us to the La Malinche Government resort for ~$20. About 30mins later, we were at the resort at about 10,000', where the hike begins. It is a rather nice government operated setup for people visiting the mountian - though as our guidebook points out, it gets filled to capacity on the weekends. We tried to find a way to stay there, but we didn't take the tent and they had no cabana's and wouldn't allow us to sleep under the stars; so another 30mins and $30 later, we were back in Apizaco looking for a hotel. 12/29: at 7:45 am, with breakfast in hand - baked goods we'd picked up at the Panaderia, we arrived at the Collectivo stands. Every block in the city center had at least one bakery - most had more than one - each with even more delectable baked goods. Entreperneurs in Apizaco and perhaps other cities in Mexico have come up with novel solutions to mass transit; since buses do not go to La Malinche and other such locales, but people still work in these areas and need to get around, they have these little 15 passenger vans that run about every 2 hours transporting people to La Malinche. It costs about $3, is fast with friendly regulars. Our collectivo left at 8:30 (8:00am departure means 8ish). One of the collectivo passengers was a young girl that worked at the little snack shop just outside the resort - where the trail for the mountain starts. We enjoyed a cup of hot tea there and set off at 9:30. The trail is a wide, well marked path up the mountain and from 10k to about 12k, it's a lovely walk through a forrest. For part of the path, there is a road that winds up alongside the trail; we saw some serious athletes running up this road! The trail itself was quite popular, we passed by several small and large groups of people taking a hike up the mountain. Approximately 2 hours in, we were roughly at treeline - where we took a short lunch break. It was fairly warm even at the altitude. As we continued up, the path became more like a dirt path, though I imagine it was weathered igneous (volcanic) rock. La Malinche is a stratovolcano that last erupted ~ 3000 years ago. As we got higher up still, close to the summit, there was a talus field and we enjoyed scambling the last bit - about 3hrs 40mins later we were at the summit enjoying grand views of Pico. We hung out for a bit, exchanged a few words (limited by our spanish skills!) with tourists from other parts of Mexico that had climbed La Malinche. We probably started heading down around 2ish - slowly making our way down and making conversation with fellow hikers. On the way down, we ended up on the wrong trail, but I imagine it would take considerable effort to get lost on this hike - we didn't have much trouble finiding our way back to the little snack shop where we enjoyed simple but good food. It was one of the best meals we had in Mexico. Despite our limited spanish skills, we met many generous local people. Most tried to understand us and communicate with us, and were most helpful. It was a great adventure! |