While we were sitting on the veranda of our Hotel in San Pedro (a town on the edge of lake Atitlan), a stocky little fellow introduced himself to us as Pedro Velasquez, trecking guide extraordinaire. We chatted for a while and found ourselves agreeing to get up at 3.30 in the morning to climb a really big hill called "Él Indio". The mountain features in one of the photographs to the right and is in the shape of a face. Can you see it? We decided to summit the nose.
The guide books talk of bandits, I am reading a book about counterinsurgent death squads and this town has a serious drug problem: after Vita and I gave a total stranger US$30 to take us up a deserted mountain in the middle of the night we discussed it as "the stupidest thing we have ever done". Would we ever see him again? Would he murder us for our camera? Would we be taken hostage and spend the next six months in a pig pen? Vita was unsurprised when I wished aloud that I had a pistol to take with me, but when we blearily opened our hotel door at 3:30 next morning, our anxiety somehow dissapeared. Pedro was just too chilled out to be dangerous.
As we walked through the undulating streets of San Pedro, we were treated to glimpses of the moonlit lake whenever we peaked a hill, then our feet had to find their own way when we passed through the pitch black valleys. Dogs howled when we passed their homes. After about 20 minutes on the streets of San Pedro, we turned onto a thin but well defined path and started to climb the neck of El Indio.
I like to walk in the bush at night. There is a lovely secret feeling that reminds me of childhood. To me, Pedro's torch light was an affront, against the rules of any game and besides, it ruins your night vision but I guess that without it we would have twisted a knee or ankle because in some places branches up top closed out the moonlight while roots and rocks made the track into an obstacle course. Vita, in excellent condition from living at high altitude, strolled up the path easily.
The best colours were about 40 minutes before sunrise so we stopped at a couple of lookouts and took a few pictures. The last lookout was in the neck of the Indian and from here to the tip of the nose took about half an hour to walk. It was during this half hour that the sun finally came up and so the view from the top was extremely worthwhile.
We had a breakfast of banana bread and pizza before deciding how to get back down. Pedro offered us the choice of going back the way we came or hopping down the other side to a small town and catching a bus back. The town was a lot closer than San Pedro so we opted for that.
We walked past 10 feet high corn stalks to a village of purest indigenous people. Tuesday is market day so the town was chock full of people in traditional dress selling traditional foods. The women carry large baskets on top of their heads. Everyone seemed to be smiling and laughing. Men wore the most extreme pants I've ever seen - some are white with brightly coloured spots and stripes. This must be where old hippies got their fashion sense from.
We then had a second breakfast of eggs and beans in a little cafe then walked a bit out of town to catch a ride. What Pedro had called a bus turned out to be the back a ute that we shared with a sack of corn, a basket of zucchinis and four other people. Cool, very cool.
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