Adventures
As you should imagine, this race has been quitean adventure for me. I can’t even begin to explain its significance as a whole. It would be like trying to bring a camel through the eye of needle.
I’m not calling you a camel (or a needle).
I am saying in concept, that I am the needle, and the camel -is the collection of new Christly principles adhering to my soul.
However what I cando- is share about the majority of my physical adventures.
These past months have taken me shark diving, paragliding, and onto many great hikes. I’ve slept on volcanos, beaches and in villages. I’ve gambled with some risky street food here and there. I’ve surfed some brutal waves in El Paredon. I’ve cliff jumped into Lake Atitlan, I toured museums in Antigua. I’ve bathed elephants, walked among sacred Burmese temples, and participated in a pretty awesome lantern festival in Thailand.
Through these experiences, a couple more specific events catch my eye.
Let’s me tell you of a the time Joe went tomahawking down the side of a volcano.
I don’t even know where to begin. It all started 8 hours prior as we began our hike to the top of Volcan Acatenango, Guatemala. It was a brutal hike that humbled everyone. As we climbed, the temperature did not. There were multiple biomes accompanying the changing climate. As we went higher and higher, our surroundings changed. At about 1/4th of the way up, the tropical base turned into a deciduous forest, and then later on, into a sparse, ash covered, tundra.
13,000 ft’ later, we reached the summit. We were met by two ambassadors of hell -harsh wind and ice cold air.
After about an hour up there, we began our hike down to set up camp in a safer place. Remember, the upper cap of this volcano is covered in about 1 foot of ash. the earlier hike upwards was not so easy. It took about 1.5 hours.
However, tellingly, the journey downonly took about 30 minutes, but I’ll get to that in a second. The men and I began our descent with controlled and concise little steps. It was impossible not to slide, or sink down into the ash, so vigilance was necessary.
Then our heartbeats began to rise, and breathes grew rapid. Sluggish feet matured, as our thrill seeking hearts got the best of us. We began bounding like gazelles. All of us were now taking giant strides, like men on the moon, bouncing down this cushioned face. At this point we were still at cloud level, and the invisibility caused some comical chaos. I paused my momentum to look back for the others, and saw a beautiful sight. 7 spirited men whooping, and hollering, while striding through vapor, ash, and dust.
All things were especially vivid for just a moment.
The three front runners came unyieldingly closer. There was no stopping them. Accompanying their untimely arrival, was a mess of ash and laughter. As the dust settled, the four of us sprawled out in different contortions and attempted to catch our breath through the panic.
After assessing how much ash was in our shoes and pockets, we continued our descent. The other men still hadn’t entered into our range of visibility, but we could hear them, and they were not far behind.
The ashy slope came to an end and an abrupt cliff began. We had hiked this part, so it was not a surprise. Suddenly we reached the climax of our descent.
A few of us looked back to see Joe, trudging at top speed down this mountain face towards the end.
We were still about 12,000 ft up when Joe realized he needed to slow down. The problem was that his feet were moving too fast for his body. His inertia was in complete disagreement with his wishes.
He tried to plant his feet, but it was hardly hopeful.. Then, the finale.
That day, Joe went head over heels multiple times like Thor’s Hammer. There was a majestic trail of smoke following his feet and head. Like a street performer’s flaming baton, Joe twirled down the mountain side.
When he planted his feet, he subsequently thrusted his torso forward at an irrepressible speed. This caused him to spin like a pinwheel down the mountain.
Thank God, that Joe stopped before reaching the edge. He arose from his flight with a face fully coated in ash. He looked completely disoriented. Those that had just witnessed this event were laughing hysterically. Thank God that we are still laughing about this.
This is what that I cherish, and there are many memories like this. I don’t prize the experience alone, but Instead i treasure the affect that my brothers have had on me during it all.
