Although we didn’t speak too much
to each other, as my Spanish skills are still comparable to my singing
abilities (a.k.a- almost non-existent), you made such a huge impact not only on
me, but on our entire hiking group, as we might not be alive today without you.
Okay so maybe that is a bit of an overstatement, but really… With your
resilient nature, we were able to make our trek up the tallest volcano in
Central America, Tajumulco.
I don’t know how you do it day in
and day out, but my friend, you must have legs of steel and a back of titanium.
Are you superman by chance? While the rest of us were gasping for air and
tripping over our own feet, you were the one carrying all of our camping
supplies. You said it was about 75 kilos, but it must have weighed much more
than that, considering it took two grown men to just put your backpack on top
of the chicken bus.
I know hiking through Guatemala’s
vast wilderness every day is your job and I’m guessing it must get easier as
time goes on (or I can only hope that’s the case for you), but I also think
that there are very few people out there like you who can endure what you do
every single day with no complaints. 
Not only is this hike quite a
physical one, but it also is such a mental game. Through the beads of sweat
which froze on top of our foreheads to the hail storm we got caught in during
the middle of the afternoon, you just took it as it came with the most positive
of attitudes and the most generous of actions. While I was being quite pathetic (yep, that is me sleeping on rocks...), you boiled hot water for us,
cooked a delicious spaghetti dinner, and even created a mote around our tent so
that when the rain continued throughout the night, it wouldn’t go under our
tent and get our camping gear wet.
At four in the morning you were
the one who had to be the dreaded alarm clock for the rest of us and push us to
make it to the top of the mountain to see the sunrise. It was quite a memorable
sight, but to have the motivation to do this hike with a bunch of strangers under
the most extreme weather circumstances every other day is beyond me.
Your display of complete
selflessness throughout the entire hike along with your motivating guidance, is
something which I can only strive to achieve one day. Not to mention those legs
of steel…
Inspired por you,
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