Volcan Misti

There are moments in our lives that truly define us.  Straight to our core inside.  Reaching the summit of Volcan Misti at 19,110 ft was one of them for me.  So often in my life and in the western culture I am forced to disconnect to that inner solace in order to survive.  Coming to South America all I can do is surrender to what is around me because I am a guest.  Along with that comes the realization of all the things that live inside me that keep me bound in my life.  Comfort, fear, resistence, and negative perceptions keep me in patterns that bear no fruit.  I was immediately confronted by my inner demons the first few weeks in Ecuador.  I had no where else to go but inward to address what was happening externally.  I decided to just honor myself and my path along with the mistakes that I was making too.  Most of the time my growth comes from mistakes and my ideal world would look like me learning from my  mistakes and not repeating them!  As the A.A. expression goes, "progress not perfection."  This is really good advice for this Virgo woman who often demands perfection from myself and is unruly when I do not meet my own expectations.  South America is teaching me how to be more tranquilo especially to myself.  Since most of the time I cannot change or control the external environment learning to be tranquil and just relax is the only thing you can do.  Being aggitated is just wasted energy and since my time is limited I value every second that I have in South America.  Now, let me describe my epic climb this past weekend!  The truth is I wasn´t even planning on doing a hike this weekend.  Let alone the one I would accomplish. Let me take you back....Thursday afternoon  I had gone to several tourist agencies to see if they offered a day hike.  None of them had any one day treks only a day touring on big ass double decker bus snapping pictures.  If anyone knows me remotely at all they would surely know that having me sit still on a tourist bus for an entire day would cause the earth to rotate slightly off of its axis!!  Sitting for me is like a death sentence, being on another corny tour is an even bigger death sentence, and I would prefer to watch paint dry rather than that.  The other tourist agency offered a downhill mountain biking trip.  Only they didn´t have any pictures of the area or written description.  When I asked for a pamplet he starting writing a description of the tour on a small piece of scratch paper.  The price included a bike, helmet, and a guide, but nothing else.  I gave the executive order for that one and vetoed it right away!  Then I had to abort that mission and try and set up my class to work with a silversmith.  I couldn´t find the shop and I did get aggitated because I knew I was in the general vicinity and could not find it.  Then I walked by the Andina agency and the sign for Volcan Misti caught my eye.  I went in to inquire more about the trek.  It was going to be a two day trek.  First day we backpack in with our gear for 4 hours and then set up at base camp for the night.  The second day we wake up at 1am and head for the summit.  The first day´s trek was particualary grueling for me because I had not backpacked with that much gear for such a steep and high altitude climb.  I was climbing with 5 other men and they had no problem schleping their gear up the mountain.  I had to prove that I was a tough chicka and could hold my own!  Eventually the weight got the better of me and I asked my guide to carry one of my 2.5 liter of water.  In total I had in my pack 5 liters of water, fleece, jacket, food, and supplies.  It weighed somewhere around 20 pounds and while I am tough I had to give up some weight to continue the trek.  After we landed at base camp we had dinner in the early afternoon and headed to bed shortly thereafter.  I was able to see one of the most beautiful sunsets since we were so high up and I snapped pictures like the tourista that I am!  We could visually see the peak from base camp and that was comforting because I thought if I can at least see the peak then it is more probable to summit. Often in Colorado you think you see the peak and then you come upon a ridge that is 6 weeks away from the actual peak itself.  It is mentally very defeating in difficult terrain and conditions.  None of us slept much that night and we got a brief nap before we rose for the morning.  Now, willingly getting up in the middle of the night to summit a 19,110 ft volcanoe takes a certain kind of well...crazy!  Just consider there were people around the globe comfortably sleeping in their warm beds and there I am the only female trekking in the middle of the night to this massive volcanoe.  Yep-loca.  That was my first early morning hike and it was challenging because your steps are loose and shaky with the limited vision and terrain.  We were all really deperate for the breaks that the guides controlled for us.  Luckily, one of them brought cocoa tea which helps with altitude sickness and energy and would divey out sips to us on our breaks.  It was like Thanksgiving dinner!  The weather got really cold towards the top and most of us could not feel our hands and feet and felt like we were starting the first stages of frost bite.  Wanting the sun in that moment was like a person who hasn´t had water in three days trapped on a deserted island with hot sun.  I had gotten so cold that I was shivering and then altitude sickness kicked in and the trek became especially challenging and thoughts of a warmer descent raced around in my brain.  After a couple of throw up sessions and one irritated guide I continued on. I continued on in that moment because I had to catch up with my guide and tell him I wanted to descend!  Once I reached him he pointed over to the cross which I could visually see and said, "Shannon, that´s the summit, vamos."  Then right there in that moment I am shivering, puking, my head is exploding I wanted that peak more than anything.  Now that I saw it I HAD to have it.  I warmed up and said let´s go.  Off we went and I was the third person to summit in the group.  I layed down in complete exhausion when I got to the top.  A few more throw up sessions and then I took pictures of some of the most spectacular terrain and headed down.  I spent all of ten minutes at the top because I was cold and sick and while many may not understand why I would willingly put myself through such challenging obstacles are not connected to their passions.  This is one of my passion pushing myself through all of the obstacles and being successful and reaching the top.  I am hooked, sprung, addicted, infatuated, and in love with pushing myself beyond any and all limitations that I have inside of my mind and body and climbing these brilliant peaks offers that outlet.  I realize that life is short and I had to go through so many obstacle to create my life here in South America and there are ALWAYS circumstances that keep up blocked from our goals and dreams.  I just have a manic perserverance that will not quit, and thus I have arrived to one of the best days and times of my life.  So I invite you to come and join me in all of the adventures.