nearly recovered

so, the feet are hurting less, the blisters are healing, and we are catching up on our sleep. my 2 days after the trip have been quite busy as i had to prepare for and then take a client out yesterday. he flew in from california specifically to see the blue fish and the victorian condos (another juan perdomo condo complex being built.) this client actually came through one of our craigslist's ads, so we were pretty psyched that the free advertising worked and helped to bring us a new client. he put in an offer on a blue fish unit. we shall know in the next day or two if it is accepted.

i wanted to capture some of my thoughts on our pico duarte trip.

first off, my favorite part of the hike was the 5km summit to the peak, starting at 4:45am. we did the bulk of this part of the hike in total darkness. thus, you could see the stars. they were out in full force and a great sight. obviously we were using flashlights to hike. prior to embarking on this summit hike, i had been a bit worried about the possibility of a twisted ankle. hiking in the dark just seemed like a prime way to roll an ankle. after getting used to the hiking though, i was fine. i also kept the blair witch project visions out of my head (i mean we are in the middle of the woods at night!) i never even saw that movie, i don't do too well with those types of things.

for all you people in cold weather right now, take note that it was 26 degrees farenheit when we woke up to do the summit. i felt like i was back in new england! the cold felt good!

our fellow trip mates were volunteers from the DREAM Project. they had all graduated from Cornell last summer and knew each other from there before deciding to volunteer here in the DR. they were easy going trip mates and always willing to help out.

the first night the mule guides prepared a really tasty local meal - chambre. this was a vegetarian dominican stew made up of all sorts of vegetables, rice, beans, cilantro, garlic, and hot sauce. it really stuck to your ribs, so you had to be careful not to eat too much or you felt like you'd blow up. they cooked this in a huge metal pot over a fire in the total darkness. throughout the trip, we had some meals that were quite elaborate for hiking meals. i guess the fact that the pack mules transport the food and pots enables you to eat non-traditional hiking food. for instance, we had pasta salad, freshly made hummus, spaghetti, salads, tuna fish, fruits, etc.

ok, now for some not so great elements of this trip.....

this trail up & down pico duarte has been made into a highway for YAHOOS! more than the bulk of the people hiking up could not even make it up main street in burlington, VT. these people were using their mules to transport themselves up & down this mountain. they were not hikers or anything close to it.

the footwear i saw was RIDICULOUS! here are some examples...

• i saw a guy wearing CLETES! for the european readers of this blog, those would be FOOTBALL SHOES! he should have just gone for skates instead, because he must have been sliding down the rocks like mad!
• our junior guide, and forgive me for being unkind, was nothing close to a guide, was wearing BALLET SHOES! i think she came along with rich in order to have a few days off from school (she was 13). she did do the dishes a few times, so that was helpful.
• i saw a woman wearing BOXING SHOES. um, how thin would your soles be on those? holy cow! she DEFINITELY needed a mule and fast.
  

the descent was brutal! i was nearly in tears as i was in so much pain due to my toes jamming into the front of my boots. i have 4 purple toes, and i mean they are PURPLE - the two toes next to the pinkie toes and my two big toes. veronica's knee was really bothering her on the descent, so i had to take one for the team and let her ride the mule for most of the 14.4 miles down. advice to all who ever decide to do pico duarte - have a riding mule for each person in your party!!!! being in shape was not the issue here either. it was a matter of having REALLY good boots and hikers feet. i was fine in terms of muscle tiredness but not fine with the soreness of my toes. i rode the mule for the last 4km, which was a flat bit that veronica could walk.

along with all the mules comes a tremendous amount of mule DUNG! dung here, dung there, dung everywhere. it was all along the trail, all over the camp grounds, outside the (horrific) port-a-potties, by the cooking areas, etc. you could not escape it.

along with all the crap (literally), comes a boatload of TRASH along the trail. as dominicans are not accustomed to trash being picked up (and thus putting it in proper places like a trash bin), they just freely drop their trash wherever. the camp ground was like a garbage pit. forget pack in, pack out. they consider the land to be one big trash can. they don't pack in, pack out anywhere, so why would it occur to them to do it on a mountain? TRULY DISGUSTING!

as mentioned in previous blog entries, dominicans are very social and loud. they like to sing, dance, have a good time, and shout in excitement to one another. well, put 200 dominicans in a campground and you'll get a TREMENDOUS amount of noise. yes, there were probably 200 dominicans at the high camp. some hanging out for 5 days up there, doing who knows what because remember, these people are not hikers! we were lying in our sleeping bags in our tent in back of the main cabin at high camp, trying to get some shut eye before the early morning summit hike. it was as if we were in a lansdowne street bar before a red sox game! the noise was deafening! it was THE ANTI-HIKING/CAMPING EXPERIENCE!

in the end, we had to remember, yes, we are still in the DR, so of course this would have a DR slant to it. i think you just expect that when you are hiking, you would like to enjoy the peacefulness of the outdoors. not so when you are sharing a mountain with dominicans. i guess we need to save that experience for the white mountains.

we will for sure remember this trip for its many unique aspects.