It’ll be easy they said….It’ll be fun they said. Well, let me tell you they were wrong. It was the hardest/exciting thing we have done in a while. They had the fun part right though.
lol.
This is the Volcan de Agua, a massive 12,340 ft beast of pure madness! Now before you tell me that it’s a piece of cake, feel free to grab your backpack and make the hike. I’m sure you’ll never talk to me again. Hahaha jk. It all started with a simple conversation in a café. “Why don’t we travel more?”, we asked ourselves and a friend of ours. Suddenly, the idea to hike a volcano in Guatemala was born. The adventure began and bit by bit other friends started joining us. Summit day was getting closer each day and our group (8 total) was getting excited and nervous. Our thought process was, we are young and strong, “How will we not be able to climb this volcano?” And so it was that summit day came and we started up the trail not knowing what we had gotten ourselves into.
The first two hours were great!! We were setting a good pace. But after a while, we started to realize the huge challenge that was before us. The rest periods started coming more often and we were getting tired.
You know when I was hiking up and felt the pain in my legs, I started to think…Why does God allow pain? “Aagh come on JD don’t be so naïve,” you might say. But seriously why is pain a specialty in God’s menu for us. More on this later…
After a while the exhaustion was unbearable! But motivated by the desire to reach the top and by the friend you had beside you, we continued on our path to the summit. Seven mentally and physically exhausting hours later, we reached the top! Ahhhh and what a joy it was to get there. Now you might be expecting me to tell you that the view was amazing when we got there, but unfortunately, the clouds were blocking our view. We were a little disappointed because we were expecting to see the beautiful landscape down below, but God had other plans.
After setting up camp inside the crater, we decided to watch the sunset from the highest point in the volcano. It was a 10-minute LAST HIKE to the spot but let me tell you those were the toughest 10 minutes of the hike. Our bodies were craving warmth and rest, but we knew that we had to see the sunset. This was the best decision we could ever do.
God wants to teach us something through the painful things we go through. He motivates us to keep walking, keep pushing. One step at a time. Even if every step hurts, He gives you this desire that you have to reach the top. Because the reward that is waiting for you is worth every single step you had to take to get there. That’s why God allows painful circumstances in our lives. He wants us to keep walking, one step at a time until we reach that perfect VIEW!!!
When we reached the summit that day, all we wanted to do was lie down and rest. It’s a humiliating experience to feel so weak. Then you find out that to watch that perfect view, you must hike even further!! This is a perfect lesson for us as Christians. When you are feeling the weakest and you think you can’t give any more, God asks everything of you (just like He gave everything for you) he asks for that LAST HIKE. And let me tell you that even though it hurts like nothing before, the end result is fascinating and so worth it!!!!!
I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.
The sunrise was just as magical if not more!!
You're still here!!! Cool here are some bonus pics from the morning ;)
Wow, that view though!!! Great read too!
Intriguing! A meaningful lesson narrated in such a way that captivates you till the end. Very nice!