Our Easter Challenge - El Pico Duarte

The so called "Semana Santa" (Easter week 14th - 20th April this year) was the perfect opportunity for us to take part in - a little different voyage - a mountain trip: ascending the mountain named "Pico Duarte". The Pico Duarte with an altitude of 3098m is the highest mountain of the Caribbean and is situated in the national park "Armando Bermúdez" (nearby Jarabaccoa) where the 52km hiking trail starts.

Our Tour guide picked us up with a guagua in Santiago de los Caballeros (2nd biggest city of the D.R.). The roof of our guagua(bus) was completely full of backpacks. Subsequently we headed towards Jarabaccoa where we got something for dinner before we settled us down for the night at the entrance of the national park. Even though we had inflatable mattresses and very warm sleeping bags, it was already cold in our first night without having started our way up. By the way our group decided to do the ascend and descend in 3 days.

Day 1: 

Thursday morning, we got up very early to make a fire for the breakfast, to prepare our lunch, to fill up our water bottles with spring water and to load the donkeys with our backpacks, food provisions and camping equipment (tents, mattresses, sleeping bags, pots, plates...). We were a group of 14 people, mostly volunteers but also my sister and a friend from Germany came with us. At around 8.00 am we started our way up and the temperatures were raising a lot during the day which we had not expected before. It was super warm and we sweated while we were walking but on the contrary it grew a little cold and chilly when we made breaks. So it was a putting on and taking off of our clothes. It took us about 7 to 8 hours of walking (including breaks) to reach the camp at the foot of the Pico Duarte. In between the hiking trail was really really difficult and a heavy climb. The last kilometers (of the 19km upwards of day 1) I walked so fast because I finally wanted to get there. I got to the clearing first and immediately took my shoes off, just laid down on the grass, stared into the sky and enjoyed the tranquility. 

After everyone had arrived at the camp we unloaded the donkeys and set up everything for the night. Some of us were all knocked out and immediately fell asleep as soon as the mattresses were inflated. Meanwhile we prepared the dinner on a stove over a real fire. Up there at the camp is a "kitchen" (better said a possibility to cook and prepare food) without any equipment. That is why we even had to bring pots, plates, knifes etc. Sometimes we really had to improvise while we were preparing some food. We had our pasta dinner all together outside at the bonfire under the moonlight.

Day 2:
I literally was so happy that I had one those really warm sleeping bags because it was freezing during the night although I was wearing like 5 layers of clothing. Surprisingly I slept very well though; well at least till 3.00am in the morning because by that time our alarm was already ringing and we had to get ready to start our way up to the peak as early as possible in order to see the sunrise from up there. Having filled our stomachs with a super tasty oatmeal, we started our way up at around 4.45am in complete darkness. The temperatures were so cold but the night was beautiful; the air was so clear and the moon was full! The trail up to the Peak of the Pico Duarte is about 5km but it has a steep incline and I actually do not know how I did it in only 1,5 hours to get up there in complete darkness and on a totally rocky trail. I almost ran up the last kilometer because I wanted to get there so bad before the sun would rise. I did not care about my feet hurting nor about my short breath and fatigue. It was a strange, but amazing feeling to be so motivated.

At 6.10 am I reached the top after our guide and the boys. It felt so good when we were finally up there and the view was breathtaking: on the one side we were able to see the sun slowly rising and on the other side we still had the full moon shining (first picture from the left). But I have to admit that it was really windy and cold up there. What made us very happy was to see everyone coming up feeling so relieved and content.

Hugging each other, we were standing next to the dominican Flag on top of the mountain, enjoying the beautiful view with the sun shining into our faces. I am so glad that I could share this moment with my sister and very important friends. It felt amazing having done this all together!

The way down back to the camp felt like it would take forever and it took us about 2,5 hours because we were so exhausted and because it got really warm and hot. I only realized when I was walking down how bad and difficult the trail actually had been and I wondered how I made it up to the top so fast in the middle of the night. Anyways when we got back to the camp basically everyone went back to sleep till in the afternoon when we started cooking. We were super hungry from all the hiking and the temperature changes. But before dinner of course everyone wanted to take a "shower". So how you could wash yourself during those days was like this: there was a spring water place with a little stream where you had to go to; (alas the dominican republic suffered this year from one of its greatest droughts so a lot of water springs were dried out and we only had one to go to; it also made us to control oneself on the way up to not to drink too much water in one go because there was a period of 4 hours way without being able to refill your bottle) there were so many people so you actually had to wait in line for an hour; wow and the water was super cold but fresh!

At the bonfire we roasted marshmallows to make S´mores before we went to bed. Unfortunately one of us got sick surprisingly which made me stay up all night. Those were actually not the best conditions for the next day to descend.

Day 3:

But with a delicious oatmeal, hot chocolate and coffee everything was possible. Our descend took us about 5,5 hours including several breaks. Luckily we had two horses with us for emergencies so the one of us who was sick was able to descend parts of the trail on a horse. Only when we were descending we realized how long and difficult actually the trail was and how much we ascended 2 days ago. Incredible! My feet they were hurting the entire day and going down that steep descent our knees started to hurt, too. Also it got really really warm again. Me and a friend almost ran the entire way down because like that the risk to fall (because of all the rocks) was smaller and we wanted to get there finally.

Having arrived at the entrance of the national park, we were so relieved, exhausted but very content and happy. It felt so good taking those shoes of and using a normal bathroom instead of an outhouse :D

I laid down at the river, dangling my feet into the water and letting the sun shine on to my face.

Now it was time again to unload the donkeys and load up the Roof of our guagua with all the luggage. Almost everyone was asleep in the guagua on the way back to Santiago de los Caballeros. There we stayed one night till Easter Sunday.

Summarising the entire trip I can definately say that it was an outstanding and unforgettable experience. It was so worth it and I would highly recommend it to everyone who has the possibilty to do such a trip. We want to say a big thanks again to our guide because without him we would have never been able to do such a well organised and well prepared trip.