I desperately needed some exercise. No shortage of hikes here but the most of them are up to one volcano or another. And there are long hikes. The problem at this time of the year is that it is all but guarantee to rain in the afternoon. Only questions are when it will start raining and how much. So I opted for a hike where I can be done by noon(ish). This particular hike is not too far from where I stay yet it is a “bridge too far” to walk there. It is only 6 km to the trail head but you need to cross the entire city. Not too much fun on the cobblestones. I took my bike which was sitting untouched since I got here. I started quite early in the morning to beat the morning rush hour traffic. No drama to find the start of the trail. There was a gate where you need to pay to hike the trail … It wasn’t much, Q80 = $14 but it is a lot for the locals. Maybe that’s why I didn’t meet even one local on 3 hrs hike.

There is no flat place around Antigua. Steep hills everywhere. You are either going up or down. Pretty steep either way. It gets muggy as soon as you get into the jungle. No wind and very humid. The climb is relentless and you start to sweat profusely. The trail is more like a FSR (forrest service road) then trail. But I wouldn’t dare to get off the trail. The jungle is very dense there. A triple canopy vegetation and who knows what lives there. If you’d step 2 meters off the trail, nobody would ever know you are there. It was pretty cool. Even though it was a bright day, it was very dark on the trail. Not too much sunlight gets to the bottom of the forrest. There are suppose to be many different kinds of birds on this trail. Unfortunately I didn’t see almost any of them. I had my camera ready to snap a picture but came out mostly empty handed. I took a few pics of local fauna and flora anyway.

The best part of the hike was that there was nobody there. I mean nobody! I met only 5 people and they all were gringos. The locals are far too busy for silly stuff like hiking up and down the hills for no reason. Even though I flew over the jungle countless times this was the first time I was actually hiking through the jungle. Alone. It was an interesting feeling. I couldn’t see anything but I am sure there were some critters there looking at me with hungry eyes. I kept turning around but no, I was alone. At least that’s what I kept telling myself.

The way down was much easier then hiking up. Not sure why. 😉 I knew from doing my recon on Google Earth that there are some swimming pools at the end. And there sure were! 3 pools with beautiful blue water. Even though I am allergic to the pools spending decades swimming in them, I couldn’t resist jumping in. The pools are not heated but I couldn’t care less. It was what I needed after 3 hrs hike. The pools were 25m so I swam 20x50m to make it worthwhile. There were only a few people there so I had an entire pool to myself. It was a nirvana!

Well, it was a great workout. The hike itself was 10km. High altitude together with high humidity plus the swim made me pretty tired. It was a short ride back home and a well deserved siesta in the hammock. I plan to go on another hike this weekend so hopefully the weather will cooperate.

Bellow are few pictures from the hike.