Tuesday, July 22

In the morning, we enjoy the heated showers at the campground. We prepare for a chillout day in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, where Klaus has planned a few small hikes. First, we head to Uclueleth, where we check out the lighthouse and a few steps on the trail. Then we head to the visitor´s center and plan the hikes. The first one is the rainforest loop, a short beautiful loop through a rainforest grove. Afterwards, we check out the bog trail, followed by the Colman Cove, a wonderful beach area, where we see our first Bald Eagle! After these hikes, we head towards the campground. Erik is excited, because it should be our first night in the tent. However, we find out that the reservation was actually for the day before and that in any case we cannot book a walk-in camp site with an RV (for whatever reason). But the lady is very helpful and books us into an RV spot.

Then, we head towards Tofino where we want to eat at TacoFino. However, we cannot find that. So we go to the Tonfino Sea Kayak company, where Klaus had reserved a Kayak trip for the next day, to confirm the date. Good thing, because actually the time was moved and our reservation had not been confirmed. So we agree on 9:00 the next day. After that, we go to SoBo, which was the “in-place” to eat before TacoFino started. The view from there is a bit disappointing, the food however it really good. We also manage to finally send our postcards from Mexico City ;-) By the way, the weather is actually sunny in Tofino, which needs to be noted, because it is the first sun we see since we get to Canada.

Then we head back to the campground, where we want to see the sunset on the beach. This does not work out, because the clouds are back and cover the sunset. What a disappointment… But we did manage to buy firewood, so we make a bonfire and Selma philosophizes with the kids about how many Gods there are and whether the earth is a living being. Markus does not think so, after all the earth is 9.000 degrees in it´s core…

Monday, July 21

We have to choose between two activities: Snorkling with seals or going to the Wild Elements playground to do some Monkido obstacle course, in Austria known as Hochseilgarten. The boys of course to all four difficulty levels, Selma manages to go all the way to level 3, before the height let´s her give up on the black route.

The location also offer bungee jumping and a “primeval swing”, which Erik decides to try out. Quite impressive, but I have to let him explain what it felt like.

After that, we head to downtown Nanaimo and eat at Gabriel´s Café, a wonderful tip from our guide book. Delicious rice bowls and wraps. And Klaus has a coffee and a cookie at the coffee shop on the other side of the street. Markus meanwhile enjoys choosing between one of the 47 WLANs this town has to offer in the parking lot. Then we head off towards the Pacific Coast. On our way there we stop at McMillan Provincial park and check out the Crystal Grove, then at Taylor Creak rest area, where we spend an hour flipping stones in the beautifully green river. And the last stop is at a small parking lot directly at a beautiful lake. The scenery is stunning, with high mountains, covered by snow, and a new huge lake around each corner. At the end, we have to rush a bit, because the office of the Wya Point campground closes at 9:00 pm. We arrive at  8:58.

The campground is really nice, a very private little spot, and almost directly on the beach. There are also Yurts here, small tent houses for rent. The registration deck had told us to get firewood with the guy at the campground, which was not true, because firewood sales close at 9:00. And since it got dark already and there is not much to gather, we cannot make a vonfire in the end. However, we go down to the beach and spend a good hour climbing around on the rocks and enjoying the waves crashing against the rocks. How gorgeous the Pacific Ocean is!

Sunday, July 20: Arriving

We get up at 4:00 to check in at 5:00 at a very busy Mexico City airport (even at this time!). The plane leaves at 6:45, with 30 minutes of delay because the heating system does not work. They adivse us that it will be very cold on board and we get very nervous, because all the jackets are checked in the suitcases. But somehow the pilot manages to get the heater working, so we end up sweating in the plane after all.

We arrive at the beautiful Vancouver airport, and get picked up by the Faserway bus. The transfer into the RV works really, really well, and we can start the trip at around 2:30 by stopping into the McDonald´s next to Fraserway.

Because Rudy told us to, we want to first go to Vancouver Island. So we go to the ferry, which I had reserved beforehand, and have to wait 2 hours (!) without a supermarket to stock up. But we use the time to start organizing a bit in the RV. The ferry trip is quite impressive! All the trucks and RVs in the lower deck, the cars on deck 2 and 3, and 4 more decks for passengers, bars, cafes etc. We buy playing cards and play our first round of cards.

At around 7 we arrive at Nanaimo and go shopping first. Klaus has to find out that you can only buy beer and wine at the Licor stores, but at least here they are open, unlike in Utah. Then we check into our first campsite in Westwood lakes and have our first soup in the camper.

July 15th, 2014: La Malinche

Against our normal nature, we get up at around 5 am to prepare for a very special challenge: Today we are going to climb La Malinche, or Malintzin as it is called in Nahuatl. With 4.462 m the highest peak we have ever been on top of.

We drive to Vucub Pev to meet our tour guide, Beto, who brings along two friends of his, and head out to Perote, then towards Puebla, to turn right to Huamantla, Tlaxcala. In the beginning, the skies are blue, we see the Pico de Orizaba in the distance. But the closer we get, the more the fog covers everything. We enter the Malintzin National Park and drive all the way to the “Albergue” (mountain camp or whatever) at about 2600 meters. We are greeted by about 5 dogs, which start to accompany us on our hike, at the end, only one dog stays with us and actually accompanies  us all the way up and back down!

The hike starts in a beautiful Alpine-like forest, gradually getting steeper and steeper. At approximately 3.500 m we take our first rest, in between tall grass and flowers. By now sweat is dripping off my nose at every step, even though it is actually surprisingly cold. The weather unfortunately starts changing now, and it looks like rain. We keep going, although the thinning air is causing at least me quite some problems. By now we are above the tree-line and on a mixture of ash and rock. Two steps up, one back, and stopping after 50 steps to try to breathe some oxygen. We reach the pass between the right peak and the left peak, and I am about to leave it at that.

The others seem rather undisturbed by the steep climb and the thin air, so I drag on. By the time we get to the end rise on larger rocks, the fog has become so strong that you cannot see the peak anymore. A bit further up and it actually starts ice-snowing. By now I have to rest after every other step and am just dragging myself on because I don´t want to be the only one not to make it to the peak.

Almost at the top the guide asks if we should turn around, but we decline and climb the remaining 10 or 15 minutes to the peak. Freezing cold by now, windy, and totally out of breath, with no sight to enjoy, we are just happy that we actually made it! A few quick peak photos and off we go back down.

As usual, the way down is easier than up. However, the length of the hike surprises us, and the steep grades down are quite troubling for the knees and thighs. It still seems to take forever to get down the steep ash/rock slope, the steep part of the forest and then the final descent towards the albergue. After all we are talking about approx. 24 km both ways, so it is not only steep and thin air, but also far. Finally, we reach the car, say goodbye to our guides (who continue to Pachuca to do some climbing there) and head back to Xalapa where we go have a medium-size Buffalo Burger and take a shower at home. We spent the night watching a movie, drinking some wine, and feeling very proud about what we had done!

Tuesday, 08. 07. 14

Today we were climbing in Jalco Mulco. We drove to a little village and from there we began our access to the wall. The wall, by the way, belongs to a Soda (his real name is unknown) who bought four meters along the whole wall.

However, we went there with our guide Shinobi (his real name is Israel) and did some climbing. The most difficult part of the climbing in Jalco Mulco is that you have to be careful about cactus that grow in the middle of your route and everywhere else.

Our friends Agustin, Librado and Ricardo also did some climbing but we all soon got tired and we also had to watch the semifinal of the world championship. Because of that we packed our things quite early and drove home to watch the match, which would provoke a lot of jokes and tears. It was the 7:1 from Germany against Brazil.

Mexico

Wir sind nach einem langem Flug in Mexico City angekommen. Bevor wir uns in unsere Betten gelegt haben, sind wir aber noch beim mexikanischen Angel de la libertad vorbei gegangen.
Danach hsben wir uns erst in die Betten gelegt und sind, müde vom Flug, eingeschlafen.

Neuer Blog!

Habe einen neuen Blog gestartet für unsere 2014-er Reise durch Mexico und die USA. Der alte Blog ist hier: http://losfleischmannusa2013.blogspot.com.
Viel Spass!