| My 18th birthday weekend was definitely one I won�t forget. And even though a lot of the time was spent listening to girls gossip about other people in Spanish�I thoroughly enjoyed myself! OF course, the hike up to the peak of a huge dormant volcano was the highlight of my trip. We started off on a BE-U-TI-FULL Saturday morning at 7:45 am or so. The first 1 � hours were spent climbing up through the mountains. I felt like I was at home in NC on the trails of the Blue Ridge Parkway! Because we were so high already, I was starting to breath pretty heavily (it added too that, let�s face it, I�m not in the best of shape). At a stopping point, the 2 teachers that were (WAY) ahead waited on the kids that were making good pace�it was me and 4 others. We were standing on a paved road (used only for emergencies) next to a trail that looked steep. I felt confident that we�d be taking the easier route up the road, but no�my teacher said, �Now, we�ll actually start going UP hill!� UGH�SO, the next 1 � hours were spent dragging my feet up an inclined mountain. Fun, fun! The scenery though, was just gorgeous and every now and then you could look directly behind you and see through the trees to the cities on the ground or to the distant mountains. Finally, we reached a fairly flat plain where we stopped for a lunch break. At this point there were 3 of us�the leading group of students (our teachers had probably reached the peak by now!). We could see our destination right ahead of us (it looked like a huge magnified rock) and it was at that point when I knew there was no turning back! We finished our snacks and made our way up this hill that was covered with long grass (think Anne of Green Gables). After that was my personal favorite�the rocks. We had to get on all fours and use these huge rocks to cling onto to climb up the hill. I was holding on for dear life, because when you�re afraid of heights and you�re on the side of a volcano looking down below, you think you�re gonna die. After that the rest of the way up was easy. 4 � hours later (that�s the total time it took) we were all on the peak (our teachers had been there for an hour already and 3 other students had reached as well). I can�t even begin to describe just how absolutely gorgeous the view was! Puebla was blocked by this huge cloud (that was an awesome sight in it�s self), but from every other angle, it was amazing. My knees were shaking the whole time we were up there though�again, |