Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Momentito Guatemalteco 5

Sunday

5:54 am

I must be on another planet.  It is pitch black except for the ring of illuminated ground in front of me, courtesy of my headlamp, which is all moon-dust colored.  I change the ground with each step, gray dust and gray pebbles and gray rocks tumbling lightly down in the wake of my shoes, occasionally meeting another persons' and continuing on down the slope.

I look up and see two figures in red hoods, self-illuminated in a column of light like mine.  They are 20 feet above me on the trail, so their heads appear disproportionately small as I crane my neck.  Farther up, a group of white lights and one red one bob upwards, detached from any visible bodies.  Farther up still, I can make out the border of the slope, defined by the start of stars.  The lowest star of Orion's belt is nearly tucked behind it.

I look left and see another border, this one intersecting bands of clouds and constellations of lights.  The bands continue on and on until I am looking behind me and see the edge of the planet, silhouetted by a linear beam of orange light.  The line is punctuated by 4 or 5 peaks that get taller from left to right, and one smaller one all the way right that is fuming, a vertical puff of smoke expanding upward

I am wearing a space suit of layers - a sports bra, tank top, wicking t-shirt, under armor long sleeve, cotton long sleeve, cotton zip jacket, my Patagonia trench coat, and a windbreaker.  I have a striped beanie, black ear warmer, and the hood to the windbreaker on my head. Every stimulus is completely unearthly except for my struggle.  My feet are leaden and my toes are numb as they move one in front of the other.  I am inordinantly proud of myself each time the left lands some distance, no matter how small, further up than the right.  A wave of heat starts in my core and moves up my neck over the front of my face and teeters on nausea.  Thanks, gravity.

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