Yes, the day I feared would come finally arrived. I haven't been hiking for very long. I started in October, motivated by a good friend who has conquered the heights of the capital and the center of my country, but since January I have taken this activity more seriously. I remember that from the first day, when I was close to reaching the summit and the weather was cool and foggy, I thought, it must be very dangerous to be up here and suddenly it started to rain, the kind of rain that doesn't even let you see the path in front of you... Yes, since then it has been a great fear for me, and the worst thing is that it didn't happen to me alone or with my friend who knows the routes, it happened to me with my wife.
One of the things that made me happiest in 2025 was convincing my wife to take up hiking. I remember that after learning several routes with the guys, I felt ready to take her out. I always felt that she needed it and that she would really enjoy it, and that's how it turned out, but she had the same impression as me from her first time, which was that she felt it was a bit risky, since there are few people up there and the ground is slippery. But what she feared most was reaching the summit and it raining. Almost every time we see cloudy skies, we take our waterproof jackets with us, just in case, but we finally had to use them on the mountain.
We never plan these hiking afternoons. I'm usually at home writing posts and my wife is rehearsing her opera arias, and suddenly I ask her if she wants to change clothes and accompany me to the mountains, and she usually agrees. These are happy, spontaneous moments, but on this occasion we agreed over the weekend that we would climb El Ávila, and in fact, in addition to our jackets, we carried more weight. I wanted to try out my Sony Cybert-Shot camera to photograph the city, and we brought plenty of water. Since my wife started this activity in March, her future goal has been to reach the cross on El Ávila, that beautiful structure that shines brightly every December at the top of the city and which we have sung about so many times in our country's popular Christmas music.
We had just passed Corta Fuegos, an important stop on the way to the summit and the limit for many who climb daily, when it suddenly began to drizzle. At that point on the San Bernardino trail, the concrete path ends for a few hundred meters and there is only bush and dirt. We were practically walking alone because few people continue further up, and in fact it is more lush and therefore much darker, at least for a long stretch. We thought about turning back, and suddenly a couple much older than us and without jackets passed us. I remember my wife and I looked at each other, smiled, and said, “If they can do it, why can't we?” I think we always knew we wouldn't make it to the cross, but we wanted to at least break my wife's last record of 2,400 meters. What we didn't know was that the rain would get heavier.
All I have left are these few photographs of what I swear was a great adventure with my wife. The phone and digital camera got very wet every time I tried to use them, and there was a lot of fog, but to our surprise, we weren't scared. Sometimes we would stop and then walk a little further. We were only afraid of getting sick soon, after all, we are singers, but what the heck! We were soaked, not even our jackets could help us from the downpour that had fallen on us.
Suddenly, it was just her and me, sitting on a log under a tree, getting wet and kissing. That was the best moment of the afternoon. We only dared to reach 1,800 meters into the hike and decided to go down. Honestly, it was for the best. Besides clearing our heads, we wanted to see and photograph the city, and that would no longer be possible. We began the descent very carefully. There was a lot of mud, especially on our shoes, and in fact, when we reached the concrete ground, it was a little more complicated. Several small rivers had already formed around us, flowing down toward the city, but I must confess that it was magical to be in the middle of nature, just her and me, holding hands.
We certainly made the most of this experience and enjoyed it! It had to be that way, because I don't think my wife and I would have planned to go up when rain was forecast, and we're not exactly experienced hikers, but at least she didn't have to go up alone (she has done so a couple of times before), and neither did I. In fact, I have spent the night there with the choir boys, but I had never been up there while it was raining. Even so, I don't think we were that high up, as we were back in the city in less than 45 minutes, but believe me, if we had any stress that day, it completely dissipated during our pleasant adventure.
This is my first time participating in this Hive community, Outdoors and More, led by Dr. @Galenkp, the man behind Weekend Reflections. This time I wanted to do something different, and I hope everything is okay here. Any suggestions are welcome. Thank you to everyone who reads and supports my posts. I hope you are all well and have a great weekend. I won't be going to any concerts 🥰, so I'll be heading back to the great mountain north of Caracas, although this time with my friends to explore new places... See you in another post 😉
