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Description
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My experience abroad turned not the way I
expected. I am sure you know why, as it happened to many people in the world. I
was planning to travel all over Mexico, explore its culture, people, food,
dances, traditions and everything else that this beautiful country can offer. I
have never been more excited. However, due to quarantine I had to stay home,
being surrounded by buildings and really missing nature. Monterrey is a big
industrial city, sadly having a very high level of air pollution. Therefore, my
impression of the city was not so good, although it had a lot of attractive
places – the old town, the center, parks and museums. Anyways after few weeks
of staying home, I got an invitation to go hike to the mountains. From that time,
my journey of mountains has begun starting from small 2-hour hike and ending
with almost 10 hours long hike.
“Pico Perico” is the name of the mountain with
a long hike. We woke up at 4:30 am. No one of us had ever done this hike
before, we only had an app with hiking roads, but surely all of us were super
excited to see the sunrise. Therefore, we started walking in the complete
darkness, with flashlights to see the obstacles beneath our feet. As we climbed
every step seemed brighter, and as the clock showed we had 30 minutes left till
the sunrise. We looked at the sky through the trees – a thick fog allowing to
see 3 nearest trees next to you. However, we continued till the time has come.
Nothing has changed, we were looking straight at the mysterious thick fog,
which, by the way, was also exciting to observe. We kept going, until we
reached the point with the most spectacular view. We were over the clouds – it
seemed you could touch them with your hands, the Sun was brightly shining
through, the humid fog kept rising and slowly disappearing touched by the trees
of the mountains. Every other step was breathtaking in all meanings. We were
tired, but so grateful for such view. However, it was not the end, so we
continued until we reached the place we had to continue climbing like babies in
order not to fall back. The ground was humid and slippery and all the road was
covered by small rocks that were rapidly sliding down if touched. It was the
hardest part I have experienced and it continued for like an hour. Next step
was a steep part to climb with help of a metal road. We did not have any
equipment, so some of us though it is too dangerous and did not climb. Others
were courageous and reached the end together with some other Mexicans met on
the road and came back with wonderful souvenirs of the view. The way back was
not that easier as I thought. As we were wearing simple running shoes, the feet
were feeling every rock on the road, which were endless. After few hours, we
were down ready to get back home. I did not reach the top but I was not
disappointed, the way seemed dangerous, so I was happy to have chosen not to
risk and ready to come back some day with a better physical form and experience
to reach the top. But for this time, I was just thankful for everything that I
saw and felt relieved after a really good long sport activity.
Hiking gave me incredible experience in all
aspects. Firstly, I was able to practice the languages I know with my hike
companions, every step made us work as a team, caring for each other and
finally, we were able to enjoy the beautiful nature. It seemed to me, that
Monterrey mountains have an enormous variety of different plants and other
creatures. You could observe cactuses, colorful flours and a “sheet” of green lush
trees from the top. Walking in the dark you could hear spectacular bird voices
and during that time reflex with calm all beautiful things that happened during
the semester and dream about those who are yet to come… 
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