Looking up from the lobby of the Radisson Paraíso hotel on the south side of Mexico City. Each of those balconies in front of me is a separate floor. I was staying on the 8th floor when…

…a bunch of alarms started going off just before 8 in the morning. “What the fuck is this?!” I asked myself as I was jarred from my sleep. “I didn’t order a wakeup call.” But it wasn’t a wakeup call at all, no sir. It was actually the earthquake alarm system telling me I need to get out of the building and down to the street ASAP. As I threw on my clothes as fast as I could, I couldn’t really tell if the floor was shaking or if I was just totally disoriented from being half asleep. Either way, after getting dressed, I made my way from the 8th floor down the stairs and out into the street. After a couple minutes of standing around and waiting, the hotel manager came around and told the rest of the guests and I that it was safe to go back inside.

Before meeting up with my guide to hike up a couple mountains called Sierra Negra and Pico de Orizaba, my plan was to visit Cumbres del Ajusco national park on the south end of Mexico City and to hike up to a point known as Pico del Águila (3880m). While I was up there, apparently some other hiker had gotten lost or injured or something and had sent out an emergency SOS on their iPhone requesting help. I saw multiple teams of police and firefighters on the ground as well as a helicopter flying above looking for the hiker in distress. Dunno if they ended up finding him/her. This is a view from the dense forest that covers the sides of the mountain.

Homero flipping us the double middle finger, as seen from my guide’s car on our drive from CDMX to Puebla

The north side of Orizaba (including the Jamapa Glacier) as seen during our approach from Mexico City. It was about a 4 to 5-hour ride total, including a roadside taco break

This mural in a village we passed through says “por amor a los jóvenes” – musta been Michael Jackson’s favorite place to visit in Mexico

Orizaba as seen from the village of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, which sits at an altitude of about 3400m. I spent several nights in this town in the days leading up to our Orizaba summit attempt

The place at which I stayed in Miguel Hidalgo was called Hostal Flor de Hielo, where I was welcomed warmly and ate very well. The four people towards the far end of the table are the family that owns the place, the guy on the right side of the table is my guide Pedro Montoya (+52 777 163 9917), and the couple on the left part of the photo were fellow guests.

Sunset from Miguel Hidalgo

To help get acclimatized to the high altitude, the hike we did a couple days before going up Orizaba was to the top of a nearby mountain called Sierra Negra (4580m). Up on top of that one they got this huge telescope called El Gran Telescopio Milimétrico Alfonso Serrano, which we got to visit. The whole time we were up there, I kinda felt like I was at that one Siberian satellite dish in the James Bond game Goldeneye for N64 (see bottom right of photo for reference)

There’s nothing milimétrico about this güero’s telescopio. Ask your madre, she’ll tell ya

View of neighboring Orizaba, as seen from the top of Sierra Negra

Orizaba base camp, approximately 4260m

We set our alarms for midnight and allotted ourselves an hour to get ready before beginning the slog to the top. Even though I went to bed around 5pm, I felt pretty shitty up there and didn’t manage to get to sleep until after 10pm. As it turns out, we didn’t need a whole hour to eat a little something and get ready – we were on the move by about 12:45

I was really surprised to see dead butterflies along the side of the path to the top of Orizaba. They must’ve gone astray from their traditional migration patterns – definitely not a suitable environment for them up there. The only animals (aside from humans) that I did see alive up there were these fat, round little mice that I’d see scurrying here and there in the light from my headlamp.

We made it up to the peak before sunrise and had the pleasure of watching it from the highest point in Mexico (5636m)

View of the telescope-housing Sierra Negra as seen from the top of Orizaba

I love the perfectly triangular shadow that this mountain casts on all the land behind it

While going up and down the glacier, I was connected to Pedro with a rope and harness in case I were to slip on my ass, so he could save me before I start sliding down the icy side of the mountain

One last look back up at the glacier before heading back down to the warmth and safety of civilization