“We begin as three, and end as four . . .”

Saturday’s events deserve their own entry for sure, I just hope I can find the right words to do justice to such a wonderful day. Many months back, when I first began looking at travel magazines and deciding some of the things I wanted to do here, “Climb a Piton” was towards the top of the list. There was something about climbing up the 2,619 feet in order to look out across the entire island that seemed challenging and adventurous, and I was not let down.

The hardest part was convincing one of my new family members or friends to tackle the mountain with me. Asking around since the day I got here, I usually heard the same responses; phrased differently each time, but basically “no, thanks.” Finally, my friend, Leton, replied with the fewest number of reservations, so I took that as a “yes.” We arranged to take a boat down to Soufriere with some friends and spend the day climbing while the other two stayed with the boat. I had no idea what to expect, but I was more than excited and I’m sure it showed.

After the man at the tourist center made some phone calls, we were set to go with a water taxi to shuttle us to the bottom of the mountain and another man to bring us to meet our guide who would take us to the top. Confirming that we had enough water, and enough desire to really do this, we began the journey just shy of twelve noon. The water taxi brought us to a small hut on the shore of the island and called out to a man and explained that we wanted to climb Gros Piton. Almost instantly, a man in an extra long t-shirt appeared and with a huge grin replied, “Excellent! Let me just put on some pants.” I knew this was going to be interesting.

He reappeared, this time without shoes, and set a quick pace for us to follow. The whole time, Mark was telling us how he loves climbing this mountain and would love to go up at sunset one day and spend the night up there. Still astounded by the fact that he was barefoot, I figured this couldn’t be that hard. We climbed up and down, in and around trees, rocks and mud for what seemed like forever (but was really only twenty minutes) just to get to the visitor center to find out that our supposed guide, wasn’t there. Not wanting us to be disappointed, Mark offered to take us all the way up instead. So we backtracked a little to return to the trail we were on before and finally started the real climb.

“This is the ultimate stair master!” one of Leton’s comments along the way, is the only way to describe it. On the hot and humid day, we were both sweating within minutes, but trudged on anyway. In between Mark’s promises that “We’re almost there!” he motivated us by telling us, “We are soldiers on a mission!” and “This is a test for your mind, not your body.” Luckily, there were man-made benches along the semi-routed trail which we were able to stop and rest at from time to time. My desire to make it to the top probably aggravated Leton quite a bit because I would never let us stop for more than five minutes. Just under two hours later, with burning legs and soaking wet clothes, we finally made it to the top. Looking out to see nothing but smaller green hills and the sparkling blue sea made the agony worthwhile. The three of us collapsed on a few rocks to enjoy the view and the cool Caribbean breeze. It was amazing. Now realizing that God was the “fourth” member of our team, I felt His brilliance and radiance more now than ever before.

Apparently the fun wasn’t over just yet. We hiked across the top of Gros Piton only to be greeted by another fabulous view looking towards the north. In utter astonishment once again, I was speechless. It’s not everyday you get to see a complete, full seven color rainbow form and disappear because of a rain cloud in the distance. We enjoyed this view for awhile before Mark suggested we begin the journey back down to ensure we return before dusk.

Oh yeah, we have to go back down. Couldn’t there be a zip-line or something? The way down was easier in terms of the amount of energy expelled, but more difficult because the risk of slipping and falling was much greater. We just took our time and eventually made it down past all of our rest stops on the way up. Finally on the soft sand at the bottom, I couldn’t help but look behind me at the massive structure and proudly think, “Yeah, I climbed that!” The feeling of accomplishment neutralized the weakness in my legs and my parched throat.

We graciously thanked Mark for a wonderful time and paid the $50 US before taking the water taxi back to our boat. I threw my bag into the boat and jumped in the refreshing water to both cool off and relax my aching muscles. Exhausted and hungry, we were ready to go home. Apparently the boat had been sitting uncovered in the hot sun for too long, so it wouldn’t start. A blessing in disguise, we were then able to watch the most beautiful sunset while we waited for things to cool off. Unfortunately, I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance to watch a tropical sunset on November 10th again, but I took enough pictures to remember this one forever. The end of a perfect day, we rode home under a blanket of stars and I had no trouble sleeping that night!