A difficult day

When I was a teenager, one of my favorite walks was to climb the Avila, the great mountain that borders Caracas on its northern side.

Our hiking season started at the end of October, by that time the rainy season had already diminished considerably.

We were always careful not to go up when it was raining, especially if there were strong winds. The road became extremely swampy and there was always the risk that the wind would blow a branch off a tree and cause an accident.

Another advantage of going up in October, besides the fact that the ground was quite firm and it was easier to walk, was that at that time the temperature began to drop and in the afternoon hours the fog covered everything, it was very nice to be on the site with that white blanket everywhere.

At that time I had made friends with Clara, a high school classmate with whom I felt pretty good, she had a brother who studied in a lower grade.

Neither she nor her brother had ever climbed the hill and they both thought it was a great idea to go on an excursion with me. I was given the task of asking permission from both of their mothers and I made a commitment to them that I would do so.

Clara's mom turned out to be a very lovely lady. The only thing she was concerned about on the ride was safety. I explained to her that I knew the routes well, that we would be going on one of the main trails and that we would be camping in a part that was well guarded by the park rangers. This gave him a lot of peace of mind and he did not object to our doing the walk.

Between the three of us we made the preparations for the excursion, I looked for two tents, one for me and another one for Clara and her brother, I got flashlights, a thermos for coffee and a small case to carry some first aid things. We would take canned goods and bread to prepare sandwiches. Our plan was to hike up early Saturday morning and return Sunday at noon.

The night before the excursion I left everything prepared in my huge backpack, including a thermos with enough coffee for the three of us. Excitement kept me awake and maybe that's why I got up a little late. I left my house without even drinking the first coffee of the day.

I passed by Clara's house, and we took the bus that would take us to the foot of the hill. At about seven o'clock in the morning we started to climb.

Our walk was quite slow, Clara and her brother got tired easily and we made many stops, but we were enjoying the walk very much.

At about ten o'clock in the morning we had covered almost half of the route. We arrived to a viewpoint from where there are impressive views of the city, we stopped for breakfast, in spite of the hour the temperature was still quite cold and I was dreaming with my cup of hot coffee.

I took the things out of the backpack to prepare breakfast, I had the thermos covered with some cloths. Clara and her brother made the sandwiches.

Everything was going great, I took out the thermos, took off the cloths, looked for three small plastic cups and went to where Clara and her brother were sitting.

Suddenly, without knowing how, I tripped over a rock or a piece of branch, fell on my face and fell to the ground. The thermos fell out of my hands, hit a rock and resisted the blow, but continued rolling to the bottom of the cliff. I watched sadly as my precious coffee disappeared. I could not believe it...

From that moment on, the trip stopped being fun for me. As we continued climbing, my body missed the lack of caffeine. I had a headache, I felt like I lacked energy...

At about one o'clock in the afternoon we arrived at the campsite. I set up the tents while Clara and her brother walked along the nearby trails and enjoyed the beauty of nature.

By late afternoon the fog had covered everything. The cold could be felt. My spirits were down, all I wanted was a hot cup of coffee.

That night we went to bed early. The next morning I didn't feel like continuing the walk to another nearby viewpoint, I told Clara that I was feeling bad about the lack of coffee and she understood. We packed up camp and headed back.

From that moment on my friendship with Clara did not stop growing. That walk helped me to get to know her understanding side.

Later she, her brother and I continued to hike the hill, and many times I could enjoy drinking my cup of hot coffee embraced by the blanket of white mist.

Thank you for your time.

Images edited in Canva and Photoshop.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version).

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