Elevating
Daily writing experience - day 69
Elevating
Leland and I are packing our bags tonight. He’s going back to Los Angeles, California very early tomorrow morning. We’ve had a wonderfully adventurous experience together. And my journey with Leland in Guatemala ends here because of elevation.
Tomorrow at 4:30 am we’ll leave Antigua Guatemala to drop Lanny off at the airport in Guatemala City at 5:00 am. Afterwards, I’ll be driving to the town where I spent most of my childhood and adolescence, Quetzaltenango, aka Xela or Xelaju.
Xela is located in the Western Highlands. The elevation according to Wikipedia is 2,330 m (7,640 ft). The last time Leland and I visited Xela together, probably ten years ago, he hallucinated because of the altitude. He felt his head blow up like a balloon three times in a row while we were in a car headed to dinner. Therefore we no longer risk visiting the Western Highlands together.
Last year we cancelled a trip to Mexico City we’d planned for our 12th. wedding anniversary after we realized the elevation there is 2,240 m (7,350 ft).
We have no choice but to part ways. He is physically incapable of visiting Xela with me. And I can’t not go. I get to revisit my childhood and adolescent environment on my own for a few days. My mother and oldest sister still live there. There are many people, places and things from my past so I’m curious what I’ll discover.
Are you affected by elevation when you travel?
Four years ago we went on a photo trip to Bolivia. I could hardly breathe getting off the plane in La Paz. But, taking it easy for 3 days in La Paz before the trip, allowed us to acclimatize successfully. I don't believe we would try to go that high again though. I've always wanted to visit Ladakh because it would be like going to Tibet without the Chinese. But, it's not to be at this point in my life. Yes, we did go to Tibet in 2000, when we were so much young then!