Pico Duarte

I did it. Well, I guess I should say we did it because it was definitely a group effort. I, along with 7 other Peace Corps volunteers, hiked Pico Duarte. Standing at 3,087 meters, Pico Duarte is not only the tallest mountain in the Dominican Republic; it’s the tallest mountain in the Caribbean. How many of you can say that you have stood on top of a country?


In the five days it took to hike up and down the mountain, we walked in total 96 kilometers. At the end of the trip, I was exhausted, my body was sore, my knees ached…but I had conquered the mountain. Hiking in the Cordillera Central was a little bit of a surreal experience. It wasn’t the Dominican Republic that I was used to. There was no loud music blasting from the colmado, there were no chickens crowing or dogs barking, there were no motors revving their engines, and there was no Dominicans yelling at the top of their lungs. I could actually hear and appreciate nature. And (although at the end of the trip, I still hadn’t decided) it gave me plenty of time to think about what I’m planning to do after my Peace Corps adventure ends in October. And it was absolutely beautiful. There were pine trees (but no palm trees) and crystal clear rivers in which we both drank the water and then bathed in.

Of course it wasn’t all paradise. We slept on the floor of little cabins in our sleeping bags and tried to ignore the rats running around us. I had forgotten what it felt like to be truly cold until this trip because it was quite chilly high on that mountaintop. And there were a few injuries. One girl fell down and banged her knee pretty badly, and then a few hours later she got stung by a wasp. Another girl was bathing in the river and she stumped her big toe on a rock, which caused the entire nail to lift up, just barely staying connected. But we were all troopers. I’m glad I did the trip, that I conquered Señor Duarte’s little moñtana, but it’s not a hike I am likely to venture out on again.