The Nevado de Toluca is a stratovolcano in central Mexico, located 80 kilometres west of Mexico City and it is cited as the fourth highest mountain of Mexico. I came back to Mexico City to climb this peak together with Jenny and her friends.
My day didn't start really good, I already had some gastrointestinal problems the past few days and didn't feel particularly fit. The night before we planned to go to the Nevado de Toluca it got a lot worse. The only right thing I could do on Saturday morning, 12th of January, was going to the doctor as the medicine I had brought with me hadn't help at all. I was lucky that Jenny and her friends took me to a pharmacy with a doctor who prescribed me a series of medications to fix the intestinal flora. Back at Jenny's house I was sure that I would spend most of the day on the couch. But suddenly my motivation came back to join this mountain tour and I felt much fitter. So I jumped into the car and off we went!
In comparison to the Malinche, this volcano can be easily explored by less trained hikers as one can drive up to an altitude of approx. 4,200 m with a car. Its highest point reaches 4,680 m so you just need to climb the last meters to the top. After round about 2:30 hours in the car we reached a parking space which was already well occupied. As the roads further up the mountain were unpaved and even by Mexican standards not easy for normal cars to climb we continued on the loading area of an off-road vehicle. After about 15 minutes we stopped at another parking lot where we had a little lunch (luckily they sold a low-fat soup without chili which I could eat). Afterwards another half hour ride in another pickup followed. As we reached the highest point accessible by vehicles we realized that the police had locked the further ascent. The reason therefore were changing weather conditions as it began to snow a little bit at this specific moment. At first we were very disappointed to have reached this point and now have to turn back. Furthermore there were already hundreds of people who were waiting for pickups which would take them back down to the parking lot. So we strolled around a bit and tried to chase away the cold. Shortly before 3 o'clock in the afternoon the way to the top was cleared again. So we quickly packed our belongings and started marching, because after 3 o'clock normally no one is left up anymore.
We could climb the last meters up and descend into the crater down to the Lago de la Luna, one of two lakes within the volcano. Although it was not a big difference in altitude that we had to cover, the little ascent to the peak made our hearts beat faster. Down at lake it suddenly began to snow heavily. We had a lot of fun jumping around and enjoyed the white flakes that fell from the sky, something very special in Mexico. For Jenny's friends it was the first time ever they saw snow :-). So finally the day trip was a wonderful change compared to my city explorations of the past days. Furthermore I recovered pretty fast with many liters of electrolyte drinks.
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