Sometimes you just have to go with the flow and see where it goes. For Edita, it was to Haiti in the Caribbean, where she has spent the last year doing humanitarian work.
Haiti is not a very popular place for mountain climbing, but luckily it shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, a much safer country that happens to be home to three of the highest mountains in the Caribbean: Pico Duarte (3,101m), La Pelona (3,095m) and La Rusilla (3,044m).
Until last year, the Dominican Republic had never been on my list of vacation destinations, but it seemed like an opportunity not to be missed. Last August, I crossed the Atlantic to meet Edita in Santo Domingo, the historic capital of the Dominican Republic, just a few hours’ drive from where she works.
With the help of local hiking agency Guias de Alturas, we embarked on a three-day hike through jungle and pine forest, culminating in the summit of three peaks.
That's why we climbed to the top, and I hope that sounds reasonable enough. But what about the dog that features prominently in nearly every frame of our climbing video?
If you live a comfortable life at the park gate, why would you follow a pair of strangers up a 2,000-meter peak and back down again in hot and humid weather?
I know what you're thinking: food. It wants us to pity it and give it some delicious snacks.
Fools the dog even more. I had to climb the mountain by myself, I climbed over 2000 meters on the first day and I needed to do my best. You can call me heartless if you want, but I'll be damned if I'm going to share my packed lunch. Not with Edita; not with anyone I didn't invite (well, maybe with Edita).
When does a dog realize it's following a cheapskate? When will it turn around and go home? As you will see, this is not the case. It followed us every waking hour, day and night, to the highest point of the island and back again.
So, if it’s not following us to get food, why is it here? Did it just enjoy the hike? Maybe he's a climber, ready to climb again, with the goal of climbing more mountains than any dog on earth.
We named the dog Karim after the first Dominican to climb Mount Everest. Here is a video of Karim the dog climbing. If you look closely enough, you might catch a glimpse of Edita and myself in some of these pieces, too.
There are 20 minutes of footage, but if you like reading or looking at pictures, you can Read my blog post about it or Check out my Flickr photo album.
Climbing Duarte Peak, Dominican Republic
With an altitude of 3,101 m, Duarte Peak is not only the highest mountain in the Dominican Republic, but also the highest mountain in the entire Caribbean. The climb requires three days of arduous trek through the jungle and pine forests of Armando Bermudez National Park and José del Carmen Ramirez National Park.
We followed the standard route to the top of the mountain from the village of La Cienaga on the east side. The first day is a 1,700m climb, starting from the national park headquarters at 1,100m above sea level, crossing Descanso Alto de la Vela, and descending to the high camp of La Comparticion (2,480m above sea level).
Our plans to climb 3,044m La Rusilla en route were abandoned when we realized there was no route and 400m of bushwhacking would be required.
The next day we climbed Pico Duarte and La Pelona (3,095m) from La Comparticion. The former offers an excellent perspective across miles of forest and jungle. The latter is vast and forested, but well worth a visit. We were joined at both summits by a stray dog who followed us all the way from the park headquarters. We named him Karim after the first Dominican to climb Mount Everest.
On the third day, we happily ran back along the road to La Cienaga.
