Spanish Word of the Day

I'll let Nareed be the final judge on Jabonero.

Quote: Pacomartin

In retrospect are you glad you didn't spend the night in the hut? Would you have been more upset if your hiking companion got sick in the hut?

I take it from your comments your later sickness had nothing to do with altitude. My friend got very sick from just eating fish in Mexico City. She needed a doctor come into the hotel room and give her two IVs.

No. Had we spent a night in the hut the other guest would have made the summit and I would have completed the climb with less effort.

Yes, my getting sick was a gastrointestinal issue. I think the sick guide we had passed it to me, but I am not 100% on where I got it.

Quote: Pacomartin

El Pico de Orizaba is often the next step..
Malinche is roughly the same height as Whitney. It is suggested to climb La Malinche (43 km from Puebla) as a way to get acclimatized.

I just thought I would remind you that back when you writing about Mt Hood, I suggested that La Malinche (19.230833,-98.031944) at 14,636′ was a good way to get acclimatized. Perhaps it just seems to easy for you.

Quote: blog on Mount Malinche

On sunny weekends Mexican families try to get up there with their children and grandparents, mountain bikers drive around in the parks dirt roads and even sport-fanatics make it all the way to the top running! No special equipment is required, there are no dangerous parts and the trail is very easy to follow so no guide is needed.
http://www.summitpost.org/la-malinche/150260

La Malintzi is another name for the Mountain
Access is very easy. From Puebla, drive north on Highway 119, past the city of Tlaxcala to Apizaco. From Apizaco, take Highway 136 east 13 kilometers to a signed junction, pointing the way to the "Centro Vacacional IMSS La Malintzi". Stay on this main road for 9 kilometers to the "Centro Vacacional", where the pavement ends. If you don't have a car, busses (micros) go all the way up to the "Centro Vacacional" using this road.

Centro Vacacional IMSS La Malintzi" is at (19.280454, -98.043844) @10,100'.
http://centrosvacacionales.imss.gob.mx/Paginas/pagina_malintzi_informacion.html
Google maps suggest 128 minutes and 154 km from Mexico City airport

From the resort it is about 6 km to the summit and about 4500' of vertical.

Room with three double beds is $50 a night. There is a nice restaurant. Very little snow!

The guide service I went with was Orizaba Mountain Guides (OMG). There are about 20 volcanoes in Mexico, most in a east to west band in central Mexico. I overheard a lot of talk about La Malinche and Nevado de Toluca, which they also frequently do.

After hearing of all our troubles with the guide they gave us, OMG offered to let us re-do the trip for free. At least that is my understanding of their offer. I wouldn't need to do Izy again but I think that Malinche, Nevado de Toluca, and Orizaba (the 5th, 4th, and 1st highest mountains of Mexico) would be a great trip -- assuming I got a good guide.

In case anyone doesn't know, the second highest mountain, Popocatépetl is currently active and can't be climbed.

I'm about half way finished with a first draft of the story of the climb. Hopefully I'll have it out on leap day.

Quote: Wizard

After hearing of all our troubles with the guide they gave us, OMG offered to let us re-do the trip for free. At least that is my understanding of their offer.

Did you prepay for Orizaba last time? Are they giving you one volcano do-over or two?

Quote: Wizard

I wouldn't need to do Izy again but I think that Malinche, Nevado de Toluca, and Orizaba (the 5th, 4th, and 1st highest mountains of Mexico) would be a great trip -- assuming I got a good guide.

FROM OMG website
18,410' Volcán Citlaltépetl(Pico de Orizaba) Puebla, Veracruz
18,040' Volcán Popocatépetl México, Morelos, Puebla
17,130' Volcán Iztaccíhuatl México, Puebla
15,350' Nevado de Toluca (Volcán Xinantécatl) México
15,030' Cerro La Negra Puebla
14,500' Volcán Matlalcuéyetl (La Malinche) Puebla, Tlaxcala

OPTION 1)
Puebla is $280 pesos for a frequent luxury bus ride from Mexico City airport. It's a beautiful historic city. Buses either go to the La Terminal Central de Autobuses de Pasajeros de la Ciudad de Puebla -CAPU- ( http://www.capu.com.mx/capu/ ) (19.075160, -98.204726) or to downtown. If you are just going to rent a car and drive straight to the mountain, then go to CAPU. There are cheap hotels near the bus station if you get in to late to drive through the mountains. If you are going to spend some quality time in Puebla, then take the bus from the MEX airport to downtown Puebla.

The IMSS resort ( Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social) is about 40 km from Puebla and it is 5.5 km climb each way from the resort to the summit of Volcán Matlalcuéyetl (La Malinche). I would just rent a car, but Taxi Start 350 MXN and 10MXN per km

Google map directions from Pueblo bus terminal 1 h 4 min (35.7 km)
Zona Capu, 72045 Pue., Mexico
Drive from México 121, Calle 20 de Noviembre, A San Isidro Buensuceso, Malintzi and Huamantla to Tlaxcala
Centro Vacacional Malintzi Domicilio Conocido Parque Nacional s/n, Altamira Huamantla, 90500 Tlax., Mexico

OPTION 2) Rent a car at Mexico City airport and drive to resort- About 2.5 hours


You don't need a guide or even special equipment from everything I read. One post I read from someone who didn't sound like they were in tip top shape said 4 hours to summit, half hour on summit, and descent to "quesadilla in hand" took 2 hours and four minutes.

Cabaña estándar three double beds $865 pesos
ZONA RECREATIVA Entrada general $40 pesos
http://centrosvacacionales.imss.gob.mx/Paginas/pagina_tarifas_malintzi.html#caba?as

From there you are halfway to Pico de Orizaba.

Quote: Wizard

I'll let Nareed be the final judge on Jabonero.

Actually I have it on good authority that Nareed's not following this thread.

FWIW, jabonero means soap maker or maybe soap seller.

Quote: Nareed

FWIW, jabonero means soap maker or maybe soap seller.

In this video , they say one phrase in English "hence the name, paso del jabonero". But the rest is in fast Spanish which I can't make out


Negociando el paso del jabonero, su nombre queda muy claro.



This video is pretty scary

Videos don't play at work....

I'm guessing it's slippery. And it may be connected with this saying Mike can practice on: "En la casa del jabonero, quien no cae resbala." The first part means "In the soap-maker's house,"

Quote: Nareed on January 9th, 2013 at 7:06:10 AM

Actually it means "to slip"

Try this one "En la casa del jabonero el que no cae resbala"

Actually you tried to teach us this proverb 3 years ago, and I forgot it. So the name of the trail is a actually a pun!

The guy in the video doesn't slip, but he is walking very carefully so as not to fall. The videographer say "hence the name, el paso del jabanero".

Quote: Nareed

En la casa del jabonero, quien no cae resbala."

That's funny! I will have to add that to my trip report, but it will obviously lose something in translation.

Quote: Wizard

That's funny! I will have to add that to my trip report, but it will obviously lose something in translation.

This website from a chain of Spanish language schools in Europe, Mexico, and Latin America has a unique angle on the proverb.

Quote: Enforex

"La casa del jabonero es toda un resbaladero" (The house of the soap-maker is a slippery place)
http://www.enforex.com/culture/spanish-saying-casa-jabonero-resbaladero.html

It is not a well-known saying, but it has its charms. Someone who reads it for the first time might think that it is similar to “en casa del herrero, curchillo de palo” (roughly equivalent to “the shoemaker’s children always go barefoot”); but actually it means something quite different: If we are in a position or situation in which something bad can happen, the worst thing will inevitably occur. It reminds us of Murphy’s Law, which states that “if something can go wrong, it will go wrong”.

But why use the figure of a soap-maker? We do not know for sure: maybe because the house of a soap-maker, due to the owner’s profession, has slippery floors; or it might be because of the Spanish expression “dar un jabón” (to give soap) which means “reprender o castigar” (to scold or punish), which means getting into trouble, which is the meaning of the saying.

Finally, and entering into the territory of folklore and legend, we should mention the myth that soap-makers used to use the fat of poor people to make their best products. This is to say, if you already had problems being poor, venturing into the home of a soap-maker could be fatal. But as we said, this is only a myth.