Tajamulco

Just after I took the first picture on the bottom row (about 3500m), it started to rain, gently at first, getting heavier; the air temperature dropped and the larger drops started turning into hailstones. This marked the start of the heaviest hailstorm I've ever seen, which lasted almost an hour and left us cold, wet and shivering, huddled together under groundsheets which we held above our heads standing between some trees. Thunder boomed and lightning struck only a few metres to our right, and the hail continued to fall, stinging our arms and legs and turning into drops of icy water which trickled down our sleeves and filled our shoes.

By the time Tajamulco had decided that we'd suffered enough, the ground was covered with hail and streams of water rushing downhill. Our clothes, packs, tents and sleeping bags were all wet and since the temperature up there usually drops below freezing at night, we came back down. Just after that my camera got wet and stopped working too; an abrupt end to the photos and to the hike itself.

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