El Tucuche is Trinidad’s second highest mountain at 936 meters above sea level, a mere 5 meters smaller than El Cerro del Aripo (Trinidad’s highest mountain). The mountain is deceptively small in appearance; after all it’s smaller than Ben Lomond but what it lacks in height it makes up for in shape. The initial ascent is to climb the ridge of the mountain chain making up the Northern Mountain Range, it is very steep, covered with thick rainforest, then the trail levels off a bit and becomes a series of switchbacks until the summit of the mountain.
We didn’t know this beforehand and so when we awoke on the morning we were in high spirits and quite excitable despite how early it was (6am is not a student’s normal wake up time). Our trusty guide up the mountain was none other than PhD student Stevland Charles, who had accompanied us on numerous occasions beforehand and is a close friend of the group here in Trinidad. The group reached the foot of the mountain by about 7am and we prepared as per Stevland’s instructions; plenty of mosquito repellent and a quick safety lecture about Fer de Lance (watch where you place your feet).
The hike started easily enough with a pleasant walk through old coco plantations and over small rivers but soon the slope of the mountain began to take its toll and within 30 minutes or so I was panting and sweating buckets (which washed off the liberal dose of mosquito repellent I had put on). For what seemed like the whole day but which was really only 2 hours, we climbed the initial ridge of the mountain and I personally was ready to quit just as we reached the top of it.
Eventually we reached the ridge of the mountain (much to the relief of my thighs) and had a short break before tackling the second part of the climb. After feasting on chocolate, cookies and heavy doses of water we started onto the switchbacks, the first few were very gentle almost rejuvenating walks allowing us to continue catching our breath and properly view the surrounding forest without impediment. The forest was very beautiful and occasionally we could see through a break in the canopy towards Las Cuevas, our favourite Trinidadian beach (and where the members of the expedition who could not climb the mountain were ‘liming’). The switchbacks were interspersed with waterfalls running across them ranging from small dribbles down a rock face to large cascades (although it hadn’t rained the day before so even the large ones weren’t in full flow), it was at one of these waterfalls that we took a picture of the group looking tired but pleased with themselves.
Eventually the switchbacks became rather monotonous (with the exception of the one with a Fer de Lance on it) and a feeling of drudgery came over me which was not helped by the 20 minute rain which managed to soak through our clothes and waterproofs (maybe I just ‘hit the wall’). Every new switchback I would look up the mountain to see a wall of trees and looked down to see the same, so I began to feel that the mountain was never-ending, luckily just as this feeling began to take hold we broke out of the thick forest into elfin woodland. This was a confirmation that the end was in sight and true enough after another 5 minutes of walking we had reached the summit where, overcome by exhaustion and relief, we collapsed. The summit was wreathed in clouds when we eventually reached it but after resting for a few minutes the sun literally burst through the clouds, and the skies cleared to provide an exceptionally view of the north coast (Las Cuevas) and the central plains.
Slowly I began to feel the achievement we had all just gone through, we climbed El Tucuche!! Everyone else must have felt similar as we all began to bubble with excitement and euphoria, so we sat to a hearty lunch (it was only 12pm!) of sandwiches (prepared the previous night by the delightful Emma Sergeant and Chloe Rossi). Overcome with our achievement we wanted to commemorate the event by making a human pyramid on top of El Tucuche (human pyramids are now a recurring feature in our group excursions).
Drunk on our success we happily opted for a shortcut down the mountain trusting ourselves to Stevland’s experience, then we found out that Stevland wasn’t terribly great with the side trails off of the main trail. Within half an hour we were thoroughly lost, much to the enjoyment of Veronica Sisson, the trail which we had took as a shortcut eventually degraded to a slope which we had to slide down. There were some points where we seriously thought we were so lost we were going to die in the jungle, ahahahaha, but we managed to enjoy ourselves despite the situation.
Sliding down a muddy hill certainly helped as it created a childish glee and Liam Templeton was comical to watch as he had picked up a large stick which he was semi-successfully using as a rudder. I was determined not to slide down on my rear but within an hour that promise to myself had been so thoroughly broken I wondered why I made it in the first place. Eventually after three hours of sliding or falling down this mountain we emerged from the tree line, covered in mud and leaves, right in front of someone having a relaxing sit in their back garden. Truly it must have looked almost cartoonish (and looking back on it, it was comical to say the least) to see eight university students and one Trinidadian coming out of the forest and looking around like tourists.
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