La Pujada a Montserrat

Montserrat is the most famous mountain in Catalunya where there is a monastery, the “Black Virgin”, and a school for young boys that specializes in music and religion. It’s very famous among tourists and it’s just a short trip outside Barcelona. It’s also a pretty funny looking mountain – it’s nothing like the rolling hills of the Appalachian Mountains or the pointy peaks of the Rockies.

Every May, La Salle schools of Catalunya do a “Pujada a Montserrat”. There is the short option, which is about 17 kilometers, the medium option, which is about 25 kilometers, and the long option, which is about 50 kilometers. I was planning on doing one of the short walks because a lot of my students do it and have a lot of fun. But I was somehow talked into doing the long option: over 50 kilometers of walking. I was excited but also nervous and I was counting down the days and weeks with my students.

First, we needed two bags: a small one to carry with us on our journey up the mountain and a second larger one with provisions and supplies we would need when we finally reached the mountain. So I packed my small bag full of water, Gatorade, snacks, and extra clothes in case it was too cold or rainy. I borrowed a large backpack from my friend, as well as a sleeping bag and a mat. I was ready to hike!

We left Tarragona about 4 PM on a Friday, May 6. We took an hour and a half bus ride to La Llacuna, a small town about 50 kilometers from Montserrat. This is where we would begin our hike. There were about sixty or seventy of us, composed of La Salle Tarragona and La Salle Torreforta (my school, and we had about fifty or sixty people). Our walk started about 6:30 PM.

Things started off well. I had gone on several hikes with my friend for the past few months to prepare myself for Montserrat. Yes, there were hills, but they were manageable. People were talking and laughing and we were having a good time. About 9 PM, the sun started to go down and we were making our way to a rural house to have a break and eat dinner. I was feeling good. I was doing cartwheels and singing and I was ready to walk all night! (Well, I’d have to anyway.)

After dinner, that’s when things started to change. People were splitting up more and some people were walking very slow. It was getting dark, so we had to use flashlights. I refused to wear mine on my head and mine wasn’t very bright. One boy walking with me had his batteries die on him, and another boy couldn’t figure out how to work his fancy €30 headlamp. This was going to be fun. There was one point where a dog came out into the path and was barking. One of the boys starting running and pushing past people … come on … it’s a dog!

Another boy started talking about how we still had another seven or eight hours of walking and how his feet were hurting, blah blah blah. I was going to go crazy if I had to listen to this all night!

About 1 AM, we reached our halfway mark. People were really starting to get tired. I had to cheer on one of the boys who convinced me to do the long route because he was dying. I was not going to let him get into the quitters’ van!

Every two hours or so, we would stop. There were two vans that were following us and going ahead of us that would give us water, cookies, juice, soup, etc. Each time it was getting a little bit harder to motivate ourselves to keep going.

At around 4 AM, we started heading into the tougher parts of our trip. There was a series of steep hills to lead us to where we needed to be. I watched as one girl looked like her feet got stuck in quicksand and she was moving very slowly. I decided to just put the weight on my toes and keep walking as normally as I could. I survived … barely.

Then, there was the “Matamachos” – another series of steep hills. I kept the same policy. I wasn’t as in bad shape as some of the boys. I had to keep waiting and motivating – I’d want them to do the same. Slowly people were getting picked off. There were several people who had retired to the van to rest.

About 6 AM, we made our final stop before climbing Montserrat. We were given coca, a sweet bread with sugar, and chocolate milk (I didn’t drink that though). The sun was starting to rise and we were preparing for one final ascent.

I had felt good for most of the time, but when I started to climb Montserrat, all of my energy had gone away. Everyone was realizing they had been awake for over twenty-four hours. There were a lot of rocks that were making it difficult to climb. There was even one part that was almost vertical … I had to Spider-Man my way up to the top. We would stop every so often. It was incredible to see some of the strong boys fading away. It got to a point though where we decided if we sat down to breathe that we wouldn’t get up again.

Finally, Mario “promised” me we were almost there. Well, it was a half truth. We got to the end of Montserrat park, but now we had to walk another twenty minutes to get to the monastery. At least this part wasn’t uphill! But my legs were definitely feeling the pain.

At 8:30 AM, after fourteen hours of walking continuously throughout the night and over twenty-four hours of being awake, Mario, Victor, and myself finally reached the destination. We got our big bags, pulled out our sleeping bags and went to sleep … PSYCH! It started raining so we had to pack everything up and stuff everyone into a single, hot, bright room. With everyone laughing and it being bright, I didn’t sleep at all!

At 1:45 PM, they kicked us out of the room. Everyone was just kind of sitting around until we had to go to the “celebration” where someone sang songs about Jesus very poorly. All of us were trying to sleep in the pews. Even one of the teachers fell asleep.

Finally, about 5 PM, we packed ourselves into the bus and headed back to Tarragona. It was such a difficult but rewarding experience. I would love to do it again next year if I can come back to Tarragona again next year. I was definitely sore for a few days after, but like I said … it was worth it!