Episodio 62: An Unforgettable Hike (Una excursión inolvidable)

Duolingo English for Spanish Speakers Podcast

En 2021, Calum Maclean contemplaba una empinada ladera de montaña llena de rocas y macizos de hierba verde.

No había ni una carretera ni un camino a la vista.

Se encontraba en medio de la cordillera Cairngorms, o the Cairngorms mountains, situada en el norte del Reino Unido.

I was in the Cairngorms mountains, which is a popular place for hiking in Scotland.

It’s a very beautiful area, but when I looked ahead, I felt anxious.

I was going to have to climb over giant rocks and walk through lots of plants that were probably going to cut my legs.

Calum estaba intentando un tipo de caminata diferente, llamada “caminata en línea recta”, o straight line hiking.

Su objetivo era seguir una línea perfectamente recta en un mapa de Escocia, sin cruzar una sola carretera asfaltada ni seguir ningún sendero, o trail.

The straight line I was hiking was about 80 kilometers long, and it was going to take four days to finish it.

I couldn’t hike on a trail, even if it was an easier path.

I needed to hike in a straight line.

But I quickly learned that was going to be a lot harder than it seemed.

Welcome, les damos la bienvenida a “Relatos en inglés”, un podcast de Duolingo.

Soy Diana Gameros.

En cada episodio podrás practicar inglés a tu propio ritmo, escuchando historias reales y fascinantes, contadas por las personas que las vivieron.

En el episodio de hoy, tenemos historias sobre dos personas que se fueron de aventuras de senderismo, o hiking.

Como habrán notado, nuestro primer narrador, Calum Maclean, tiene acento escocés.

Esto significa que a veces las vocales de ciertas palabras suenan diferentes.

Por ejemplo, para la palabra road, Calum dice: “road”.

Además, pueden notar que el sonido “R” a veces es parecido al sonido “R” en español, como cuando Calum dice: “very”, o cuando dice: “brought”.

Calum creció explorando la Escocia rural.

La mayoría de los días, la lluvia y la niebla se mezclaban en el dramático paisaje montañoso, dando lugar a vívidos tonos de verde.

When I was a child, my family always visited Scottish islands to go hiking, camping, and swimming.

As I got older, hiking became an important part of my life.

I love it — it’s such an amazing feeling to climb to the top of a mountain.

Para mucha gente en el Reino Unido, las vacaciones y las salidas de fin de semana ofrecen la posibilidad de ir de excursión.

Se alejan de los pueblos y las ciudades para ir a los senderos, para pasar un día en la naturaleza.

I’ve always loved being outdoors, doing activities like swimming in very cold water or hiking to the top of a mountain.

Not only because it’s fun, but it’s also really good for your body and mind.

En la primavera de 2021, Calum estaba deseando volver a salir al exterior y emprender una gran y atrevida aventura, algo que nunca había hecho antes.

In June of 2021, a friend told me that the UK national map makers published a map.

It showed the longest straight line between two roads in all of Great Britain.

El amigo de Calum lo retó: ¿Podría caminar esa línea recta?

I wasn’t sure if it was possible, but I knew that I needed to try.

It was so different from other hikes I did before, and that excited me.

I wanted to do something big.

It was going to be so difficult, but it was an opportunity to see my favorite hiking places in a completely new way.

So I said, “Let’s do it!”

En una excursión en línea recta, el excursionista no sigue un sendero regular.

En su lugar, debe seguir una línea en un mapa, sin importar a dónde lleva.

Calum invitó a su amiga Jenny, otra entusiasta de las actividades al aire libre, a que se uniera.

We spent a whole week getting ready for the hike.

We packed our backpacks and studied that map for a long time.

But I still wasn’t sure if we could do it.

I thought we might find a rock that was too big to climb or a river that was flooded.

Calum y Jenny se pusieron en marcha en línea recta, caminando a través de campos de brezo, o heather, que es un arbusto tupido y corto de tono púrpura.

On the first day of the hike, we were a little nervous.

We knew we were going to see big fields of heather.

And there were also huge mountains covered in plants and big rocks.

It could be dangerous to walk through all of those things.

Calum y Jenny utilizaron bastones de senderismo y llevaron mochilas, equipadas con una tienda de campaña, sacos de dormir, una hornilla y comida suficiente para los próximos cuatro días.

It sounds so simple to hike in a straight line, but I quickly learned that it was really hard.

It’s easy to walk between two points if you’re on flat ground, but as soon as you start walking up a hill, your body naturally looks for the easiest path.

And then, you realize that you’re not walking on the straight line anymore.

So the challenge is to stay on that line, even when you see an easier path.

Calum y Jenny establecieron rápidamente un sistema para mantenerse en el camino.

Se turnaron para llevar el GPS que los guiaba.

Este era el trabajo más importante: asegurarse de mantenerse lo más cerca posible de la línea.

When I was in charge of the GPS, I was really nervous because I didn’t want to make any mistakes.

We had to be very careful because as soon as we started to relax, we realized that we weren’t following the line anymore.

So, the hike was very stressful because we had to pay attention all the time.

Para Calum, el senderismo siempre ha sido una experiencia relajante y rejuvenecedora.

Le permite disfrutar de la naturaleza y desconectarse de la tecnología.

Pero esta caminata fue mucho más desafiante que la mayoría.

At the end of the first day, we were completely exhausted.

We felt like we couldn’t enjoy the hike because we had to make sure that we were staying on the line.

Sometimes, we just stopped hiking to look at the beautiful views around us.

But while we were hiking, we only paid attention to the line.

Entonces, en la primera noche, Calum y Jenny montaron su campamento en la cima de una colina.

I turned around and looked back at the area where we hiked.

It was strange because I didn’t see a trail.

On every other hike of my life, I followed a trail.

But on this hike, we created our own path, and it was an amazing feeling.

After we finished the first day, I started to think we could complete the whole hike.

El segundo y tercer día fueron agotadores.

Jenny se raspaba con el brezo y, a veces, Calum estaba agotado emocionalmente.

Además, hubo momentos difíciles porque Calum y Jenny no habían traído sus sogas para escalar, o ropes, para no ocupar espacio en sus mochilas.

We got to the bottom of a big mountain, and we weren’t sure if we could continue without our ropes.

It was dangerous and a little scary, but Jenny and I had a lot of climbing experience, so we decided to try it.

And we did it! I couldn’t believe it! It’s hard to do something like that without ropes.

El cuarto día, Calum y Jenny estaban dispuestos a abandonar la excursión y necesitaban algo para motivarlos.

The next day was the fourth and final day.

We were lying in the grass, and we closed our eyes, trying to get ready to finish the hike.

That’s when I decided to try something to motivate myself.

So I listened to one of my favorite songs: Pata Pata by Miriam Makeba.

It’s a really high energy, fun song, and it’s impossible not to smile when you listen to it.

I put that on my phone and we both started to feel better immediately.

Habían dejado un auto al final del sendero y cuando por fin lo tuvieron a la vista, caminaron más deprisa, sonriendo y riendo los últimos metros mientras tiraron sus bastones de senderismo hacia la carretera.

Entonces, Calum y Jenny se agacharon y besaron el pavimento.

It felt so amazing to finish the hike! We only brought enough food for our hike and nothing more.

So, we were starving when we got to the car! And then we had to drive for hours before we could get to a town and eat.

La caminata había terminado y Calum estaba eufórico.

Había superado el reto.

Pero juró que no volvería a hacer la misma ruta: había muchas otras caminatas que eran simplemente más divertidas y menos arduas.

Sin embargo, un año después, empezó a cambiar de opinión.

Even though the hike was painful at the time, I felt like I achieved something big.

And I was already curious about doing it again.

Maybe I could make it easier next time.

What if I hiked in the other direction? I just can’t stop thinking about that straight line.

Al otro lado del Océano Atlántico, la aventura de Eva Raimondi era un poco diferente.

Se trataba de una legendaria travesía de seis meses de duración, que miles de excursionistas completan cada año: El sendero de los Apalaches, o Appalachian Trail.

Es un sendero histórico que atraviesa casi todo el este de Estados Unidos, desde el estado de Georgia en el sur, hasta el estado de Maine en el norte.

I didn’t have a lot of hiking experience when I decided to hike the Appalachian Trail.

I finished college a few years earlier, and I was just feeling really bored.

College felt like an adventure, and I always imagined myself traveling around the world, but then, life as an adult started to feel like every day was the same.

Era 2015 y Eva vivía en Pittsburgh, buscando una gran aventura.

Había estado ahorrando durante un tiempo para poder dejar su trabajo de oficina.

Al principio, Eva había pensado usar ese dinero para viajar.

Pero entonces su amiga Becky le dijo que iba a recorrer el sendero de los Apalaches.

I started thinking, “What if I did the hike with her?” I knew it was a popular trail, but I didn’t know much else about it.

Six months before Becky planned to leave, I started reading articles and blog posts online about the trail.

I learned that thousands of people do this hike each year, most of them start in the state of Georgia and end in the state of Maine.

People usually walk about 29 to 43 kilometers a day.

El sendero de los Apalaches sería una gran excursión.

Con 3523 kilómetros, es una de las rutas de senderismo más largas del mundo.

Como todos los demás excursionistas que recorren el sendero, Eva tendría que empacar y llevar toda su comida, una tienda de campaña y otro equipo.

I liked hiking through forest, but I didn’t have a lot of experience with camping.

It was always a little scary to me.

I was also nervous about the other dangerous parts of the trail, like wild animals.

A pesar de los peligros, decenas de miles de excursionistas han completado la totalidad del sendero de los Apalaches desde su creación en 1937.

Y a lo largo de los años, estos aventureros han creado muchas tradiciones.

Eva estaba ansiosa por formar parte de ellas.

One of the traditions on the trail is for hikers to give each other nicknames — or “trail names.” Before Becky and I even started the hike, we knew we were going to use our nicknames from high school: She was Waldorf and I was Statler.

Those are the names of two characters from the children’s show The Muppets.

They’re two old men who are always making jokes.

Finalmente, en un día nevado de febrero de 2016, Eva y Becky se embarcaron en la caminata.

Condujeron desde Pittsburgh hasta Georgia, donde comienza el sendero de los Apalaches.

Luego, tuvieron que caminar seis kilómetros cuesta arriba solo para llegar al punto de partida oficial.

We hiked 20 kilometers that day, and most of it was up a hill.

We started hiking early in the morning, and the trail was pretty quiet.

Then, we arrived at the place where we were going to camp.

Al sexto día de excursión, empezó a nevar de nuevo.

Por miedo a la hipotermia, Eva montó su tienda de campaña tan rápido como pudo, se metió dentro y se puso su pijama, la única prenda que había llevado al viaje.

I was happy to be warm again, and I was ready to relax for a while.

But then a guy arrived at the camp, and he didn’t know how to set up his tent.

He was shouting, “Can someone help me?” I had the exact same tent, so I quickly ran out in the snow and helped him.

Then, I ran back inside my dry tent.

I was so annoyed! I really didn’t want to be cold and wet again.

Eva no quedó impresionada tras este encuentro inicial.

Pero el desventurado excursionista parecía decidido a conocerla mejor.

Durante las siguientes semanas, siguió el ritmo de Eva para poder ir de excursión con ella.

Ella se enteró de que se llamaba Adam.

He also said he was only hiking the trail because his friend told him he couldn’t do it.

So, he didn’t spend months carefully planning the trip like I did.

Para empezar, Adam viajaba con una gran lona, o tarp, justo el tipo de objeto que Eva sabía, gracias a sus investigaciones, que no se debía llevar.

You can use a tarp to cover the ground, but when you have a tent, you don’t need it.

It’s just extra weight.

At first, I didn’t know what to think of Adam.

We didn’t have a lot in common, other than hiking the Appalachian Trail, but I thought he was interesting.

Una de las tradiciones del sendero eran las cajas en las que los excursionistas dejaban el equipo que ya no querían o necesitaban para otras personas en la caminata.

Adam fue recogiendo poco a poco más equipo de esta manera.

I spent a lot of money on everything I needed for the hike, but that’s not what Adam did.

He just took what he needed from the boxes we found on the trail, so he got everything for free.

Al cabo de un mes de caminata, Eva y su amiga Becky, junto con Adam y algunas otras personas, se habían convertido en lo que los excursionistas llaman una familia de senderistas.

Los miembros de la “familia” caminaban juntos y hablaban de lo que se les ocurría.

When you hike, you become really honest.

Your body is sore and you’re hungry all the time, so you don’t really think about the things you say.

Also, everyone smells bad and everyone has to go to the bathroom on the trail, so you stop caring about what other people think.

You become very comfortable with your trail family.

Ir de excursión juntos en una familia de senderistas hizo que Eva conociera a Adam muy bien y muy rápido.

En pocas semanas, Adam le dijo a Eva que sentía algo por ella.

Pero ella no estaba interesada.

Estaba allí para una aventura de senderismo y nada más.

I learned more about Adam while we hiked together.

And he helped me a lot on the trail, like when we had to go through areas with lots of rocks.

I hated hiking through rocks, but Adam loved it, so he just talked to me the whole time to make me feel better.

Aunque empezaba a interesarse por Adam, ella seguía resistiéndose a la idea de una relación.

There were a few times when Adam decided he couldn’t hike with me anymore.

It was difficult for him to spend time with me, because he had romantic feelings for me and I didn’t feel the same way.

So, he left to hike by himself a few times.

But somehow, he always came back.

A los dos meses en un campamento de Virginia, Eva, Adam y Becky se encontraron con una madre osa y dos cachorros.

Junto con los demás campistas, golpearon ollas y sartenes para ahuyentarlos.

The bears didn’t care about the loud noises because they came back to our campsite that night! Luckily, they didn’t stay for a long time.

But after they left, I just couldn’t fall asleep.

So, I asked Adam to come into my tent.

And when he was there, I felt relaxed, and I was able to sleep.

After that night, we always slept in the same tent.

And soon, we became a couple! I wasn’t planning to fall in love on the trail, but there’s a saying: “You hike your own hike.” This means that there’s no right or wrong way to hike.

You might complete only 3 kilometers each day, or you might do 30 kilometers.

It’s different for everyone.

And in the end, Adam was part of my hike.

Como dijo Eva, You hike your own hike, o “camina tu propia caminata”.

Cuando Eva y Adam se adentraron en el estado de New Hampshire, llegaron a algunos de los terrenos más bellos y difíciles del sendero de los Apalaches.

Eva seguía quedándose atrás.

Y empezaba a estar hambrienta e irritable.

I didn’t enjoy that kind of hiking.

It was really difficult.

Adam loved it, but he stayed right next to me the whole time, even though I was a lot slower than him.

So Adam started to carry extra chocolate for me in his backpack.

It sounds like a small thing, but when you’re hiking, you don’t want to carry any extra weight.

All of this showed that Adam really cared about me.

Eva terminó la caminata en el Monte Katahdin, en el estado de Maine.

¡Había caminado por catorce estados! Después de seis meses de caminata y acampada, estaba agotada.

Estaba lista para una ducha y una nueva muda de ropa.

Pero no estaba preparada para despedirse de Adam.

I found peace on the Appalachian Trail, and I think that’s why I found love, too.

When you’re hiking, stress and anxiety just go away.

Even now, I still have a feeling of peace because of the trail.

If there’s a situation that’s making me unhappy in my life, I can deal with it, and I don’t let it become stressful.

I use the lesson I learned from the trail in my life every day: You hike your hike.

Eva Raimondi y su novio Adam siguen disfrutando del senderismo juntos los fines de semana, y Eva trabaja ahora para una empresa de la que quizá hayas oído hablar… ¡Duolingo!

Nuestro primer narrador, Calum Maclean, ha construido su carrera en torno al senderismo y la aventura al aire libre.

Ha presentado programas de televisión para entusiastas de las actividades al aire libre y recientemente ha publicado un libro: 1001 Outdoor Swimming Tips, o 1001 Consejos para nadar al aire libre.

Este episodio fue producido por Laura Tillman, una periodista basada en la Ciudad de México.