Days 22 - 25: Riobamba, Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, and Quito

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Last night was a lot of fun. I went out dancing with Stephanie, Maddelyn, Gustavo, Mauricio, and David. We went to a place in La Mariscal and danced for several hours. I have found I am the happiest either when I am dancing or when I am watching salsa dancing. I really only have about one week left in Quito, but it's fun hanging out with local boys anyway. The six of us drove around and got some food after dancing. It was really cold out so mostly we sat in the car and listened to music and talked and joked around. We didn't stay out too late though, because our group was leaving for Riobamba at 7am.

We got a box breakfast to take on the bus and headed out at 7am, which is really good for our group because normally we are always late. I fell asleep almost immediatly, and woke up when we stopped at some Dairy farm for breakfast. They had the best hot chocolate in the world, and fresh milk. There was also a play set out back that we all played on like little kids.
Back on the bus I fell asleep again and didn't really wake up until Riobamba, which was about 3 hours later. We got lunch at a really nice place (yes, it does seem like my life revolves around eating...) and then walked to the ISQ campus from the restaurant. It was about a 20 minute walk and we got to see most of Riobamba at that time. Juan Pablo told us a bit about the history of the city, and how it has been destroyed 3 times from major earthquakes. Most of everything we passed was fairly new because of the previous destruction. The campus is essentially one gigantic building with a cute courtyard in the middle. We got a little tour and bought chocolate from their chocolate store. It's made right there and it is sooooo yummy. Then we spent about 30 minutes talking with some of their English students. They got to practice english, and we got to practice spanish.

After our little language session, it was back on the bus and up to the community near Chimborazo at which we were spending the night. The land is gorgeous - I absolutely cannot believe what kind of diversity I see everywhere I go. Also, the sky was clear and we got a perfect view of Chimborazo as we approached. It is the highest mountain in Ecuador and the highest active volcano in the world. It's peak reaches over 6300 meters above sea level, and is the closest you can get to the sun because it is on the equatorial bulge. Once we got to the community at which we were staying, we got our rooms and had time to wander about before a short lecture and presentation. Three little Quichua boys, Jeffery, Andy, and Oscar, were playing in the road and let us join them. They were absolutley fascinated by our cameras and let us take tons of pictures with them. I also goofed around with Annie, Juan Pablo, and some others in one of the pastures.

The presentations were fine, but the projector wasn't working so that made it kind of hard for the people who were presenting articles. After that we had dinner. I was feeling really sick at this point and didn't end of eating much - the food did not look good anyway, so i pretty much had 3 cups of tea for dinner. There is no heat at the place we were staying and at night it drops well below freezing, so we were all bundled up inside. The six of us who had a room together slept in just 3 beds with about 8 blankets on each bed and 2 people per bed. We also slept with hats and mittens and sweatshirts and pants and everything else we could put on. It was one of the coldest nights of my life, but Lindsey and I kept each other warm.

Friday, September 12, 2008

At 6am it was time to get up, pack, have some breakfast, and head out. We were blessed with a cloudless day again, and got some amazing views on our way up to Chimborazo. We drove up to the top of the road which reaches 5,000 meters. From there we had a hike to Templo Machai, and then down to Marco Cruz House for lunch. Several people were not able to go on the hike because of injury or sickness. Poor Sonia hurt her ankle the night before and had to go back on the bus. The hike was supposedly going to be downhill, but the first 4 hours seemed to be a lot of uphill. We crossed every single type of terrain possible, and at the highest altitude I have ever been to. To put things in perspective, we started our hike higher than any of the mountains in Colorado reach (>15,000 feet). Andrea's husband, Herman, gave us a short lecture about the mountain paramo and vegetation. We could not have had a better day - there wasn't a cloud in the sky and we were able to see the Oriental Range from the Occidental Range. Basically we could see for hundreds and hundreds of miles around.

We were supposed to be doing field work, but forgot the plots on the bus and were not able to do it. Looking back it would have been nearly impossible to complete the experiment because so many of us had a really hard time on the mountain. For instance, Forrest was sick (puking) the entire night before and on the hike, Lindsey was getting altitude sickness, Caroline couldn't breath because she has lung tissue damage, and Kaitlin fell and twisted her ankle. Once we got to a certain point the second guide took Forrest, Kaitlin, and Lindsey down a shorter route. The rest of us continued on, but there was a clear gap between those who could walk fast and those who couldn't. I fell when some rocks slipped out from under me and gave myself about 4 nice bruises up my left thigh and butt, but other than that I was ok. One of the hardest parts of the hike was traversing across a rocky/sandy slope. The ground just kept falling out from under us, and we were exhausted at this point and had been left behind by the faster moving group. We also came across an unexploded missle that was supposed to have detonated to cause an avalanche...

My group (the slow one) finally made it to Templo Machai. It is a large cave in the side of the mountain in which people go to pray and make sacrafices to the mountain. Not human sacrifices, but stuff like food, hair, flowers, pictures, etc. Climbing up inside it was neat, it was at ~ 4600 meters. Finally, after more than 4 hours of climbing up and around Chimborazo, we headed down to lunch. Everyone was hungry and dirty and tired at this point. The wind was unbelievably strong up on the mountain, and since it was a desert-like paramo the dust and rocks were pelting us almost the entire time. Everyone had tons of sand in their shoes, dirt on the lips, in their ears and eyes and nose, and all over their faces. We looked like we had gotten tan, and had lines from our sunglasses, but it was really just the dirt. The actual hike down took about 1.5 hours to go over 1000 meters. On the way down the terrain changed from hard rock, to sandy rock, to a beaten path, to plants, to weeds, to etc. My knees were really sore from going down, and we were all pretty much beaten to a pulp by the end. After trampling through tussock grasses, some of which were burned, crossing over rivers, and passing by llamas, we finally made it down.

Lunch at the old house was really yummy, and we ate like we hadn't seen food in about 20 years. After lunch we layed in the long grass for a bit with the sun beating down on us. It was surreal, with the mountain in the background and and the surrounding foothills and grasses. Then it was to the bus. It was about an hour ride to Riobamba, where we checked into our hotel for the night and got to shower. Unfortunatly, the showers were cold because everyone was trying to shower at once. Before dinner, we had some more presentations. Juan Pablo talked about the geography of the region and the volcanos of Ecuador. We ate dinner, which was great, and then figured out our plans for the night. A lot of people were sick and decided to stay in, others of us wanted to walk around and see Riobamba. There was a political rally taking place that we were sure to steer clear of - tensions in Ecuador a pretty high right now with the election less than a week away. We tried to find a place to dance, but it was just too early for the night life to have started and I was too tired to stay out any longer. Finally, Kaitlin and I headed back to the hotel, leaving just Annie, Juan Pablo, and Emily out.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

I slept like a rock and was refreshed in the morning. We had a great breakfast with hot bread and juice and coffee, and then boarded the bus to go to Cotopaxi. Once arriving at Cotopaxi National Park, the road turned into the worst road I have ever been on. There were huge rocks everywhere, with tight turns and bumps every couple feet. The engine also sounded like it wanted to die going uphill, and the bus didn't make it to the parking lot because the road was impassable. We started our hike - it was cloudy and misty and damp out and the terrain was rocky/sandy so the ground kept slipping out beneath our feet. For every step we took forward we slid down at least half a step. It was very slow going, and I was having a really hard time breathing. The wind combinded with altitude and cold weather made my asthma kick up pretty hard and caused me to slow way down. After 1.5 hours of climbing the most difficult climb of my life, I had made it up about 350 meters (vertical distance) to the refuge. I have never felt such a burn in my legs before - it was even worse than a 2k and my lungs were on fire, my head was throbbing, and my heart felt like it was in my ears to top it all off. I was determined to make it though; my motivation was the 7-year-old girl that was going to pass me, and the Dad carrying a 10-year-old on his back. I was not going to let either of them beat me, and I made it up before both so I was pleased with myself. At the top we had a great view of the surrounding land. The contrast of colors and landscape was unimaginable, and we were able to rest for a bit and drink some awesome hot chocolate.

When it came time to descend, we said our goodbyes to Samantha and Zim - they were staying to try and summit Cotopaxi during the night. The hike down was about 400 times easier than coming up, and consisted of a lot of running, jumping, sliding, and falling on my butt. We arrived at the bus, loaded, and went to lunch. We ate at Tambopaxi - an area at the base of Cotopaxi in the park still. I got trout and it was the best food of my life. Everyone stuffed themselves silly, and was pleased to wash up in the bathroom where there was scalding hot water. After lunch we got a group picture with Cotopaxi in the background and headed out. The ride to Quito took about 2 hours - we dropped Forrest off at some point so he could stay in the area and go to another volcano on Sunday. I slept quite a bit so I was feeling ok when we arrived back in Quito. Getting a hot shower was such a great feeling - it was scalding hot and I loved every second of it. My roommates and I (Maddelyn, Shawna M, and Stephanie O) went down to dinner.

After dinner, most people decided to spend the night in since we had had such a grueling two days. Maddelyn and I went out to a street party and met up with Emily who had gone a while before with Juan Pablo. While they enjoyed themselves, I was out of my element. I left after a while because I was uncomfortable, and went to seseribo to meet up with Mateo (Matthew) since it was his second to last night in Ecuador. My sketchy cab driver didn't even know where he was going and I had to give him directions - thank god I have a knack for remembering locations. Once I arrived at the club I was much happier because I finally was with someone I felt comfortable with. Mateo, along with his friends, was also having a shitty night so we just had a loser-fest together. We danced some, had one drink, and chatted a lot. Around midnight I decided it was time to leave because I was not feeling great - I think I have a double ear infection and my throat is absolutely killing me. Mateo helped me get a cab which was super nice of him, and I finally got back to the hotel safely.

Louis, the night guard, was really worried because I came back without Emily and Maddelyn, but I didn't know where they were at this point other than with Juan Pablo and Andres, both of whom work at USFQ. I came to the room to find my roommates still awake, so we talked for a bit and then went to bed.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

I woke up at 9 am - apparently I am a creature of habit and cannot sleep late anymore even when I get minimal shut-eye. Emily and Maddelyn had not arrived back yet so we were getting worried. Steph, Shawna and I went down to breakfast, and since then I have just been bumming in my room, loading photos on facebook and catching up here. In just a bit I am going out with some people to Mango Tree Cafe which I am greatly looking forward to. The rest of the day will likely be spent doing homework and reading and trying to feel better. We have less than a week left in Quito and I still haven't gotten to see the Basilica so I am really trying to get there. Unfortunatly, tomorrow we are in Mindo all day, and Tuesday I have to get my Censo which sounds like it is going to be a pain in the royal arse.

I hope everything back in the U.S. is great, especially with Hurricane Ike, and the torrential rains in Michigan...I am also hoping to hear from my family today so I can tell them about my crazy trip to the mountains!