Five-Day Break

This past weekend we had a five-day break! The first two days of November are Ecuadorian federal holidays to celebrate the Day of the Dead, but President Correa declared Wednesday off as well. Actually, we pretty much had a six-day break because Friday we just made traditional holiday foods: colada morada is a thick, delicious drink with a bunch of fruits and spices cooked together, and guaguas de pan (bread babies) are small loaves of bread that are rolled with filling and decorated to look like little people.

Last Thursday, Thad and I booked a guided tour of Volcán Cotopaxi, which we’d been talking about doing for a while. At 19,347 feet, it’s one of the highest active volcanoes in the world and an Ecuadorian icon. Also because of the earth’s shape, it’s one of the closest points to the sun. It’s not as technical as other huge mountains, but it will still be a challenge and we’ve been trying to get ready for it. Our tour is the second weekend in November, so we still have a week.

Sorry this post is late…we’ve been without internet for a couple days now. I’m uploading this with wifi at the mall. Anyway, this past weekend can pretty much be summarized with two activities. First, Thad and I went up north and climbed Volcán Imbabura and then we headed south with Josué to a rural hostel in the middle of nowhere.

Volcán Imbabura

Left: Over 15,000 Feet! Right: Heading back down.
---More pictures can be found here.

Thad and I wanted to climb another mountain and we decided to go to Volcán Imbabura, a fifteener a couple hours north of Quito. It’s not as tall as a lot of the other volcanoes, but it’s a really physical hike that appealed to us. According to the internet and our guidebooks, La Casa Aída was the only hostel by the mountain so we decided to go there. Originally we were going to leave on Saturday morning, but Thad’s roommate convinced us to stick around for an indigenous wedding that was happening on campus. (The seminary shares a campus with a conference center, so there are often interesting events.) The wedding turned out to be really similar to one back home and we were the only gringos there.

Afterward, we had to buy bus tickets for Ibarra and we ended up waiting in line at the terminal for over two hours, which was almost as long as our bus ride. When we finally made it to Ibarra we caught a taxi to La Esperanza, a small neighboring village at the foot of the volcano. We ended up getting a crazy driver, who wasn’t too professional (dressed in sweat pants and texting) and drove really fast. He was all over the place, narrowly missing huge potholes in the rocky indigenous roads. Once we got to La Esperanza he didn’t know where our hostel was so he had to pull over and ask. He finally found it, but didn’t have change for a $20 and told me to go ask the hostel owner. The owner and the locals in the restaurant didn’t have smaller bills either, but they managed to scrounge together $5 in coins. That was awkward to ask for money, but they were super chill and said we could pay them back through the owner.

During our stay, the hostel owner was accommodating and a really good cook. After putting our packs in our room we had an awesome dinner of tomato soup, veggie omelet, and beef strips. The cheapest rooms were $7 a person and meals were only $3 each. When we told her our plans to hike the mountain she generously offered to serve us breakfast at 6 am and hired a truck for us to get to the trailhead.

Sunday we woke up early to a pancake breakfast and a truck picked us up afterward. Our hostel was just below 9,000’ and the truck ride took us through the scenic countryside to almost 11,000’. There we started the hike through a lot of parámo (tall mountain grass) that looked really cool but was hard to see around. We soon got lost and ended up wandering the wrong direction on an animal trail. (Note to self: buy a topographic map if you go to a mountain that isn’t climbed a lot.) After roaming aimlessly for a while, we finally figured out the right direction and saw the main trail, where a group of climbers caught up with us. With amazing luck it turned out to be a mountain guide who was taking his son and nephew up that mountain for their first time. He had made the trek over 100 times and offered to give us a free tour.

Ivan was really knowledgeable and pleasant to be around. He was able to answer every question we had and told us a lot about the native plant and bird species as well. Once we got above 13,000’ we lost visibility in the clouds and it was nice to know where to go. There was some fun scrambling (rocky sections where you have to use your hands) and we weren’t able to see a whole lot. Finally we made it up to the first summit at around 15,000’ and had lunch. There are two summits connected by the crater rim, and the second is only 100-200’ higher but it adds an extra two hours on to the trip. He said it was best to head back after lunch so we stuck with him. Overall our round trip was 8 hours and he gave us a ride back to our hostel.

It was funny because back at the car he said something I didn’t understand (about a coin jiggling in his glove box) and when I asked him to say it again he managed to describe it in English. I was surprised and commented in Spanish how good his English was, and then in perfect English he said: “Well I have to speak it to be a guide because a lot of clients are English speaking. I speak French too.” This was mind blowing to have known him so long on the mountain and we didn’t even know he spoke our language. He gave us an awesome experience and we were thankful for his selflessness and generosity.

Afterward we decided to stay another night in the hostel and wanted to meet up with the others in Otavalo the next day. But it was frustrating because we didn’t have cell phone signal to call them. We had perfect signal on top of the mountain, but none down at our hostel. Go figure. So we headed back to Quito.

Secret Garden Cotopaxi

Left: The NILI Guys. Right: Mountain Biking.
---More pictures can be found here.

We got back on Monday and decided to head somewhere with Josué. On the internet we found The Secret Garden Cotopaxi, a resort in the middle of nowhere near the mountains. Perfect. We caught a ride from The Secret Garden Quito, which we found to be a commune of European travelers. We shared a van with two guys from Ireland, a guy from Australia, and a guy from Germany, and they were interesting to talk to. The ride was beautiful and took us south on a rocky road through the scenic avenue of the volcanoes. The Secret Garden resort was in an awesome location at about 11,400’, however, the only people that spoke Spanish were the cook and the horse guide. Everyone else was from Europe and we felt like we were there too. (The other visitors were from England, Ireland, Germany, and France, and the manager was from Poland.) After spending so much time with other South Americans, we went through culture shock with so many white people and spoken English.

One of the traditions at the resort is taking the newcomers on a hike the first day. After lunch and orientation, we were fitted with a pair of rubber boots (which they could barely find in my size) and headed out to the river, where we waded upstream and climbed the ravine up to a waterfall. There we were able to jump into the freezing cold river water, and I made the jump with two guys from Ireland and England. I didn’t have my altimeter with me, but it was probably about 11,700’, and on a cold day too. I accidently dropped my towel into the river and it wasn’t too fun chasing it downstream.

For the rest of the day we relaxed at the picturesque resort, and it was really enjoyable to be out of the city again. We had some awesome burritos for dinner and than relaxed in the Jacuzzi. Our room was freezing cold that night because it didn’t have any heat or light, and all we had were candles. (The resort was self-sustaining and didn’t use electricity.) One of our favorite parts was the composting toilet that had an indoor garden and a view of all the mountains.

The next day, they offered lots of activities like hiking and horseback riding, but we decided to do something on our own. They had mountain bikes so Thad and I rode up to the entrance to Cotopaxi national park (up about 800’ to 12,200’). The bikes were among the crappiest I have ever seen, and that’s saying a lot. (I’ve worked on hundreds of bikes the past couple summers and know that these wouldn’t even be worth tuning up.) My bike was not even efficient to pedal uphill because the chain rings were bent and the bottom bracket was totally messed up. The axles were loose too among other things, and Thad’s crank arm kept falling off so we had to beat it back on with a rock. The cheap aluminum frames and the indigenous roads made for a rough ride, but overall it was good to get out and the bikes were free to use.

Afterward we shared a ride to the airport with a girl named England. And now that we're back in South America we've gone through culture shock again. But it's awesome having another weekend after only two days of class. Hasta luego!