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Published: August 4th 2008
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part of my travels, so far, has been this last week when all of the things I haven't yet done are hitting me like bugs when you are going downhill fast on your bike. This has become especially difficult when I meet another traveler and they list the things they have done, the places they have been, etc. Much of the time, the places they have been I thought I also would have been to by now but other fabulous opportunities and sheer serendipity has kept me based in Quito for most of my time in Ecuador, and for this I am grateful.
The day before yesterday, at 1 AM, I was contemplating none of the above because I was fighting off nausea (a lovely mix of nerves and altitude) and forcing myself to choke down some cereal and tea before strapping on my crampons (spikes for the bottom of your shoes), picking up my ice ax, and heading for the crater of Ecuador's second highest mountain, Cotopaxi, which stands at just under 18,000 feet. We spent the first part of the night at the climber's refuge, which sits at the altitude of Colorado's highest mountains and took classes (in
Spanish) on ice climbing or rather ice falling as most of the class was about what to do if you are slipping down the face of a glacier or into a crevice.
All in all, the 10 hour adventure on the glacier was physically and (at times) mentally, the hardest thing I have ever done. Thank goodness it was dark for most of the climb up so I could only see as far as my head lamp illuminated. Coming back down, seeing the distance we had climbed and at what angle (at time as steep as 45 degrees) for 6 straight hours, I think if I had seen that when we started, I would have gotten a lot more tired a whole lot sooner. The guide I was tied to, fortunately, never lacked for advice which he always shared during one of our 2 minute breaks (any longer=brrrrr) while I was trying to sleep standing up, slow my heart rate, eat some chocolate (the only food they gave us for the climb), not think, or play pleasant memories in my head. His advice was either abstract enough to get my mind off my body for a while, or was
My cheeks were frozen
so smiling at the summit was slightly difficult... inappropriately timed enough so as to piss me off, which also got my mind off my body. When I wasn't distracted, I was also kept going by the enormous Swiss man behind me (whom I was also tied to, which made going to the bathroom quite fun) who had climbed some of the largest mountains in South America and took to shouting "Vamos!" (We´re going!) when he thought we had been stopped for too long, and even once shoved me forward when I stopped to catch my breath, we were about 5 minutes from the summit.
I must apologize for the quality of photos (to be uploaded later this week), while they are lovely, they were far more incredible scenes that happened to occur during sunrise or earlier when I was too damn cold and didn't want to spend the energy to get my camera out of my bag. There were three scenes in particular that I have tried my best to burn into my memory. One, starting the summit and seeing swirled up the side of the black mountain pods of lights (other groups and their head lamps) and then looking to the sky and seeing gazibagimillions of
Looking down
through the clouds to the summit of a nearby mountain stars in the black sky. Two, it was still dark, a storm was brewing in the clouds (including lightning) but it was OK because we were above the clouds looking down at the storm. Three, a reddish orange horizon at the beginning of sunrise making the snow blowing in the wind a gold color, and coloring the cloud blanket beneath us out of which poked only the tips of all of the surrounding (shorter) mountains.
Part of thinking of all that I haven't done has also been thinking about many funny stories that I have yet to include in this blog, some of which are below...
In the clinic last week, we treated a little boy whose first name was Nixon and whose last name was Stalin (apparently naming your children after American presidents-my guide on the mountain was named Washington-or past Russian leaders-we also saw a Lenin- is actually quite common in Ecuador).
When we were not in the clinics last week we were doing culutral activities around the city, one of which was a tour of a convent. The guide was fabulous and often asked the group questions to keep us all involved. I
responded to one of his questions, "What is immaculate conception?" with a sarcastic "No fun" that was not quiet enough...the catholic woman standing right next to me did not think it was very funny.
To keep my lips from falling off my face because they were so dry, one day, I ran into a little mom and pop asking for the cheapest chapstick they had. Having paid for it, I quickly applied the chapstick not only to my lips but all around my lips too only to, five hours later, wipe my face with a napkin and find bright pink marks on the napkin. Yes, the cheapest chapstick happened to be colored barbie pink, and the whole day I had thought everyone was staring because I was a babe...
Alright, I think this entry is cooked, there may be another one before I head home this Thursday, we shall see. I hope you all are well, and I REALLY hope to be giving most if not all of you a great big hug soon!
Amor (love),
Andra
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