Illiniza Norte

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Hi everyone, and welcome to the world´s fastest blog, written in haste from a cybercafe in Machachi on the way back to La Hesperia. I haven´t had time to write a full blog this week, but thought you´d all like to see the photos from last weeks successful (hurray!!!!) climb of Illiniza Norte. We had a great guide (Fernando, from Gulliver Travel in Quito) who took us up slow and steady, and ensured we all got up and down in one piece. Unfortunately it was very cloudy, so no great views, but it did snow at the top (my first snow in July experience I think!). The ice formations near the top was really cool, and the clouds did clear a couple of times to tease us with the potentially amazing views to be had of the surrounding countryside. I had no problems with altitude, and we managed to do our 12km acclimisation hike in 2hrs, which was pretty good. it left us time to go and have a look at the Fiesta in Machachi last weekend, which was really interesting. Hopefully my pictures give you a flavour. The area is famous for its horses, and there were loads of men and women in traditional dress riding around the streets amongst all the stalls of the Fiesta.

Anyway, no time now to say more, but I will tell all about this weekend and fill in the rest next week. I´m off whale watching on the coast then, so bye for now!! PS Sorry to those who´ve emailed and I haven´t replied, I will get to you asap... Also, we raised so much money I haven´t had time to count it all, so a big THANK YOU to everyone!

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Photos

The Diabolical Pig's Head
It made us stare too...