Walking in the Clouds

South America » Ecuador
February 25th 2007

Published: March 3rd 2007

The past couple of weeks have been uneventul. Last week I only taught for one day, and the week before that I only taught for three day, so I am beginning to wonder if I will ever teach a full week again.

Life is uneventful in the community. However, two weeks ago while chasing down a chick, I unwittingly ran fast first into a low hanging wire. Didn´t hurt, but took off the top layer of skin on my sunburned nose, giving me a bit of a Rudolph look for about a week. Other than that, I was suprised recently by my host sister. She is quite small, and doesn´t yet speak Spanish (the kids in my family learn Spanish is school, and speak Quechuan at home), and so the only conversations we have had are, ¨hola¨ and ¨buenas dias.¨ However, last week a tractor drove by on nearby road, and she looked at me and said ¨big tractor¨in English, I don´t have a clue as to where she learned it and why she remembered it, but got a double-take out of me.

Also had an exotic bus ride, in the fullest bus I have ever been on. My host parents, their 18 year old son and I had been waiting for quite some time, and when the bus finally arrived, we had to fend our way through a scrum of people onto the bus. However, neither my host brother nor I really made it onto the bus. I was standing should-to-should with my host brother on the last step with my heels hanging off the edge, one hand on a handle on the outside of the bus and the other wedged into the bus holding onto to a railing. So, in effect, the only part of me in the bus was one hand and my toes - however I was charged full price.

Other funny bus story I remembered. Here, you flag down a bus on the highway, and they don´t really stop, you run alongside and hop on, and as soon as you´re on the bus jumps ahead. My first time to the community I was unaware of this and wearing a huge backpack with all my belongings. I was standing looking for a seat when the bus jumped forward and I felt the pack starting to pull me back. The only thing that saved me from falling straight onto my back was an old man who quietly reached forward and pulled me upright with one of my straps.

Finally, last weekend I got out to really explore the mountains. One other volunteer and I decided to hike to the top of Ilizia Norte, which tops off at just over 16,817 feet. After three different buses to get there, we began to hike up. Quite dramatically, clouds blew in while we trudged through the paramo (a highland grassland unique to Ecuador, quite pretty). Eventually, the trail turned into sand and seemed to turn vertical, while the visiblity dropped to approximately nothing. At this time we were close to 13,000 feet, and a scarcity of oxegyn precluded any conversation but, ¨gasp, gasp, gasp . . . pretty huh? . . . .gasp, gasp, gasp.¨

Eventually, we made it to the refuge at 14,763 feet, where we slept for the night. A small cinder block building with bunks everywhere and a tiny kitchenette. The crowd in the shelter slowly swelled to about 20 people, making for tight quarters to say the least. Woke up throughout the night gasping for air and with a bad headache. Woke up at 5:30 the next morning planning to summit the mountain, my head hurt, I was tired, but after breakfast and a cup of coffee I was just about shaking I was so excited to make it to the top. Unfortanetly, a crew of Swiss and Germans who had been to the mountain several times, and planned to summit the north and south (a very technical climb, one of the most difficult in Ecuador) on the same day said they had to turn back from the trail leading to the summit of the Norte due to unsafe trail conditions and advised us not to push on. Our group (we met some Americans and Italians) decided unamiously to come back down. So, we trudged down through the clouds without making it to the top. However, it was a spectacular hike, and I plan on returning to make it to the top.

I have some pictures I´ll post soon.

Walking in the Clouds

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