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Published: November 26th 2008
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I am exhausted, thoroughly worn out which is too bad because I have to say I really dig Riobamba, it´s a really interesting, energized Metropolis with lots to see, do and most definitely to buy.
Let me start with yesterday which turned out to be a suprisingly beautiful and long bike ride. Having ridden thousands of miles in the past couple years of my life I can now truly appreciate my biking shorts, no matter how silly and revealing they may be, nearing the end of about 35 miles and almost 3 hours on a mountain bike I sorely missed that little pad on my biking shorts, and yes, pun intended. To start, I did a short but fun ride from the first refuge on Chimborazo, at 4800m, to the main little highway, steep enough to be fun but the mixture of pebbles, volcanic rock and mud kept the speeds down. The biggest dissappointment was the total fog that wrapped the view of Chimborazo. That was about 8km, then our guide took us to the ¨Road to Ambata¨ really sweet, though slow and steady down hill through amazing views of valleys, streams, and mountains covered with green farm fields and
water falls. I only took a few pictures and none do the ride justice, it was one awe inspiring view after another. Fantanstic and a big suprise. Much of the road was a 50+ year old cobblestone type material that vibrated me to a point where it wasn´t easy on my hands or butt, my blatter was in need of emptying regularly because of the vibration. Franko, my Dutch cycling partner joked about seeing who could go the longest without a pit stop, I think we lasted 15 more minutes. The addition to the unique views were passing lots of traditional Ecuadorians, some with burros, horses others just looked at us like we were crazy.
The ride really took it out me, but as agreed, after the long drive back to Riobamba, Luis, the guide, drove me all the way back up to the first refuge. He dropped me off in a snow/sleet mixture that denied me view of most of the trail let alone the second refuge, a mere 1km distance with only 200m elevation gain. Whoa, it was slow and steady...really slow. I thank my CO mountain hiking experience with helping out on this short climb, which
The Road to Ambata
One amazing view after another then another just to make it interesting I brought a bit much in my pack. I arrive at the Whymper Refuge just as it got dark, sat down the moment I arrived and proceded to get a headache. Lodging was sufficent, a cot in a room next to several others containing climbers all heading up to the peak of Chimborazo later that evening. Unfortunately my headache persisted as did a really weird achy, lethargic full body pain. It was all sutble and somewhat expected for altitude. Unfortunately the headache was just too nagging, though dull. I made soup in the dark with the help of one of the Ecuadorian guides and laid down early. I never really went to sleep. You know when you just can´t get comfortable in your bed and you toss and turn, I did that for almost 10 straight hours. The headache just throbbed, not terribly but never stopped. I heard all the climbers leave about 10-11pm and eventually I made it to the morning, where my initial goal was to hike up at least another 100/200m, that wasn't going to happen so at least I wanted a good view of the mountain. At 6am, the mountain was
totally covered in fog, my head still pounded and I was dead tired, though I didn´t regret a bit of my descision, I had to try it, I just need more acclimation time at a lower altitude. As I was getting my stuff ready to leave I heard one of the climbing teams complaining about not making the summit due to weather, ironically the guy turned out to be the passenger who sat next to me on my way into Quito, small world.
Then as I walked out of the refuge, the sun came out, cleared the fog and gave me a perfect view of the peak, though the third one, the shortest of Chimborazo, it was still breath taking (again pun intended with the altitude). And once again none of my pictures do it justice.
So I headed down, past the first refuge, about an 8km or so walk back to the main highway, where I walked for about 20/30 minutes and got picked up by a bus back to Riobamba. The only issue being the bus didn´t drop me off in Riobamba but at least 3km outside of town. I could have caught a taxi or
something intelligent like that but I huffed it back into town where I guessed and guessed my way right back to where my hostel was. I cannot believe that I actually took the right route and made it to my hostel only 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours after getting dropped off be the bus, thank god I had my backpack to lug the whole way.
Thus I am totally exhausted. No sleep, little food, and lots and lots of walking...again, totally worth it. I did a short walking tour of Riobamba and it is a great town, I am sorry I am not feeling like going to museums or churchs, this city has many to offer. Now I will be going back to my room, reading a bit, grabbing dinner and sleeping, comfortably for a long time. FYI, the headache went away as soon as I was on the bus, though the drop off point offered another.
Off to Cuenca early in the morning.
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Great travellog
I'm really enjoying your descriptions of your travels. You're getting really good at conveying what you're experiencing. I look forward to every word! Love you lots. By the way...any ski runs in those mountains?