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Published: February 20th 2011
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It certainly has been a long time since I have updated this and a lot of cool things have been seen, mainly volcanoes. Last weekend a group of us decided to hike up Pichincha, the volcano that resides over Quito itself. We are living at around 9,400 feet above sea level so I've been slowly adjusting to that. Well it turns out that Pichincha is about 5-6,000 feet higher than we are now, and let me say it was insane. We would walk probably fifteen feet and have to take a 30 second (or longer) break to catch our breath. It was unlike anything I've felt before, let me repeat that, walking fifteen feet and taking breaks... We made it to our destination however and went horseback riding for an hour up there. It was really cool as first the cloud cover prevented us from seeing anything that wasn't within twenty feet of us, as the morning went on it cleared up and was truly a sight to behold. Again, I feel that my pictures don't do the trip any justice.
Yesterday we took an hour bus ride to the tallest volcano in the world, Cotopaxi. Cotopaxi lies right on
the equator and is snow capped over half-way up, that should be a pretty good estimate of how massive this volcano is. I can see the volcano everyday on my way to school but have only actually seen the top two times due to the consistent cloud cover. When we got there yesterday it was cloudy of course, so we could barely make out the snow covered middle. We had an awesome guide and traveled with two other Americans we met on the bus, the guide took us into the park on a 45 minute truck ride to a low lake at the base. This place is a reserve with wild horses, wolves and a valley from which you can see mountains everywhere, it was gorgeous (think Colorado Rockies meet Montana plains). After the lake we rode up to the base of the mountain itself. First off to anyone planning on climbing part way up Cotopaxi (as climbing the whole thing requires icepicks and steel cleated shoes, plus months of training) do yourself a favor and dress in warm clothes. I mean winter jacket warm clothes. Oh and also wear sunscreen. Since it was cloudy I forgot to put it
on my face and am scorched because it just so happens to be the closest place on Earth to the Sun... APART from getting burned I somehow was super energetic and made it up the steep incline with ease. I would have to stop occasionally to breath but despite it being higher than Pichincha it seemed like an easier hike overall, maybe due to excitement. My goal was to make it to the snow area of the volcano which we did! Once up there, you can go to the first refuge lodge where we got hot chocolate and relaxed for a bit. Walking down was really easy as it was so steep you basically hop heel to heel and get down in ten minutes where it was an hour hike up. On the ride back in the truck we spotted some wild horses in the distance and as we were leaving the park the volcano came out of the clouds which is supposed to be EXTREMELY rare.
Apart from the trips life has been filled with a lot of school work and planning. I was checking out my calender and in two weeks we go to Banos, another cloud
level rainforest, for Carnival. Carnival is a massive festival across the entire country. Apparently teens play pranks for the first two to three weeks leading up to it. I have been hit by a drive by water balloon and yesterday on the bus coming home Stacey was shot with some foam stuff through the window. ANYWAY back to Banos and the calender: we get three days off of school for Carnival, after Carnival it will be three weeks until my parents get down here, then a half week until Galapagos, followed immediately by Cuyabeno (the Amazon Basin) and then it's our last week. So coming from eight weeks of straight class and no breaks, this next little bit is going to fly by. I have my mid term evaluation this week which almost signifies the end. Crazy huh? Anyway, I hope you enjoy all of the pictures and your thoughts, prayers and comments are all appreciated!
Take care,
Evan
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Mary Claire
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Wow!
Great blog update!! The pics turned out really well and the snow one made me smile... You're my Indi:) xo<3