Arriving in the airport at Quito i was quite shocked and the price of the taxi to the hostel, the driver having said $30, he then explained that it was over one hour to the centre and that it was, from the airport to the centre of Quito, was close to one and a half hours. We drove around for a little looking for the hostel and he said he wouldn't drop me anywhere because some of the streets late at night are a little dangerous. Short while later i was checked in and in bed sleeping, the following day i woke up ready for some activities around Quito, i had been told by another traveler to check out the teleferico (cable car) up the mountain. so off i went after breakfast, i got a taxi about 15 minutes to the teleferico, it was $8 to the top, there where many downhill mountain bike riders taking there bikes up, i was a little jealous. I was also told, once reaching the top i could hike on further for 5 hours and climb to the top of Volcan Pichincha 4,780m , so thats what i did, it was only hard because of the altitude. i was really close to the top when i took a big step up a rock and heard a big tear, i had split my pants hahaha, it was kinda bad but i wanted to go to the top so i continued on, every big step up i could hear it tearing further. I wasn't wearing any undies and thought "if this gets worse, how am i going to go back down where all the people are with a huge hole in my pants, everyone could see everything".
I turned around and heading back down before situation got worse haha. it was fine i just tied my jumper around my waist and no one knew a thing.
A day or two later i left Quito and headed for Baños where i would spend new years. its a nice little touristy town in the mountains, offering lots of activities for the adrenaline junkys. I stayed in a nice little hostel there where i made some friends before the big night for new years, everyone was friendly and happy, with good vibes ready for the night. It was a lot of fun, because the traditional thing in Ecuador on New Years for the men is to dress up as women, so the guys and i in the hostel went along with it. We went to the supermarket to by everything we need to X dress and then the night began. There were thousands of people on the street and fireworks going all night, it was a lot of fun.
This is guiny pig, one of the traditional meats in Ecuador, its like chick and
tastes good...
After Baños i made my way to this creator lake called Quilatoa, at 4,000m above sea level i spent some days there in the little village, hiking around the lake, kayaking on the lake and also chilling out. I was up there high at altitude trying to get acclimatised, as i wanted to climb some mountains in Ecuador.
From Quilatoa i got in the back of a ute and hitched a ride to the closest bigger town where i could then get a bus to Latacunga, where i planned to meet Lisa and Australian girl who i had met in Venezuela. We had arranged to met and climb Cotopaxi together, she was also with another girl, Jenny from Point Lonsdale, Australia. we spent the days leading up to the climb getting things we needed and resting most of the time. We had heard from people coming back from the climb they weren't able to summit, due to recent weather and heavy snow fall there were avalanches quite frequently. I was confused and unsure if i wanted to leave the following day if there was a chance we wouldn't be able to summit, the guides didn't say anything because they get paid even if the summit isn't possible. In the end i decided i couldn't wait around for to many days and waste time as the weather was only going to get worse. The two girls and i had dinner and a quiet night watching movies and going to bed early.
The following day we woke and left at 8am with all our gear, we arrived at the national park around 10am and walked for 2 hours up to the Refugio at 4,800m went had some lunch and spent the afternoon resting and playing cards, later had some dinner, shortly after that we went to bed around 7pm.
We all woke at midnight and left the Refugio for the summit at 1am, everyone was climbing well and around 4 hours in, my guide and i, who were leading the large group of about 40 people, heard a small avalanche about 100m away, we both stopped and listened for a while until it stopped we had a short break, taking a drink and something to eat. We continued on for around another 20 minutes when we both heard a really loud cracking noise, i completely froze, we heard a large mass of snow start sliding maybe 10m from where we were. It was completely dark and with only our head lamps, we couldn't see a lot. The noise of the large avalanche rubbling and gaining in size as it went down, was like nothing i had heard before, it sounded something similar like a big clap of thunder, but it continued for what seemed like a minute. That was the point when i thought to myself there is no way i'm going any further, thank god my guide said "we are heading back down, no one is summiting today". The 40 of us, or what was still left at that point, turned back and headed down the mountain. It was pretty scary being that close to something that dangerous and big. We were just happy we were safe. We reached about 5,500m and only about 300m from the summit was the turn around point.
He was all keen for it and said he would take me in two days, he lived in Baños so i made my way there again and relaxed for 2 days before we left for the climb up Chimborazo. I met him early one morning at his house, we organised all the gear and food and everything we needed for the climb, i had done a lot of ready about it and i knew how hard it was going to be, it was normally a 2 day climb but he had a plan to do it in one day which nearly killed me. We got a bus to a nearby town where we met his friend to borrow his car to head to the national park and to base camp. we arrived there around 4pm at 4,800. We ate some dinner and went straight to sleep, waking at 9pm to leave on the long venture to the top. It was dark, cold and windy, the weeks before they had also had bad weather with around a foot of fresh snow. It started getting really hard at around 5,500m, about 4 hours in, we were just bellow our knees in fresh snow..
It was twice as hard as normal walking in that deep snow, there was some really steep sections of icefall where i was struggling, as i would climb the crampon spikes were letting go in the icefall, it was frustrating and i was tired the guide wasn't really helping just yelling at me and pulling on the rope, he was pushing me hard, i was breathing so heavy i felt like i just couldn't get enough oxygen in to my lungs, i made it up there, needing a well deserved break. we were at bout 6,050 and still had another few hours to go, anything at that height takes time, having to climb very slow because the air is so thin you just cant get a deep breath, we made the summit by 6:30am to watch the sunrise. It was the hardest 9 hours of my life, i felt so strange, weak, dizzy and cold standing on that summit 6,310m above sea level.
The most amazing thing about Chimborazo and the main reason i wanted to climb it and make the summit is... Chimborazo is on the equator and because the world isn't exactly round and bulges at the equator, Chimborazo is the furtherest point from the centre of the earth and the closest point to the sun by a small fraction, even more than everest. So when i was standing on that summit i was the closest thing on earth to the sun and the furthest from the centre of earth out of anything on the planet, it was a real surreal feeling thats for sure.
The walk back down was really tough also, after walk 9 hours up a steep mountain in a foot of snow at an altitude of over 20,000 ft, my legs were completely recked. 4 hours down and so happy that it was over. One day was just crazy, but made it to the top....
After Chimborazo i spent a couple of days in Baños recovering, then made my way to Cuenca on my way towards Peru, Cuenca was a great little city, really clean and in some ways European looking. Overall Ecuador was fantastic, i really enjoyed it and it was super cheap to....
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