sv evi

Circa 02/01/2007

Accompanying Brian to Guayaquil, who flew back to Seattle, we roamed the town visiting the archeological and cultural museum, walked the newly constructed malecon (waterfront walk), climbed the stairs of Las Penas, photographed the many iguanas at the city park, hiked the giant cemetary, browsed the various craft markets and stayed in the upscale Palace Hotel. Sounds like regular tourism.

Guayaquil

After a quick trip to prep Guava we departed for our inland adventure. An 8hr bus ride changed our altitude almost 10,000ft from the coast to the capital, Quito. Close to 2 million people inhabit a long, narrow valley built right up to the base of the mountains forming a natural city limit. Snow-capped volcanos rise from the Andean range and the weather was like Seattle in spring, cool, cloudy and drizzle. It was a nice change. Strolled around town, visited many plazas and churches sporting atypical gargoyles of turtles, whales and other marine life.

Our main purpose for going there was to visit the French Embassy to obtain visas for French Polynesia. A long trip there, hundreds of copies of documents and hours waiting in line turned up nothing. We were informed that we don’t need a visa but of course they wouldn’t produce anything that actually said that nor write us a letter stating these facts. I guess we will see.

Quito

Banos, named after the natural hot baths…not the bathroom, viewed from the top of our hike could be any mountain town in the world. Like Quito on a much smaller scale, it is bordered by steep mountains and is nestled in the narrow, flat valley. A number of hikes start right from the hotel and climb the surrounding ridges with spectacular views of the very active Volcan Tungruahua. Our descent on the lesser used trail was so steep it was barely walkable.

Thru town flows the class VI section of the Rio Pastaza. The steep canyon soon widens and the lower class III+ section was more our speed. Courtney paddled in a raft and I managed to get a whitewater kayak from the guides. The brown muddy water was pushy, fun and offered some play waves but being unfamiliar with the river I usually missed my opportunity. The canyon was deep and while viewing the beautiful orchids in bloom on the walls a large section of trees creaked, cracked and crashed into the river just behind me. Erosion constantly resculpting the banks.

Banos                       

On Thursdays, Saquisili hosts the largest indigenous market in Ecuador. A number of plazas display hundreds of vendors and their specific goods. Arts and crafts, clothes, kitchen items, thousands of shoes, fruits and veggies, a live animal market as well as any cut of meat you want, and the ever present CD/DVD collections. In all latin america you can purchase any music or movie off the street for a dollar. Many movies are available even before they are released in the US on the big screen. Usually an industry previewing copy and occasionally a copy that someone filmed in the theater with a camcorder. Those are the real theater experience with the sound of munching popcorn, people whispering and a head in your view. Sometimes only in spanish or no subtitles, sometimes they play fine until the last 10 minutes when they crap out and we have even bought blank discs. Similiar to buying Cracker Jacks and wondering what the secret surprise will be. Incidentally if you buy a CD/DVD from a corner store or in a mall they too are all copies.

Sasquili

Before returning to the coast we needed a last good dose of the mountains so we booked a climb of Volcan Cotopaxi (throat of fire). Just shy of 20,000ft it is the second tallest peak in Ecuador and the tallest active volcano in the world. Having been at a high altitude for a couple of weeks we thought our bodies were acclimatized for the climb. Upon reaching the refugio (base camp shelter) at 15,000ft we could feel the effects of our environment. The plan was typical of alpine ascents with a light dinner, short restless sleep due to the freezing tempurature and pounding headache, awaken at midnight for hot soup and gear-up for the long walk. After 45 minutes to reach the base of the glacier we donned our crampons and ice ax and I was roped between Isreal, a 5ft2 ecuadoran guide and Norbert, 6ft5 german backpacker. We climbed, climbed, climbed and climbed and….well….you get the idea.

The last group to start we passed the other three teams on their aborted attempts. Fatigue, cold and the wind were the respective reasons for the failure of them to summit. Reaching the last leg, a four point vertical section followed by the exposed summit approach, the extreme wind was 35mph and right on our nose (sounds like sailing). Norbert was determined to summit and that fate was left to me, being the weak link of the three. My body was signaling to return to the thick moist coastal air my lungs were accustomed to but my brain obsessed with the summit ‘just over the next ridge’. The brain won and we plodded along and reached the summit ½ hour before the maximun turn-around time, 8AM.

Cotopaxi

I am sure the view was spectacular, counting the 11 highest peaks visible from the center of the country (about the size of Nevada), Quito in the distance and to the east the Amazon valley, but in reality my climbing partner, 20ft away was barely visible like a silouette of a ghost. Some cookies and a few drops of water that wasn’t frozen and the descent began. 2 hours later we untied and ‘sledded’ down the last section on our packs, tempering our speed with ice axes. During most of the descent the clouds blew through so fast that the views were non-existant or endless.

Cotopaxi wasn’t a technical climb and not sure if I would do it again but with the thousands of miles of ocean ahead of us the opportunity to bag a 20,000er it seemed to be right. I also had to see the glacier at the equator. It also looks alot like Mt. Rainier.

For the returning bus we opted for the rarely travelled route that passes directly through th mountains climbing to almost 12,000ft before the steep descent to the coast. Indigenous people farm the inclined fields fanning from the mountain pass in this picturesque area.