As my trip is coming to an end. I thought I would put the Galapagos all into one blog since it isnt as exciting to me as climbing mountains, but was more of an amusing trip!
So my day in Quito before I left was amazing, just becuase every Sunday they close down the main road in town from 8am until 2pm! Everyone bikes and run down it and of course I tied up the running shoes and took out to the street. I people watched more than anything, running through a park also that everyone was outside playing soccer and an outdoor aerobics class was going on, hilarious! I only think if the US did something like where they would close down a long street to get everyone out to bike and run, etc. Yeah our logtistics might be a little harder, but it is amazing how many people get out and get active.
Alright, the next morning I headed off to Galapagos. The flight is about 2 hours long and the airport is a gong show. I got dropped off at the international terminal and had to find my way to the domestic which has no type of organization. Typical for Ecuador. On arrival I actually had someone waiting for me! Woohoo, so after we road a bus, we got on a ferry, to where we then got in a taxi cab to head to the port of Santa Cruz where we were getting a boat to Isabela island. Gees! The other people in my group were a couple from Canada that were great! They were both teachers and Toronto has a program where you can teach for 4 years and then have a whole year off. Um this was country 87 for them. WTF! So of course I asked them about 3,524 questions the whole trip. The other couple was an old chinese couple that supposively were from Canada also....hmmm. They brought enough luggage to probably go around the world twice! They had two of those humongous suitcases that most airlines dont even allow anymore, plus two smaller roller suitcases. I asked if they were traveling around the world, and they ignored me...more on this later.
Finally we got on the boat to isabela, a tiny speed boat. WHAT! I was going to be on this boat for 2 hours?!? And on top of that we were paired with a French tour group on the boat and instead of saying the long story, I ended up sitting on the groud at the end of the boat..not happy. I put on the ipod and did fine, not some of the others who lunch came up the whole trip. These speed boats were nuts, but got us to the island, eventually.
As we headed to our hotels, i had no idea where I was staying, dropped the chinese couple off- really nice hotel, knew i wasnt staying there, next hotel the canadian couple, pretty nice and i regonized the name, hmm why am i not there? Finally we got to me shack of a hotel..wtf! and i was by myself. The only good part was the girl that worked there was from Australia, but the huge bugs, spiders, moths that were everywhere, werent my cup of tea and i was not too happy. On top of that i had to walk to another hotel for all meals. ahhh Id make it work, but wasnt happy. So I went for a run on the beach at sunset....sooo amazing.
The first day on the island was a Volcano tour to Sierra Negra Volcano, not much to say other than it was a big crater and lots of mud. Another guy that was on our tour (we had new people all the time join our tours) was from chicago and we just talked the whole way to soak up some of this time. This day is when the food hit me and my stomach has not been the same since then, it sucks so bad..i cant wait to come home and eat healthy good food, the food is good here, but im done with it since my stomach hates it. Did some snorkeling later that day and saw some sweet fish, iguanas, coral, manta rays, etc etc, before dinner and drinks where Anthony (chicago guy) and I just talked and hung out before I was super tired and went to bed.
The next two days on Isabela we did a lot more snorkelying and tours. Saw some turtles, iguanas and lots of wildlife. Ill put up some pictures to better explain. I think the coolest part was when i was snorkeling a penguin came right up to me! Super cool. We also had an interesting character join our group for this day...let me explain. First, she had a pigtail curly mullet..yea not joke. And she had two humongo cameras, two underwater cameras, plus a point and shoot. I took a picture it was ridicolous. She held up the group wherever we were going! She would take a zillion pictures of everything a zillion times. I was like how many freakin pictures do you want of iguanas and turtles, they all look the same! Her husband just followed her around and held the camera cases and then would shout at her when she would lag behind. I think the best quote was when they were coming out of the water from snorkeling (they brought full wetsuits with hoods and footies and the water was like bath water) and she had a hard time getting back into boat and instead of him helping or anything he just says -ahhh she is a beached whale- haha i had to laugh. Oh might I add she wore orthapedic sandals with socks...
Update on chinese couple too...so you know how they brought all that luggage, we were on day 3 and they WORE THE SAME THING EVERYDAY! So I came to the conclusion they either packed only the same outfits, or really there was nothing in there suitcases and they were saving the space for souveniers!
Finally we took the speed boat back to Santa Cruz on the 4th day (after they forgot me at my hotel and i had to hail a cab to once again be the last one on the boat and almost not get on)Sooo frustrated, but the ride was much nicer. The next part of the tour was just exploring the island, seeing Lonesome George (a turtle that is last of his species) and I hung out with a group of college students that were super cool that were studying in Quito. I went to the beach and my stomach still wasnt feeling well so running that day was out of the question.
I decided that i wasnt going to stay on santa cruz either, as i wanted to check out San Cristobal, so got on another crazy boat the next day and headed there. The day has been great snorkeling and hanging and beaches and walking around. Though just found out the boat leaves at 7am tomorrow morning and not 6am like they told me! My flight isnt until 1130, but the boat ride is at least 2 hours and its another hour to the airport...keep your fingers crossed for me. Though tomorrow is the day i head back to quito, and then back home on monday! Im ready to be back though since my stomach just hasnt liked me while i have been here and i want to get back into a routine.
Traveling by myself has been great! I have met soooo many amazing people and might just do a blog about all the great people i have met. So yea that is the super short version, and cant wait to share my pictures too with everyone. Traveling is so great and I am already thinking about my next trip, but am ready to get back to colorado springs since i miss my friends a lot! And I want to start climbing mountains, I think I got enough beach for me for awhile.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Chimborazo never sleeps
Still on could nine after summitting Cotopazi we had another beast of a mountain ahead of us. The highest volcano/mountain in Ecuador, Chimborazo, standing at a whopping 20,565ft. Unfortunately, the day before Fernanado had told us the weather had been super bad, but we will see what happens, he also called us muy loco for doing Chimbo so soon after Cotopaxi, but we were feeling good after waking up from 10 hours of sleep.
The drive in Chimborazo was brutual, because it was sooo long. The best part was for lunch Fernando took us to a buffet in a town about 2 hours from Chimbo. Though Ecuadorian buffets are nothing like American. They had rows and rows of fresh fruit, chicken, sushi, and different types of meat. It was super good, especially since i was starving since it took us 2 hours to get to this place. After a few more detours (one of which was to Fernandoäs house to get an extra ice axe, and im thinking why do i only have one and he has two?) we finally arrived to the first refuge of Chimbo. Bad news right when we got in, no had summitted in about a few weeks and werent getting much higher than the second refuge. AFter some swear words from Fernando he sat us down to talk. He told us we were going to check it out, but its not sounding good and to not be sad. Jean and I were somewhat bummed, but i knew fernando knew what was best for us. We packed up our gear and hiked the one hour to the second refuge, Whymper at 5000m high.
Once agin we were the only ones there until a guide and an ecuadorian came in a lot later. Then it started snowing, and raining, and snowing. Arrg not good! We ate some dinner of pasta that FErnando made and Fernando told us if we wake up and its still like this we werent going to be able to go. So we headed to bed at 7pm, just to get woken up at 11pm. I left Fernando my ipod touch since he was amazed at it and wanted to listen to help with his English. I put on NPR for him, haha.
Sure enough i didnt sleep at all and at 11pm Fernando came in with bad news and told us to come outside. Sure enough teh snow was still falling really hard and there was a lightening storm. Huge bolts would light up the sky...umm yeah having an ice axe and crampons on hiking in lightening wasnt ideal to me. We talked about it for awhile and Fernando said it was too dangerous to start hiking at that time. So we went back to bed and he ws going to wake us up at 4 to start hiking then, though that pretty much meant that are thoughts of summiting were gone. I was a little bummed, but when its the weather , its out of your hands.
4am rolled around way to fast and the god news was the weather completely cleared up and we could starting hiking as far as possible before we would have to turn around. AFter an apple and some yogurt and cornflakes we geared up and hit the trail. The snow was insanely deep, so we didnät have to wear our crampons. I called it land mines though since you would try and stay high on the snow, but then you would make a wrong step and WHAM snow up to your thigh, and it was super exhuasting freeing your leg from the snow. WEslowly treked up the mountain, but the sun was coming up fast and once the sun came out that could mean trouble. Sure enough 2 hours into our hike Fernando stopped us and told us to look up. WE could see massive rocks and areas of mixed rock and snow that were softening up, and rock fall was evident. It was too dangerous for us to go any further as on the way down rocks were going to be falling and the ground very unstable. BUMMER...I was super bummed, but we took some pictures and headed back to the refuge. Dang, Chimbo got the best of us, but it will be there again for us to climb!
When returning to the refuge there were a ton of locals that were there and it was 7am. What was going on? So this week is holy week for everyone and they believe being on the mountain is getting closer to god or something like that. All i knew is we walked into some interesting music and signing that was fun to sip to our tea and listen to them. Though we didntä stay long and started down to our car at the first refuge. It probably had snowed at least 7 to 9 inches the night before so once again deep snow and our car was covered. So what does Fernando so, grabs some hot water, jumps on the car and poors it all over it. On top of that our car was having problems and the only way it was going to get started was with Fernandos knife, it was super comical when he would start the car with his knife and the key would be laying on the seat next to him.
We started on our way with a beautiful drive through the mountains and valleys, and then stopped at a "hot springs" where really it was just a bunch of dirt and holes with warm water. All the Ecuadorians looked at me like an alien as i walked in. Oh well! After another 3 hours we finally arrived back at the hostel tired, but ready to head to quito for a night out.
The drive was insane to quito, i think we got the worst driver in ecuador to take us to our hostal. Not only did she have no idea how to drive a stick shift and we were bouncing all over the place, she got lost about 5 times and we almost got in about 3 huge car accidents. I mean cars screetching to a hault. It was nuts and Jean and I were holding on for our lives. That night we just had a nice steak dinner and cheered to mojitos before we called it a night and Jean was headed back to New York and I had Sunday to explore Quito before I headed to Galapagos (where i am now writing this :))
The drive in Chimborazo was brutual, because it was sooo long. The best part was for lunch Fernando took us to a buffet in a town about 2 hours from Chimbo. Though Ecuadorian buffets are nothing like American. They had rows and rows of fresh fruit, chicken, sushi, and different types of meat. It was super good, especially since i was starving since it took us 2 hours to get to this place. After a few more detours (one of which was to Fernandoäs house to get an extra ice axe, and im thinking why do i only have one and he has two?) we finally arrived to the first refuge of Chimbo. Bad news right when we got in, no had summitted in about a few weeks and werent getting much higher than the second refuge. AFter some swear words from Fernando he sat us down to talk. He told us we were going to check it out, but its not sounding good and to not be sad. Jean and I were somewhat bummed, but i knew fernando knew what was best for us. We packed up our gear and hiked the one hour to the second refuge, Whymper at 5000m high.
Once agin we were the only ones there until a guide and an ecuadorian came in a lot later. Then it started snowing, and raining, and snowing. Arrg not good! We ate some dinner of pasta that FErnando made and Fernando told us if we wake up and its still like this we werent going to be able to go. So we headed to bed at 7pm, just to get woken up at 11pm. I left Fernando my ipod touch since he was amazed at it and wanted to listen to help with his English. I put on NPR for him, haha.
Sure enough i didnt sleep at all and at 11pm Fernando came in with bad news and told us to come outside. Sure enough teh snow was still falling really hard and there was a lightening storm. Huge bolts would light up the sky...umm yeah having an ice axe and crampons on hiking in lightening wasnt ideal to me. We talked about it for awhile and Fernando said it was too dangerous to start hiking at that time. So we went back to bed and he ws going to wake us up at 4 to start hiking then, though that pretty much meant that are thoughts of summiting were gone. I was a little bummed, but when its the weather , its out of your hands.
4am rolled around way to fast and the god news was the weather completely cleared up and we could starting hiking as far as possible before we would have to turn around. AFter an apple and some yogurt and cornflakes we geared up and hit the trail. The snow was insanely deep, so we didnät have to wear our crampons. I called it land mines though since you would try and stay high on the snow, but then you would make a wrong step and WHAM snow up to your thigh, and it was super exhuasting freeing your leg from the snow. WEslowly treked up the mountain, but the sun was coming up fast and once the sun came out that could mean trouble. Sure enough 2 hours into our hike Fernando stopped us and told us to look up. WE could see massive rocks and areas of mixed rock and snow that were softening up, and rock fall was evident. It was too dangerous for us to go any further as on the way down rocks were going to be falling and the ground very unstable. BUMMER...I was super bummed, but we took some pictures and headed back to the refuge. Dang, Chimbo got the best of us, but it will be there again for us to climb!
When returning to the refuge there were a ton of locals that were there and it was 7am. What was going on? So this week is holy week for everyone and they believe being on the mountain is getting closer to god or something like that. All i knew is we walked into some interesting music and signing that was fun to sip to our tea and listen to them. Though we didntä stay long and started down to our car at the first refuge. It probably had snowed at least 7 to 9 inches the night before so once again deep snow and our car was covered. So what does Fernando so, grabs some hot water, jumps on the car and poors it all over it. On top of that our car was having problems and the only way it was going to get started was with Fernandos knife, it was super comical when he would start the car with his knife and the key would be laying on the seat next to him.
We started on our way with a beautiful drive through the mountains and valleys, and then stopped at a "hot springs" where really it was just a bunch of dirt and holes with warm water. All the Ecuadorians looked at me like an alien as i walked in. Oh well! After another 3 hours we finally arrived back at the hostel tired, but ready to head to quito for a night out.
The drive was insane to quito, i think we got the worst driver in ecuador to take us to our hostal. Not only did she have no idea how to drive a stick shift and we were bouncing all over the place, she got lost about 5 times and we almost got in about 3 huge car accidents. I mean cars screetching to a hault. It was nuts and Jean and I were holding on for our lives. That night we just had a nice steak dinner and cheered to mojitos before we called it a night and Jean was headed back to New York and I had Sunday to explore Quito before I headed to Galapagos (where i am now writing this :))
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Cotopaxi....
Wow, what an adventure, I don´t even know where to start and this will probably be somewhat long so I apoligize and no pictures yet since I won´t be able to get them off my camera until I´m back in the states. So I found some online that somewhat is what I saw.
So first, a little background. When I was trying to find somewhere to go someone mentioned to me Cotopaxi and I looked it up. Didn´t look too difficult, but challenging, though by the pictures it looked like people following a trail with ice axes, crampons, etc. I thought, I could do that! I probably should have researched it a little more...but I knew it wasnt going to be easy.
So the day started at Papagayo with a big pancake breakfast and getting all of our gear together. I wasn´t sure exactly what to bring since I wasn´t sure how cold it was going to be on the mountain. Though I packed the usual all Patagonia stuff and then Jean and I waited for our guide to pick us up. While we were waiting 3 more people joined us that were also going to be doing Cotopaxi. Two girls from New York that were super nice, but hadn´t really done any serious climbing before or acclimitized, i don´t think they knew what they were getting into either. Then another guy from Canada, that talked like Cotopaxi was going to be easy and talked like he knew everything, but I could barely understand him since he was from Quebec and they only speak French there. We all were going to have our seperate guides, as Fernando was going to be our guide. Finally at 1030 all the guides finally showed up and we piled into two extremly old cars to head to grab food for the night/morning and then lunch. I didn´t need to borrow too much gear just boots, crampons, ice axe, and harness, though I really wished I had my own boots. Of course they didn´t have any in my size, but i stuffed some insoles in them and played around with them awhile and they ended up working out just fine.
So far so good as we stopped at the local SuperMaxi to get snacks and water. I grabbed some local Ecuadorian candy, but I brought a lot with me (even though my 6lb bag of trail mix has somehow dissappeard..whoops). We also had a chance to walk around a market. They sell everything there from clothes to pig heads, not the most appetizing. Though I was getting anxious already to get to the refuge, where we were staying that night and it just seemed like everything was taking forever. So the roads in Ecuador for the most part are just mud and rocks so when it rains and rains they just become a big mud pit. So sure enough it was raining again and the road to Cotopaxi was just one very long dirt or should I say mud road. To a point where i wasnt sure if we were going to make it through some parts. We even came to a point where a car was already stuck in deep mud and we still managed to get around this car and through the thick mud. I am pretty sure the guides are used to this, but i thought it was wild and we even took pictures and video of this!
Eventually we got to the parking area to get some of our gear on and start the hour trek to the Refuge. Fernando,Jean, and I were the first ones to the refuge, while the girls followed, then Mirko, who made it present that it was a fluke he was the last one up. Haha whatever! We quickly claimed our beds and realized that our group was going to be the only ones attempting to summit Cotopaxi tommorow. We thought that was a little strange, but then again its not high season and even better to know it was just going to be us on the mountain. So the guides made some dinner, the girls got Mountaineering 101, and Jean and I sipped some tea as we talked about our plan for summitting. We decided that we werent going to quit no matter what unless one of us got really bad alttitude sickness. Summitting Cotopaxi was our goal for the trip and it looked like the weather was going to clear up for our hike. And we knew that we had acclimatized and were in much better condition than anyone else. I thought in my head also that if the girls made it to the top and not us, we were just going to end our mountaineering career there! Yeah there is my competitive side coming out again haha
So after a dinner of pasta, popcorn, tea, and some soup we tried to go to sleep at 7pm. Arrgg! Sleeping at 16,000 feet is not easy. And the anxiety of what was ahead wasnt helping either. I tossed and turned for a few hours, then was having trouble breathing, and just getting anxious. I wanted a few hours of sleep and I think I slept for around 30 minutes before I heard the steps I didnt want to hear to wake us up at midnight. I went for a quick bathroom break to be amazed how clear it was with no wind and a nice temperature. I put on my liner socks, hiking socks, light baselayer pant, pataguch guide pants, cap 3 baselayer, R1 fleece, pataguch shell, bacalava, headlamp, gaitors, helmet, gloves with no liners, and the harness,with my down jacket in my bag (Jean thought i was sponsored by Patagonia, I think Im a little obssessed) I filled up on lots of water before we all had breakfast of cornflakes and bread. Yea not really my top choice, but its what they brought. Jean and I were the first ones ready and started are long hike around 1am, that would be the last time we saw the others too until we got back to the refuge.
Hiking in the dark is awesome. You cant see up and really only the feet in front of you. So you just keep going up and just never know when its going to stop (which sucks). The crampons had to go on almost immediatly as the snow was getting pretty deap and the steepness of the slope started right away around 30 degrees. Before I knew it we had just begun and i was already out of breath, this hike was not going to be walk in the park. Hiking in the snow is not for the faint of heart, it takes a lot of strengh and cardio. I tried to keep up with Fernando and jean but was happy with bringing up the rear. The slopes never would subside either. Then I finally could make out the first crevasse....WHOA, that is what a freakin crevasse is! For those that dont know, a crevasse is a deep crack in the glacier and could be very dangerous in crossing as they could be anywhere from 45 meters deep and very wide, you just never know. This occupied my mind for awhile..and Cotopaxi has its fair share of them, we probably crossed at least 10 to 15 of them. The 'trail' itself went up and down th glacier, through crevasses, up steep walls of snow, and a few very tight areas where my backpack had a hard time getting through. What the hell have I gotten myself into! Never did i thought i would be climbing up snow walls, dodging icicles, and dealing with ridicolous exposure. I was now thinking,Why the hell am I doing this, anyway? Somehow, it had never occurred to me to wonder why I might want to climb up an enormous, glacier covered active volcano in the middle of the night. Surely, this is pure craziness - I can think of no other explanation, but hey this is an adventure so I kept going. That was now my word for the rest of the trip...this is crazy and it made Fernando laugh everytime I said it since it was all the time! He replied, I love Colorado girls in his broken English!
Finally about 2 hours later we arrived at the 50 degree slope. Where Fernando went first and tied an anchor in so he could belay us up. I dont have much experience in using crampons and ice axe but was glad I had takin the mountaineering class before I went so I could climb myself up this steep cliffside. After an extremely tiring 45minutes we got to the top of the steep section and continuted to go up. I was still saying this is crazy, but had Jean motivating me too. By this time the sun was finally coming out, so i could finally see up, and up was still a long way away. How could this be!! I felt like we had been hiking for a millon hours already. I was starting to bonk, but kept going as I thought the summit couldnt be too much farther...
False summit after false summit the swears were about to come out of my mouth. And for those that know me pretty well you know that I dont swear often, usually only when Im hiking or I miss a catwalk while skiing. ;-) Fernando kept me close with the rope and just kept telling me a little bit farther and Jean and I were getting each other through this madness of steepness, just think the incline wiht ice and snow on steriods for 5 hours, yup. Fernando then said that he would give me a kiss if I make it to the summit,ahh I said how about i dont get one if i make it to the summit? haha, donät think he understood me. Every corner we would take it seemed like another 40 degree hill we had to crampon up, I didnt think it ever was going to end. Finally after a lot of bitching and my body being super tired, Fernando turns around and says we either can go down or walk for 5 more minutes. Well heck no did I believe we had 5 minutes to go to the summit since he already had said this to me numerous times and we had hiked for hours! But no way was I going down, though sure enough 5 minutes later we I couldnt go any higher. As I took the last few steps, I couldnt believe I was going to make it. 5 hours and 45 minutes later we were at the top and my emotions just took over as I was extremely happy that we had made it and raised my arms in euphoria. Jean and I gave each other a high five and a big hug as it seemed like we were standing on top of the world. The clouds were below us, the sun was shining, and we had the summit to ourselves. It was an experience I cant explain. The massive crater that you can see into is unbelievable. Hiking up, one of the reasons I knew I was close was the smell of sulfur in the air due to the active volcano that we were hiking. Of course I came up to the summit with a celebratory drink! I cracked open my Pilsener beer and toasted to Cotopaxi! 19,374 feet in the air it was the craziest feeling ever as it just seemed surreal. Jean felt the same way as we couldnt believe what we had just done. The altitude wasnt a factor for us either, other than the constant being out of breathe, neither of us had any altitude sickness! Success, since you just never know, but I think the program we did acclimated us perfectly. After 20 minutes on the summit basking in our glory we realized we had to start going down soon before what the locals say 'the mountains wake up' I couldnt believe how there was no wind, and actually some sun for once. I didnt want to leave because to be honest I was much more scared of going down then the going up...as I should have been.
(Picture of the refuge with summit in background that I stole from a website since it never was clear enough for us to see the summit,we had twice as much snow, all the way down to refuge)
We started the decent around 730am and right away we knew it was going to take awhile as the snow was starting to soften up and was getting caught in our crampons so it made going down much more challenging. As we continuted to take our time down the steep slopes, Fernando belaying us when needed, it was getting hotter and hotter. Not good. Jean was having some trouble with going down as his crampons were snow magnets and every step he would take he would almost slip and was getting exhausted and frustrated. At this time now too you can finally see the scenery and I was lost in it. It was amazing all of th crevasses and how the glacier formation was. Unfortunately, we had to focus on going down as the sun was still shining extremly bright and there werent any clouds. As I marveled at all of the icicles and deep crevasses, I knew what this warm weather meant too, chances of avalanches and crevasses collapasing. We finally stopped after going down a good ways. It literally felt like it was 90 degrees and the sun was burning a hole through my face. Fernando tells us to shed our layers, put on sunscreen, and drink lots of water....FAST. I could tell he wanted us to get off this mountain as soon as possible. He tells us the mountain usually is never this warm and we need to get moving and to really concentrate. Of course at this point, Im a little scared as I know we have about 20 more crevasses to cross and a lot of possible places where avalances could occur. I was wearing only my baselayer top, liner gloves, guide pants, and helmet on the way down it was so hot. I took a big gulp of water and knew that we had to focus and get the second wind, since trouble usually always happens on the way down not on the way up. Jean struggled on the way down, but didnt give up. I was zoned in and made sure each step was the right one, especially down the high exposure spots and crevasses, as one wrong step could mean a lot of trouble.
Finally we reached the 50 degree slope where we had to basically belay each other down. This was super diffuclt because as you are going down you are basically down ice climbing. Its not easy when the snow is soft and you want to make sure you have a good foot hold before you do the next. Jean and I slowly made it down while Fernando undid the anchor and he started down. We walked a little further and waited for Fernando. All of a sudden, he missed a step on the way down and went falling. Jean and I immediately self arrested and I think my heart stopped for a second. Fernando was fast enough that he was able to self arrest eventually also, just before he was about to go into a huge crevasse. Yeah, if he would have gone into that Im not sure what the hell we would have done since Jean and I both didnt have enough experience for a crevasse rescue. But thank gosh we didnt have to deal with that. After getting my breath back we starting again down the trail, fast but precise. Having to go through a few more belay areas, and then one spot where we basically had to dip under a whole bunch of icicles and squeeze through a small opening.
Finally we found a good place to take a break and a great thing happenned..clouds came out! Probably the only time I ever was happy to see clouds. I threw on my shell and knew from there we were going to be fine. Fernando finally took the ropes off of us and I started booking it down, as going down I am much better than going up! haha. As I was going down, something flyes by me on the left, freakin Fernando was using his backpack as a slide and heading down the mountain. Not fair! I took off my harness and joined in on the fun of glissading down the mountain. It took us 3 hours to get off the mountain and one of the best parts was when we finally saw the Refuge. The weather had changed again and it was now snowing, but it was super peaceful and not cold at all. Jean and I took a moment to just reflect on what we had just done and the fact we were the only ones in the group to make the trek to the top. I read an article that less than 50 percent of people that try Cotopaxi actually make it to the top.
We finally walked into the refuge extremly exhuasted, but elated. We checked on the others and found they all got super bad altitude sickness and were unable to go very far. I immediatly changed out of my stuff and just laid on the bed, thinking wow that was amazing. The other guides congratulated us, and Fernando then laid a kiss on my cheek and said Congrats, Colorado girls are the best! We repacked our gear and started our hike down to the car to head back to papagayo for a celebratory dinner and my bed! I slept pretty much the whole ride back, had another beer, and then went right to bed for a little nap before Jean andI met up for dinner and to just talk about Cotopaxi and everything that happenned that day and we both had huge smiles on our faces.
Climbing to the summit of Volcán Cotopaxi is by far one of the most difficult things I have ever done in my life, the view from the top was possibly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life even though we couldnät see everything and without a doubt, it was the single most rewarding thing I have ever done and would do it again.
Never did I think I would be climbing up a Volcano and getting into mountainering and Im still not sure its for me, but I'm extremely happy I did this and cant wait for more experiences like it. Well tomorrow its chimborazo, but they already told us the snow conditions and weather are horrible, but we are going to give it a go.I hope to add some pictures and cant wait to tell people in person what I experienced.
So first, a little background. When I was trying to find somewhere to go someone mentioned to me Cotopaxi and I looked it up. Didn´t look too difficult, but challenging, though by the pictures it looked like people following a trail with ice axes, crampons, etc. I thought, I could do that! I probably should have researched it a little more...but I knew it wasnt going to be easy.
So the day started at Papagayo with a big pancake breakfast and getting all of our gear together. I wasn´t sure exactly what to bring since I wasn´t sure how cold it was going to be on the mountain. Though I packed the usual all Patagonia stuff and then Jean and I waited for our guide to pick us up. While we were waiting 3 more people joined us that were also going to be doing Cotopaxi. Two girls from New York that were super nice, but hadn´t really done any serious climbing before or acclimitized, i don´t think they knew what they were getting into either. Then another guy from Canada, that talked like Cotopaxi was going to be easy and talked like he knew everything, but I could barely understand him since he was from Quebec and they only speak French there. We all were going to have our seperate guides, as Fernando was going to be our guide. Finally at 1030 all the guides finally showed up and we piled into two extremly old cars to head to grab food for the night/morning and then lunch. I didn´t need to borrow too much gear just boots, crampons, ice axe, and harness, though I really wished I had my own boots. Of course they didn´t have any in my size, but i stuffed some insoles in them and played around with them awhile and they ended up working out just fine.
So far so good as we stopped at the local SuperMaxi to get snacks and water. I grabbed some local Ecuadorian candy, but I brought a lot with me (even though my 6lb bag of trail mix has somehow dissappeard..whoops). We also had a chance to walk around a market. They sell everything there from clothes to pig heads, not the most appetizing. Though I was getting anxious already to get to the refuge, where we were staying that night and it just seemed like everything was taking forever. So the roads in Ecuador for the most part are just mud and rocks so when it rains and rains they just become a big mud pit. So sure enough it was raining again and the road to Cotopaxi was just one very long dirt or should I say mud road. To a point where i wasnt sure if we were going to make it through some parts. We even came to a point where a car was already stuck in deep mud and we still managed to get around this car and through the thick mud. I am pretty sure the guides are used to this, but i thought it was wild and we even took pictures and video of this!
Eventually we got to the parking area to get some of our gear on and start the hour trek to the Refuge. Fernando,Jean, and I were the first ones to the refuge, while the girls followed, then Mirko, who made it present that it was a fluke he was the last one up. Haha whatever! We quickly claimed our beds and realized that our group was going to be the only ones attempting to summit Cotopaxi tommorow. We thought that was a little strange, but then again its not high season and even better to know it was just going to be us on the mountain. So the guides made some dinner, the girls got Mountaineering 101, and Jean and I sipped some tea as we talked about our plan for summitting. We decided that we werent going to quit no matter what unless one of us got really bad alttitude sickness. Summitting Cotopaxi was our goal for the trip and it looked like the weather was going to clear up for our hike. And we knew that we had acclimatized and were in much better condition than anyone else. I thought in my head also that if the girls made it to the top and not us, we were just going to end our mountaineering career there! Yeah there is my competitive side coming out again haha
So after a dinner of pasta, popcorn, tea, and some soup we tried to go to sleep at 7pm. Arrgg! Sleeping at 16,000 feet is not easy. And the anxiety of what was ahead wasnt helping either. I tossed and turned for a few hours, then was having trouble breathing, and just getting anxious. I wanted a few hours of sleep and I think I slept for around 30 minutes before I heard the steps I didnt want to hear to wake us up at midnight. I went for a quick bathroom break to be amazed how clear it was with no wind and a nice temperature. I put on my liner socks, hiking socks, light baselayer pant, pataguch guide pants, cap 3 baselayer, R1 fleece, pataguch shell, bacalava, headlamp, gaitors, helmet, gloves with no liners, and the harness,with my down jacket in my bag (Jean thought i was sponsored by Patagonia, I think Im a little obssessed) I filled up on lots of water before we all had breakfast of cornflakes and bread. Yea not really my top choice, but its what they brought. Jean and I were the first ones ready and started are long hike around 1am, that would be the last time we saw the others too until we got back to the refuge.
Hiking in the dark is awesome. You cant see up and really only the feet in front of you. So you just keep going up and just never know when its going to stop (which sucks). The crampons had to go on almost immediatly as the snow was getting pretty deap and the steepness of the slope started right away around 30 degrees. Before I knew it we had just begun and i was already out of breath, this hike was not going to be walk in the park. Hiking in the snow is not for the faint of heart, it takes a lot of strengh and cardio. I tried to keep up with Fernando and jean but was happy with bringing up the rear. The slopes never would subside either. Then I finally could make out the first crevasse....WHOA, that is what a freakin crevasse is! For those that dont know, a crevasse is a deep crack in the glacier and could be very dangerous in crossing as they could be anywhere from 45 meters deep and very wide, you just never know. This occupied my mind for awhile..and Cotopaxi has its fair share of them, we probably crossed at least 10 to 15 of them. The 'trail' itself went up and down th glacier, through crevasses, up steep walls of snow, and a few very tight areas where my backpack had a hard time getting through. What the hell have I gotten myself into! Never did i thought i would be climbing up snow walls, dodging icicles, and dealing with ridicolous exposure. I was now thinking,Why the hell am I doing this, anyway? Somehow, it had never occurred to me to wonder why I might want to climb up an enormous, glacier covered active volcano in the middle of the night. Surely, this is pure craziness - I can think of no other explanation, but hey this is an adventure so I kept going. That was now my word for the rest of the trip...this is crazy and it made Fernando laugh everytime I said it since it was all the time! He replied, I love Colorado girls in his broken English!
Finally about 2 hours later we arrived at the 50 degree slope. Where Fernando went first and tied an anchor in so he could belay us up. I dont have much experience in using crampons and ice axe but was glad I had takin the mountaineering class before I went so I could climb myself up this steep cliffside. After an extremely tiring 45minutes we got to the top of the steep section and continuted to go up. I was still saying this is crazy, but had Jean motivating me too. By this time the sun was finally coming out, so i could finally see up, and up was still a long way away. How could this be!! I felt like we had been hiking for a millon hours already. I was starting to bonk, but kept going as I thought the summit couldnt be too much farther...
False summit after false summit the swears were about to come out of my mouth. And for those that know me pretty well you know that I dont swear often, usually only when Im hiking or I miss a catwalk while skiing. ;-) Fernando kept me close with the rope and just kept telling me a little bit farther and Jean and I were getting each other through this madness of steepness, just think the incline wiht ice and snow on steriods for 5 hours, yup. Fernando then said that he would give me a kiss if I make it to the summit,ahh I said how about i dont get one if i make it to the summit? haha, donät think he understood me. Every corner we would take it seemed like another 40 degree hill we had to crampon up, I didnt think it ever was going to end. Finally after a lot of bitching and my body being super tired, Fernando turns around and says we either can go down or walk for 5 more minutes. Well heck no did I believe we had 5 minutes to go to the summit since he already had said this to me numerous times and we had hiked for hours! But no way was I going down, though sure enough 5 minutes later we I couldnt go any higher. As I took the last few steps, I couldnt believe I was going to make it. 5 hours and 45 minutes later we were at the top and my emotions just took over as I was extremely happy that we had made it and raised my arms in euphoria. Jean and I gave each other a high five and a big hug as it seemed like we were standing on top of the world. The clouds were below us, the sun was shining, and we had the summit to ourselves. It was an experience I cant explain. The massive crater that you can see into is unbelievable. Hiking up, one of the reasons I knew I was close was the smell of sulfur in the air due to the active volcano that we were hiking. Of course I came up to the summit with a celebratory drink! I cracked open my Pilsener beer and toasted to Cotopaxi! 19,374 feet in the air it was the craziest feeling ever as it just seemed surreal. Jean felt the same way as we couldnt believe what we had just done. The altitude wasnt a factor for us either, other than the constant being out of breathe, neither of us had any altitude sickness! Success, since you just never know, but I think the program we did acclimated us perfectly. After 20 minutes on the summit basking in our glory we realized we had to start going down soon before what the locals say 'the mountains wake up' I couldnt believe how there was no wind, and actually some sun for once. I didnt want to leave because to be honest I was much more scared of going down then the going up...as I should have been.
We started the decent around 730am and right away we knew it was going to take awhile as the snow was starting to soften up and was getting caught in our crampons so it made going down much more challenging. As we continuted to take our time down the steep slopes, Fernando belaying us when needed, it was getting hotter and hotter. Not good. Jean was having some trouble with going down as his crampons were snow magnets and every step he would take he would almost slip and was getting exhausted and frustrated. At this time now too you can finally see the scenery and I was lost in it. It was amazing all of th crevasses and how the glacier formation was. Unfortunately, we had to focus on going down as the sun was still shining extremly bright and there werent any clouds. As I marveled at all of the icicles and deep crevasses, I knew what this warm weather meant too, chances of avalanches and crevasses collapasing. We finally stopped after going down a good ways. It literally felt like it was 90 degrees and the sun was burning a hole through my face. Fernando tells us to shed our layers, put on sunscreen, and drink lots of water....FAST. I could tell he wanted us to get off this mountain as soon as possible. He tells us the mountain usually is never this warm and we need to get moving and to really concentrate. Of course at this point, Im a little scared as I know we have about 20 more crevasses to cross and a lot of possible places where avalances could occur. I was wearing only my baselayer top, liner gloves, guide pants, and helmet on the way down it was so hot. I took a big gulp of water and knew that we had to focus and get the second wind, since trouble usually always happens on the way down not on the way up. Jean struggled on the way down, but didnt give up. I was zoned in and made sure each step was the right one, especially down the high exposure spots and crevasses, as one wrong step could mean a lot of trouble.
Finally we reached the 50 degree slope where we had to basically belay each other down. This was super diffuclt because as you are going down you are basically down ice climbing. Its not easy when the snow is soft and you want to make sure you have a good foot hold before you do the next. Jean and I slowly made it down while Fernando undid the anchor and he started down. We walked a little further and waited for Fernando. All of a sudden, he missed a step on the way down and went falling. Jean and I immediately self arrested and I think my heart stopped for a second. Fernando was fast enough that he was able to self arrest eventually also, just before he was about to go into a huge crevasse. Yeah, if he would have gone into that Im not sure what the hell we would have done since Jean and I both didnt have enough experience for a crevasse rescue. But thank gosh we didnt have to deal with that. After getting my breath back we starting again down the trail, fast but precise. Having to go through a few more belay areas, and then one spot where we basically had to dip under a whole bunch of icicles and squeeze through a small opening.
Finally we found a good place to take a break and a great thing happenned..clouds came out! Probably the only time I ever was happy to see clouds. I threw on my shell and knew from there we were going to be fine. Fernando finally took the ropes off of us and I started booking it down, as going down I am much better than going up! haha. As I was going down, something flyes by me on the left, freakin Fernando was using his backpack as a slide and heading down the mountain. Not fair! I took off my harness and joined in on the fun of glissading down the mountain. It took us 3 hours to get off the mountain and one of the best parts was when we finally saw the Refuge. The weather had changed again and it was now snowing, but it was super peaceful and not cold at all. Jean and I took a moment to just reflect on what we had just done and the fact we were the only ones in the group to make the trek to the top. I read an article that less than 50 percent of people that try Cotopaxi actually make it to the top.
We finally walked into the refuge extremly exhuasted, but elated. We checked on the others and found they all got super bad altitude sickness and were unable to go very far. I immediatly changed out of my stuff and just laid on the bed, thinking wow that was amazing. The other guides congratulated us, and Fernando then laid a kiss on my cheek and said Congrats, Colorado girls are the best! We repacked our gear and started our hike down to the car to head back to papagayo for a celebratory dinner and my bed! I slept pretty much the whole ride back, had another beer, and then went right to bed for a little nap before Jean andI met up for dinner and to just talk about Cotopaxi and everything that happenned that day and we both had huge smiles on our faces.
Climbing to the summit of Volcán Cotopaxi is by far one of the most difficult things I have ever done in my life, the view from the top was possibly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life even though we couldnät see everything and without a doubt, it was the single most rewarding thing I have ever done and would do it again.
Never did I think I would be climbing up a Volcano and getting into mountainering and Im still not sure its for me, but I'm extremely happy I did this and cant wait for more experiences like it. Well tomorrow its chimborazo, but they already told us the snow conditions and weather are horrible, but we are going to give it a go.I hope to add some pictures and cant wait to tell people in person what I experienced.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Ready to hike!
Finally we get to head to Cotopaxi and try are luck at this massive peak. Yesterday we had a ´day off´where we got to spend the day at Papagayo and hang out. The only thing is there isn´t much to do around here. We really are away from anything, but we made the best of it.
AFter a big breakfast of what they like to call an omlette, Id probably call it more a frittata, we decide to grab the mountain bikes and explore what we could around the hosteria. And for a brief moment it wasn´t raining, so we grabbed the bikes and headed down the road. We got a map from the ownder here that doesn´t really even classify as a map. There was a 6 mile loop around the property that he recommended following, and we didn´t think it would be that hard, we were wrong.
After crossing about 3 massive puddles that took up the whole road and truding through towns of mud we made it to the intersection and knew we were going the right way. Then the road just went up and up and up and up and up. I felt like we were climbing cotopaxi on our bikes. We climbed for about an hour and a half straight and not without obstacles. There are tons of dogs here and they all run after you and bark like they are going to tear you arm or leg off. Not cool, and thank gosh none of them did. On top of that with all the rain the road was just mud and deep icky gooey gross mud. So we had to hop off the bikes a couple times to get through it. Finally I said enough is enough when we had been climbing for an hour and half and were lost in the backroads of ecuador, and of course it was raining by this time. So almost 3 hours later we landed back at the hostel, wet, muddy, but all in all it was a fun time and a really good workout.
The boredom kinda then set in as I didn´t want to sit on the computer here or in my room and it was pouring outside. So Jean and I decided to have lunch and then pack our bags for Cotopaxi since we were gettign excited. I packed my bag, read, and hung out on the patio before some more people came to the hosteria and we had some conversation with them. One of them had just done Cotopaxi, so of course we had a million questions for him and it didn´t seem like he really wanted to entertaim them. Then again if i got up at midnight and climbed all day i probably would have been in the same mood. Though it was super exciting to know that he had done it and the weather was good! Though in his Austrailan accent he mentioned ´that hike is a bitch´haha oh boy!
So today we are going to have breakfast here in a little bit, then the guide is going to come to do a gear check and take us to Cotopaxi National Park where we will hike about an hour to get to the Refuge where everyone starts from. HAve an early dinner and get a little bit of sleep before we start the hike at midnight. So while you guys are sleeping and out partying, I´m going to be hiking THIS:
AFter a big breakfast of what they like to call an omlette, Id probably call it more a frittata, we decide to grab the mountain bikes and explore what we could around the hosteria. And for a brief moment it wasn´t raining, so we grabbed the bikes and headed down the road. We got a map from the ownder here that doesn´t really even classify as a map. There was a 6 mile loop around the property that he recommended following, and we didn´t think it would be that hard, we were wrong.
After crossing about 3 massive puddles that took up the whole road and truding through towns of mud we made it to the intersection and knew we were going the right way. Then the road just went up and up and up and up and up. I felt like we were climbing cotopaxi on our bikes. We climbed for about an hour and a half straight and not without obstacles. There are tons of dogs here and they all run after you and bark like they are going to tear you arm or leg off. Not cool, and thank gosh none of them did. On top of that with all the rain the road was just mud and deep icky gooey gross mud. So we had to hop off the bikes a couple times to get through it. Finally I said enough is enough when we had been climbing for an hour and half and were lost in the backroads of ecuador, and of course it was raining by this time. So almost 3 hours later we landed back at the hostel, wet, muddy, but all in all it was a fun time and a really good workout.
The boredom kinda then set in as I didn´t want to sit on the computer here or in my room and it was pouring outside. So Jean and I decided to have lunch and then pack our bags for Cotopaxi since we were gettign excited. I packed my bag, read, and hung out on the patio before some more people came to the hosteria and we had some conversation with them. One of them had just done Cotopaxi, so of course we had a million questions for him and it didn´t seem like he really wanted to entertaim them. Then again if i got up at midnight and climbed all day i probably would have been in the same mood. Though it was super exciting to know that he had done it and the weather was good! Though in his Austrailan accent he mentioned ´that hike is a bitch´haha oh boy!
So today we are going to have breakfast here in a little bit, then the guide is going to come to do a gear check and take us to Cotopaxi National Park where we will hike about an hour to get to the Refuge where everyone starts from. HAve an early dinner and get a little bit of sleep before we start the hike at midnight. So while you guys are sleeping and out partying, I´m going to be hiking THIS:
Monday, April 18, 2011
Weather in Ecuador sucks!!
After a Jacuzzy and a shower we have some downtime so I thought I´d catch up on the blog!
So yesterday was the first day of climbing and the first day of the 7 day program I signed up for. The first mountain was Pasochoa, which is a little over 14,000ft. So I woke up and it was raining, surprise surprise, I don´t think it stops here EVER! I went to front and waited around for breakfast to be served. I also got to meet my climbing partner. He is from France, but lives in New York now and has a lot of climbing experience in the ALPS and such. Pretty cool and even nicer that now I have someone to have conversation with instead of talking to myself this whole time. His name is Jean Nicolas, but thats way to long so I shortened it to JN. It works! I had a pancake the size of the plate and some fruit before Louis came to pick us up and take us the hour and a half to Pasochoa. The hike was pretty uneventful other than the fact the weather here is nuts!!! One minute its sunny, the next its pouring, then its cloudy, then its pouring, then its hailing, and then its pouring. Yeah and Im not joking about every 2 minutes either. Wish I would of brought some rain pants! Dang it! We scurried up Pasochoa in no time and well if you want to experience what i saw, go into a Steam Room. Becuase yea, it was super foggy and rainy. Though Pasochoa is an inactive Volcano and their is a huge crater, too bad we really couldn´t see it, we just knew not to fall into it.
When we got back to Papagayo, it was only 2, since we had done the hike so fast. So we had some cake and tea and then talked for a little bit before dinner. So the food here is interesting to say the least. They give us lunch each day, which consists of a banana, crackers, and two disgusting sandwiches. I´m not super picky but its bologny, cheese, and some wierd sauce of some sort...so glad i have my 6lb back of trail mix (more like 4 now!). Dinner I ordered a vegetable and chicken dish. It was good other than the raw eggs they put on it, I tried to eat around that as best I could.
This morning we were attempting Illiznas. Around 16,200ft foot peak and of course when I woke up it was raining! Seriously it doesn´t stop. Well we wanted to get an early start, but I think our guide was on his own time showing up a half an hour late. We got our gear since we needed boots, crampons, ice axe, and harnesses. Finally we were on our way as Pedro our guide wasn´t happy about how the weather was and that the chances of summitting was going to be slim to none. JN and I kept positive as we started the hike to the Refuge that was at around 15,500ft. After 2 anda half hours of pretty steep terrain, the weather basically raining, hailing, raining, cloudy, etc etc. We reached the Refuge where we got some tea and Pedro did a sun dance to try and amke the mad weather go away. After 30min and him telling us we have to go down we convinced him to take us higher. We started on some pretty tough terrain and it all of sudden became sunny! We made it up about 600ft from the summit when the sun turned to hail and rain. It is nuts how fast the clouds move here! So that is when he said we didn´t have a choice since there was lightening and we had to go down. Ahhh but we were so close, but its now are main climb and just an acclimization climb so it wasn´t that big of a deal. So Pedro took off and basically started running down the mountain after we got past the difficult rock part. Gees Ecuadorians are animals. Of course they didn´t have any boots my size so i had to get a size too big. Booo! I knew that was going to happen, even though they reassured me they had small sizes. Yeah right. So my feet were killing me! Though we eventually made it down when another storm was rolling in, oh yeah and it never stopped raining.
It was nice to get back. Tommorrow we have an ´off day´but we are going to go hiking or biking somwhere since its not good to just do nothing. Then we leave for Cotopaxi refuge the next day after. We will see what strange food I end up with tonight! I just hope for the rain to let up for maybe 15min and the clouds so i can actually see the beauty of this land. Hope all is well!
So yesterday was the first day of climbing and the first day of the 7 day program I signed up for. The first mountain was Pasochoa, which is a little over 14,000ft. So I woke up and it was raining, surprise surprise, I don´t think it stops here EVER! I went to front and waited around for breakfast to be served. I also got to meet my climbing partner. He is from France, but lives in New York now and has a lot of climbing experience in the ALPS and such. Pretty cool and even nicer that now I have someone to have conversation with instead of talking to myself this whole time. His name is Jean Nicolas, but thats way to long so I shortened it to JN. It works! I had a pancake the size of the plate and some fruit before Louis came to pick us up and take us the hour and a half to Pasochoa. The hike was pretty uneventful other than the fact the weather here is nuts!!! One minute its sunny, the next its pouring, then its cloudy, then its pouring, then its hailing, and then its pouring. Yeah and Im not joking about every 2 minutes either. Wish I would of brought some rain pants! Dang it! We scurried up Pasochoa in no time and well if you want to experience what i saw, go into a Steam Room. Becuase yea, it was super foggy and rainy. Though Pasochoa is an inactive Volcano and their is a huge crater, too bad we really couldn´t see it, we just knew not to fall into it.
When we got back to Papagayo, it was only 2, since we had done the hike so fast. So we had some cake and tea and then talked for a little bit before dinner. So the food here is interesting to say the least. They give us lunch each day, which consists of a banana, crackers, and two disgusting sandwiches. I´m not super picky but its bologny, cheese, and some wierd sauce of some sort...so glad i have my 6lb back of trail mix (more like 4 now!). Dinner I ordered a vegetable and chicken dish. It was good other than the raw eggs they put on it, I tried to eat around that as best I could.
This morning we were attempting Illiznas. Around 16,200ft foot peak and of course when I woke up it was raining! Seriously it doesn´t stop. Well we wanted to get an early start, but I think our guide was on his own time showing up a half an hour late. We got our gear since we needed boots, crampons, ice axe, and harnesses. Finally we were on our way as Pedro our guide wasn´t happy about how the weather was and that the chances of summitting was going to be slim to none. JN and I kept positive as we started the hike to the Refuge that was at around 15,500ft. After 2 anda half hours of pretty steep terrain, the weather basically raining, hailing, raining, cloudy, etc etc. We reached the Refuge where we got some tea and Pedro did a sun dance to try and amke the mad weather go away. After 30min and him telling us we have to go down we convinced him to take us higher. We started on some pretty tough terrain and it all of sudden became sunny! We made it up about 600ft from the summit when the sun turned to hail and rain. It is nuts how fast the clouds move here! So that is when he said we didn´t have a choice since there was lightening and we had to go down. Ahhh but we were so close, but its now are main climb and just an acclimization climb so it wasn´t that big of a deal. So Pedro took off and basically started running down the mountain after we got past the difficult rock part. Gees Ecuadorians are animals. Of course they didn´t have any boots my size so i had to get a size too big. Booo! I knew that was going to happen, even though they reassured me they had small sizes. Yeah right. So my feet were killing me! Though we eventually made it down when another storm was rolling in, oh yeah and it never stopped raining.
It was nice to get back. Tommorrow we have an ´off day´but we are going to go hiking or biking somwhere since its not good to just do nothing. Then we leave for Cotopaxi refuge the next day after. We will see what strange food I end up with tonight! I just hope for the rain to let up for maybe 15min and the clouds so i can actually see the beauty of this land. Hope all is well!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Made it...barely!
Well here I sit in Hosteria Papagayo after I wasn´t sure if i was going to make it or not last night!
All flights were on time, so that wasn´t a problem. While getting on the place I made a few last texts and callsd then headed to board. I was super excited, but also nervous as I have a little anxiety traveling to other countries by myself. Before I left I emailed my agency Í´m working with and made sure that everything was set. They aren´t the best on details, but all I cared about was someone picking me up from the airport. They assured me everything was a go and that tomorrow I would be climbing Pasachoa.
As I got on the flight I hoped perhaps I would get someone to sit next to me that would be interesting to talk to and have some informtion about Quito, the mountains, and the Galapagos. Ha! I got a very elderly couple that didn´t speak a lick of English, nor I don´t think that they traveled ever. This was observed when the elderly man tried to buckle his seat belt with two buckles (which happenned again after he got back from getting up). I think he called me nina loco too at one time, which means crazy child. Then he started saying something to me about my TV on the place. I had no idea what the heck he was saying. AWESOME, that 8 years of Spanish really paid off. So frustrating that at one point I was super good at Spanish and now I basically know the phrase, Donde es el biblioteca. I put the Ipod in and sat there waiting.
Well after 5 long hours in a small seat (yea didn´t get upgraded this time) I was ready to get off go through Customs, grab my luggage, and see my name high on a board from my travel agency.
AFter I grabbed my luggage, I darted out to the mess of people waiting for us to come out. I looked at looked and tried to find anything that said Stefanie Metcalf. No Dice! There were so many people i thought I probably missed it. So I started looking again, still nothing. All that went through my head is, YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! Its like coming home and everyone having someone there to greet them but you, or for my runner friends, while running Hood to Coast and running your ass off to the next hand off and no one is there to hand it off too. YUO, Super frustrated i seeked the help of one of the transportation agents. She was awesome. Since I am an experienced traveller and even though i triple checked that there would be someone there, I had all the numbers to the places. She let me use her cell phone and got a hold of the girl that set up my whole trip. Sure enough, there was a miscommunnication and she was sending one right away. phew! So I waited and waited, decided it was time to dig into my 6lb bag of trail mix and just people watch. Finally an hour and a half later a guy named Jesse came to get me. And then another hour later I was at _Hosteria Papagayo. So my getting in at 1030 changed to midnight. The place I´m staying is literally out in the middle of no where, but it will work. Not a happy camper, but everything worked out and I didnt´have to sleep at the aiport last night.
Doesn´t look like the weather is going to hold out for me though. I don´´t believe it ever stops raining here! ABout time for some breakfast than getting ready to go climb my first mountain. Not to difficult 14,100 peak. (I am at 10,000 right now!) I looked out the window and the mountains here are just spectacular, and HUGE, can´t wait to take pictures even though they don´t give it justice. So I´m excited to start this adventure. And thanks to the girl that helped me in the airport, she was a lifesaver! Time to eat!
All flights were on time, so that wasn´t a problem. While getting on the place I made a few last texts and callsd then headed to board. I was super excited, but also nervous as I have a little anxiety traveling to other countries by myself. Before I left I emailed my agency Í´m working with and made sure that everything was set. They aren´t the best on details, but all I cared about was someone picking me up from the airport. They assured me everything was a go and that tomorrow I would be climbing Pasachoa.
As I got on the flight I hoped perhaps I would get someone to sit next to me that would be interesting to talk to and have some informtion about Quito, the mountains, and the Galapagos. Ha! I got a very elderly couple that didn´t speak a lick of English, nor I don´t think that they traveled ever. This was observed when the elderly man tried to buckle his seat belt with two buckles (which happenned again after he got back from getting up). I think he called me nina loco too at one time, which means crazy child. Then he started saying something to me about my TV on the place. I had no idea what the heck he was saying. AWESOME, that 8 years of Spanish really paid off. So frustrating that at one point I was super good at Spanish and now I basically know the phrase, Donde es el biblioteca. I put the Ipod in and sat there waiting.
Well after 5 long hours in a small seat (yea didn´t get upgraded this time) I was ready to get off go through Customs, grab my luggage, and see my name high on a board from my travel agency.
AFter I grabbed my luggage, I darted out to the mess of people waiting for us to come out. I looked at looked and tried to find anything that said Stefanie Metcalf. No Dice! There were so many people i thought I probably missed it. So I started looking again, still nothing. All that went through my head is, YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! Its like coming home and everyone having someone there to greet them but you, or for my runner friends, while running Hood to Coast and running your ass off to the next hand off and no one is there to hand it off too. YUO, Super frustrated i seeked the help of one of the transportation agents. She was awesome. Since I am an experienced traveller and even though i triple checked that there would be someone there, I had all the numbers to the places. She let me use her cell phone and got a hold of the girl that set up my whole trip. Sure enough, there was a miscommunnication and she was sending one right away. phew! So I waited and waited, decided it was time to dig into my 6lb bag of trail mix and just people watch. Finally an hour and a half later a guy named Jesse came to get me. And then another hour later I was at _Hosteria Papagayo. So my getting in at 1030 changed to midnight. The place I´m staying is literally out in the middle of no where, but it will work. Not a happy camper, but everything worked out and I didnt´have to sleep at the aiport last night.
Doesn´t look like the weather is going to hold out for me though. I don´´t believe it ever stops raining here! ABout time for some breakfast than getting ready to go climb my first mountain. Not to difficult 14,100 peak. (I am at 10,000 right now!) I looked out the window and the mountains here are just spectacular, and HUGE, can´t wait to take pictures even though they don´t give it justice. So I´m excited to start this adventure. And thanks to the girl that helped me in the airport, she was a lifesaver! Time to eat!
Friday, April 15, 2011
Ecuador here I come!
Well I still have two previous posts I still need to make about Aspen and Mountaineering, but I'm going to cut to the chase and do this before those!
So tomorrow I leave for Ecuador. I made this trip really at spur of the moment. I knew though the minute I got laid off that I wanted to go somewhere. I looked at all my options and the costs of each option and found this to be the best! I seek adventure, thrills, and new places! As most of you know I am addicted to traveling and just immersing myself in other cultures and things.
I can't tell you how excited I am to have this opportunity to take this trip. I am not going to take it for granted and I am going to try and share my adventure with everyone through this blog if I have time to update and a computer. Otherwise I will do a lot when I get back.
The plan right now is I leave April 16th for Quito, Ecuador. From there I head out to start climbing some mountains. The first climb is Pasochea at 4199m, then Ilinizas at 5126m, then Cotopaxi at 5897,, and finally Chimborazo at 6310m. If you don't know the conversion, just know they are all over 14,000ft with Coto over 19 and Chimbo over 20. So the only thing I'm worried about is Altitude since no matter how good of shape you are in you have no idea how your body is going to react to it. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be fine and the weather holds out. If the weather isn't good there goes any chance of summitting, but I'd rather come back in one piece then come a piece of the mountain!
After the 7 days of climbing, I head over to the Galapagos islands for 7 days of hiking, biking, and diving. More relaxing and amazing weather! I get home on May 2nd. So that is the jist of it now. I would write more, but my list of things to do before I leave tomorrow is pretty high so I"m off to get things done and maybe go buy an IPAD..hmmmm!
Keep in touch and feel free to email me at metcalf24@gmail.com while I'm gone. I'll miss everyone A LOT!!
Mumford and Sons..
So tomorrow I leave for Ecuador. I made this trip really at spur of the moment. I knew though the minute I got laid off that I wanted to go somewhere. I looked at all my options and the costs of each option and found this to be the best! I seek adventure, thrills, and new places! As most of you know I am addicted to traveling and just immersing myself in other cultures and things.
I can't tell you how excited I am to have this opportunity to take this trip. I am not going to take it for granted and I am going to try and share my adventure with everyone through this blog if I have time to update and a computer. Otherwise I will do a lot when I get back.
The plan right now is I leave April 16th for Quito, Ecuador. From there I head out to start climbing some mountains. The first climb is Pasochea at 4199m, then Ilinizas at 5126m, then Cotopaxi at 5897,, and finally Chimborazo at 6310m. If you don't know the conversion, just know they are all over 14,000ft with Coto over 19 and Chimbo over 20. So the only thing I'm worried about is Altitude since no matter how good of shape you are in you have no idea how your body is going to react to it. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be fine and the weather holds out. If the weather isn't good there goes any chance of summitting, but I'd rather come back in one piece then come a piece of the mountain!
After the 7 days of climbing, I head over to the Galapagos islands for 7 days of hiking, biking, and diving. More relaxing and amazing weather! I get home on May 2nd. So that is the jist of it now. I would write more, but my list of things to do before I leave tomorrow is pretty high so I"m off to get things done and maybe go buy an IPAD..hmmmm!
Keep in touch and feel free to email me at metcalf24@gmail.com while I'm gone. I'll miss everyone A LOT!!
Mumford and Sons..
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