November 24: It's the Climb- Chimborazo

Antonia and Ashley dancing to reggaeton :)

Huddling for warmth at the shelter below

Striking the Dr. Melampy pose--in Dr. Melampy's hat :)

Antonia

This is how we all felt

Como te llama? Or alpaca? not sure.


November 24, 2009
Location: Riobamba
Weather: Cold, cloudy

Just like every place is more and more amazing each new place, the hikes are getting progressively harder and longer, though also easier as I get into better shape. By far, by far today's hike was the hardest.

Mount Chimborazo is an extinct volcano that towers about all other peaks on earth. How? No, it's not the highest mountain above sea level in the world, but it is the closes peak to the sun. It reaches 20,565.0 ft! It's the tallest mountain in Ecuador. According to the ever-reliable source of Wikipedia (though this is a well-known fact), "its location along the equatorial bulge makes its summit the farthest point on the Earth's surface from its center" and therefore closest to the sun. Now, we didn't hike all that far. Emily, Paul, Lizzie, and Dr. Martin are going to tomorrow but it cost extra money and I have never been more exhausted physically in my life.

We began on a lower slope of the mountain, where we saw llamas, or alpacas, I don't know. It begins to look sparsely populated with vegetation at that level. The paramo is grassy with drought-resistant plants and very few animals.

It's cold--so cold we bundled into layers of pajama pants and field pants, sweaters, gloves, hats, and parkas. Snow was piled in places at higher levels.

We made it to about 16,000 feet above sea level. At that point, there is a little hut in which you can rest and stay the night if you want to brave the next 4,000 feet. There is relatively little elevation but it is very, very strenuous to walk. The air is so thin, you move only a few steps and feel your lungs burning for air. The normal breaths that you take don't seem to be enough, even though your body is telling you that it should be enough in normal situations. It's rewarding to say that you have made a pretty good hike at 16,000 feet (the highest I've ever been) but I'm beat.

At the top, I asked Dr. Melampy if I could borrow his hat for a photo op. He's always standing with one leg propped up on a rock, or on a step, like he's Captain Morgan. I have teased him about it but I was curious how he would take me blatantly imitating him today. I really, really like the guy. He has been so helpful and kind to me on this trip, even though I thought at first that he was a gruff fellow. As it turns out, he has a dry sense of humor and laughed at me when I struck his pose (see the photo above). I like him very much indeed. :)

The little cabins were perfect for hot tea and hot strawberry soup after we completed our hike. Some of our group even had to forgo the hike altogether because of altitude sickness. Again, I'm thankful that I am never afflicted with that. I'm terribly out of shape in general but my body has responded well to the changes I'm thrust upon it on this trip.

Tomorrow, we set off by train to Riobamba again. We've heard that there were some changes to the train so we shall see...