El Paramo

I had a grand adventure this weekend traveling up North to “El Paramo del Angel”, a reserve up next to Colombia (not quite, but pretty close) home to a very special ecosystem. A paramo is an ecosystem found at very high altitudes at the top of the mountains. Due to its height, it’s fairly dry and windy, breeding especially hardy species well-adapted to the climate. Paramo del Angel is particularly known for its polylepis forest, an ancient and paramo-specific tree. This forest is one of the oldest of its kind and unique at that.

As it was a three-day weekend, we set off on Friday morning, mildly disappointed as we watched the street vendors set up in front of the stadium (Saturday was the world-cup qualifier game between the national Ecuadorian team and Uruguay, held in Quito, literally across the street from my house; our trip was poorly timed in this regards).


We first traveled through more dry inter-Andean valley regions, stopping to see different views of this ecosystem. It got old after a while, especially with the bugs and sun at each stop, though I still think it’s a cool ecosystem.

One of my favorite stops was at a flower plantation, where we got a tour from one of the brothers that runs the place. I think he was the hippy of the family, because his thing was cultivating organic, native bromeliads. He took us on a walk through a dry forest that had tons of wild bromeliads, cactus, and other cool things (including a dead cow carcass that had been left out for the wolves). The dork inside me loved it.

We got to tour the rest of the business too, which is mostly focused on the cultivation of hypericums, a beautiful little flower. It was really awesome to get to walk through the fields; I was very happy and for a second, understood the attraction of being a farmer.


That afternoon we stopped at the Guallabamba Zoo. Me, the sucker for zoos, loved this too, especially since the zoo specialized in native Ecuadorian animals. Got to see lots of cool things like osos de anteojos [spectacled bear], coatis, and squirrel monkeys as well as Ecuadorian squirrels (yeah, they’re down here too!). After, we drove to Otavalo again and spent the night.

Saturday was quite the adventure for us as we didn’t actually complete anything that had been written on our schedule (except get to our final destination). We stopped at a few towns on the way, including Lita, a tiny little town where we ate lunch next to a beautiful river. A few people went swimming before we hopped back in the car and drove some more. We finally arrived at Polylepis Lodge fifteen minutes before the game started (much to our professor and driver’s delight). We tried to watch the game, but alas, being up in the remote mountains doesn’t do much for reception, nor does a room full of hardcore Ecuadorians and a tiny very squiggly tv do for watching. So instead, us gringos went for a walk/hike up the mountainside. I am so glad we did, as we got to the top right at sunset and had a gorgeous view with awesome lighting, complete with really cool plants (fraillejones).

Tor walking ontop the ridge

Sunday, we got to explore and take a walk/hike with one of the guides from the lodge through the polylepis forest and back into the valley. These trees are really cool, because they are just so old. This forest in particular is protected because it is particularly old. The fraillejones are also really awesome flora specially geared for living in mildly desolate conditions. The petals, however, are “as soft as llamas’ ears” as Tor describes it. I was just a bundle of happiness after spending all weekend outside with other dorky ecology kids.

Tor and I in front of a waterfall during our walk through the forest

I really enjoyed getting out of Quito for the weekend, and especially going up to the Paramo. Quito is a cool city, but I am just not a city girl at all, and to be out in the open hills and mountains, breathing fresh air, is really something to be appreciated. The paramo almost reminded me of the Scottish highlands or something, with its colors and shrubbery and whatnot. It really was rejuvenating to get out and back into nature for a while. It’s good for my soul and definitely for my happiness and sanity.

Fraillejone at sunset