Cotopaxi

Got conquered by the mountain, but not defeated!

Volcanology class went to Cotopaxi yesterday to see Ecuador’s tallest volcano and learn about rock-things. Ecuadorians also like to claim that it is the tallest volcano on earth, since technically, from the center of the earth to the top of Cotopaxi, it’s the farthest distance (the earth is not actually a perfect sphere, but a weird oval-ish shape instead). However, this is just wrong as we all know that Hawaii in fact has the highest volcano with Mauna Loa. They like to pretend though. I´ll let them dream.

We arrived at Cotopaxi after several hours of bus (which once again left at 630 am on a Saturday, yay), watching the mountain grow larger and clearer all the way from Quito (I can see this mountain on my morning busride). Someone got left in the bathroom at one of our stops, so we got delayed, and thus Theo was pissed at us, but whatever, I thought it was pretty entertaining. When we finally got to the base the mountain was even more impressive, as we stood looking up at this huge, snow-capped volcano.

We took some time and got some lessons about the area. Theo, being crazy, made all 107 of us run down this ridiculously steep hill that was basically the consistency of really loose and deep sand. I was glad I had my botas de gaucho [rubber boots] because it prevented any rocks from getting in my socks. We saw some cool rock stuff, then, of course, had to get back up the hill. Again, crazy man. Imagine running in sand. Now imagine running in sand up a super steep hill. NOW imagine running up a super steep hill made of sand, 14,000 ft up with altitude slamming you with every breath. Yeah, crazy.

In any case, once back at the parking lot, we had 90 minutes to climb the mountain on our own to go see the glacier if we wanted. I really wanted to get up there, so we started trekking upwards. If I thought the first part about the sand hill was hard, this was even harder. The higher we got, the harder it became. The altitude really started to get to me and me and the other girls I was with had to stop frequently. We're not in the tip-toppest of shape, but we're all pretty active, but that hike just destroyed us. There were several points where I had to just stop because I was so dizzy and light-headed I was afraid if I kept going I'd pass out. I've never really had a problem with altitude before, but this time it definitely got me. The girls and I commented that it felt like we'd been drinking, but we were all completely sober. Unfortunately, due to the altitude, we didn't get all the way up to the glacier, though we did make it to our goal: the snow line. Silly Michigan girls getting excited about Ecuadorian snow. :)

We came back down and made some more stops learning about rocks on our way south towards Baños. However, I think the altitude and strenuous hike really got to me because I felt pretty sick the rest of the afternoon. I decided that instead of going all the way to Banos with the rest of the class I'd come back to Quito with some friends that night instead. Three traveling weekends plus mountain climbing has taken a toll on my body and I felt like I needed the rest.

We took a 2.5 hr bus back to Quito ($1.50 oh yes) then ended up in a terminal waaaay far south in the city. It took some figuring out and impulsive decisions but we finally made it back to Tova's house (another K student) by about 8ish. It was a bit nervous but kind of exciting to sort of know where you're going but just going ahead anyways. Was exhausted when I finally got home, but it was definitely an awesome experience. Just you wait, Cotopaxi... I may be back for round two!

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

Papallacta

I have discovered that I have the most insane man ever (Theofilos Toulkeridis, aka Theo) as my volcanology teacher. Yesterday, we took a trip to Papallacta, in the Eastern region of Ecuador (towards the Amazon, from Quito). Once again I found myself on a multi-hour bus ride at 630am on a Saturday morning (I gladly slept in today).

Our first stop was a quarry, seemingly, in the middle of nowhere on the side of a random road. Of course, as soon as we got off the bus and grouped up and starting talking about what rocks we were to collect, it started raining. Big drops too, not just little drizzles. By the time we had collected our designated 3 rocks [granite, basalt, and natural asphalt], we were all soaked.

Second stop to collect clay shale involved stopping at the side of another random road then climbing up a hill made of clay bits. Combine this with rain and you have pretty squishy ground. Result: very muddy and wet students.

Stop number three was our best example of Theo’s insanity. Again, stop on a random street where we walk a block, go through seemingly someone’s field, over a barbed wire fence, then over a super rickety bridge. Then, all 60-70 of us RUN across this bridge (complete with holes and super creaky and breaking wood at some parts) to cross the river. Shall we say intense?


Then we go marching up into the hills, without any trail, I should mention. We hike for a short period of time through some vegetation, mud, and water. At this point, we’ve done the caterpillar thing and the front of the group was stopped in this small gorge. Theo says “ok, we’re going to keep going” and of course we assume farther up the gorge. Instead, Theo jumps into the bushes on the side of the hill and starts to just climb up the wall of the gorge. We think he’s kidding, but he’s not. So up we all go. In case you’ve never done it, climbing up the side of a heavily vegetated, also pretty steep hill, in the rain and mud, is ridiculous. For a good part of the climb there wasn’t stable ground or holds (roots, branches, etc). As I was at the end of the line (literally 2nd to last) the ground had all been smoothed down or the vegetation had been ripped out making it an especially adventurous climb for us.
When we finally made it to the top of the hill, we found out that we were just going down the other side, which was mostly just sliding and holding onto bamboo and trees as you just kind of went down with gravity. At the bottom, we then jumped back and forth across a river/walked straight through it. We then came out, please pay attention here, at the exact same gorge we just climbed out of. Insane? I think so.


We then came out of the gorge, back the way we came in, and took a right, walked through a wide path that had become entirely mud after 60 people walked through it. This, followed by tromping through the forest and we ended up at a huge rock face. This was actually very cool as Theo explained how the Andes were formed and other geology things. We collected another rock [Andasita] and made our way back out through the mud back to the bus.


We were all super dirty and tired but this was not our last stop! We drove to another random spot, got off the bus, trekked straight through a river, up along it through the forest and came to a small waterfall (we didn’t have time to go all the way up to the larger waterfall) where we collected two more rocks [quartz and a metamorphic rock].


We finished off the day with an awesome trip to the natural hot springs in Papallacta. Sitting in the wonderfully warm baths after spending all day muddy, cold, and wet, was the best way to wrap it all up.
Although it was a crazy day and at points frustrating, challenging, and exhausting (I now have a splinter/thorn in my finger that won’t come out, makes typing a pain—haha! that’s a pun!), I had a GREAT time. I love hiking more than anything, and I think mud and rain just make it even more fun. Although it was hard to go in such a large group, I had fun hanging out with everyone in my class and just being out in general. I came home, showered (took all my clothes and shoes into the shower with me because they were so dirty) and promptly fell asleep by 1030 on a Saturday night.

Another gringo amigo, Chris, and I in front of the forest we hiked through

Otavalo

Finally updating, several days late but school and internet have been interfering with my blogging abilities. Normally I´d let it go, but this is just one adventure that needs to be documented and shared. Also warning, very long, but i put in pictures where i could, so it shouldn't be as boring.

This past weekend the Kalamazoo Krew all took a trip to Otavalo together. It was a grand adventure that began at 630am on saturday morning with a bus full of cheerfully awake college students (haha, yeah right). We all passed out and woke up at 9am to a beautiful vista where we stopped and took pictures, hung out with a sheep and llama, played some frisbee, had a little cafecito, and got psyched for Otavalo.

First stop, the animal market where we saw a mariad of animals. Not the usual type of biodiversity but still something to behold. The thing that got me the most was that everyone just kept their animals in sacks. Ie there were people standing with just bags full of guinea pigs. It was pretty cool. Some kids got a little weirded out by it/were incomfortable, but I didn´t feel like this at all. Somehow I am used to seeing animal markets or livestock all in one place?

Yeah, that's a bag of guinea pigs (Cui) which are a delicacy here ($8)

Second stop, fruit market. If you didn´t know, Ecuador is home to a ton of fruits I´ve never seen before in my life and the market was cool to see this. The outside was full of vendors while the inner part of the market was more like a bunch of stalls selling food (soup, plates of food like meat and beef and whatnot). It reminded me alot of China town back in Hawaii and how the produce, food smells, smoke, and people and cooking smells were just everywhere. Also, the mild sketchiness of the food and general chaos of such close quarters.

Next Stop and last market was actually my favorite. We got to spend a few hours shopping at the famous Otavalo Artisan Market, the largest of its kind in Ecuador. It was really fun to get to wander around and see all the products, especially the brightly colored fabrics that South America is so famous for. They had everything from hammocks, to scarves, shirts, pants, wool socks, knit hats, panama hats, bags, food, sheep/llama-skin rugs, bracelets, jewelry, everything!! It was crazy! Everything was super brightly colored too (which of course made me very happy). I actually really enjoyed bargaining too, even if it was my first time doing it. Unfortunately, I was so overwhelmed by everything, I didn't take any pictures, but hopefully I'll go back in the next few months and remember to actually get some.

By the time we met up again, we were all starving and were taken to a traditional restaurant for some good Otavalo food, most of which I'd had in Quito in my house before. There we also got a weaving demonstration by our guide's father. Learning about the indigenous people of Ecuador really reminded me of learning about Hawaiians as well as just indigenous groups throughout the world. Eventually maybe I'll post on my musings on this and how this trend seems to be progressing across the globe with all differnet cultures.


After lunch we went to Parque Condor where we were able to see different types of raptors from all over the Andean region. It was very exciting for me (as I LOVE birds of prey in general) and we also got a cool demonstration by the owner of the park. In case you didn't know, the Andean Condor is basically one of the symbols for both Ecuador and the indigenous population here. Also, if you didn't know, these birds are freakin HUGE. Like, bigger than a small child. 3x the size of my dog. Ridiculous but very awesome animals.

On our way down the mountain, we stopped and saw something I thought was really cool and interesting. This tree, standing on the top of this hill all by itself, is actually somewhere around 200 years old. There's a legend about it having some sort of pair, like an old lover but they couldn't be together and so the other tree is on one of the other mountains across the valley (reminds me of the naupaka legend). Apparently it's a symbolic tree and people will come to solidify their love for forever and that sort of thing. Another thing that's cool is that it's also become kind of a symbol for the indigenous people of the region. Despite years of wars and conquest and defeat, the tree has always been a strong point on the valley (it's a hill, so strategically a stronghold, naturally) but it's also lasted for 200 years, despite people trying to tear it down and everything. Some kids even set fire to the inner trunk, but it's still going.
This story really reminded me alot of the history of Hawaiians over the years, and it was cool to see this here, a simple tree just going on living and surviving after all these years.

Despite our tiredness, we were dragged to a music museum, which was actually pretty cool. We got a demonstration of how to make those little pipe flute things, which was super interesting for me (music dork, admitedly) and seeing and hearing him measure all the pitches simply by ear was very cool. Then the man and his family came out, his daughters performed a traditional dance and then the whole family sang a song. That was fun and cool. The little kid was also very cute because he was kinda tired by the end of the song and so his rhythm was slow, but still cute (he's playing a percussion instrument made of sheep hooves in this picture).


FINALLY we ate dinner and were very happy about it. We celebrated all the September birthdays with cake and really cheesy jazz-covers of happy birthday and it was fun. Unfortunately, our night was not over as we then piled back into the bus and were taken to a random street and put in a very small basement to witness a traditional shaman cleansing.

4 K students (Tor, Luis, Melissa, and Beth) volunteered to be "cleansed" and this was actually really crazy, interesting, and different. I don't remember exactly what the woman did (I was at a delirious stage of exhaustion by now) but it was all done in a mixture of Catholicism/traditional religion and Spanish/Quichua. The ritual involved (from what I remember):

1. Everyone rubbing their body with candles ("like washing with soap")
   
2. Volunteers stripping down to their underwear and standing in smoke from a mixture of charcoal, incense, and other dried plants and things.
3. Volunteers standing with arms outstreched while the woman used a mixture of alcohol and stuff to blow fire all over their bodies (not actually touching them).
   
4. The woman blowing cigarette smoke over the students.
5. The shaman blew cigarette smoke over bunches of leaves (eucalyptus?), then spat the alcohol mixture, then shaking the leaves against the students' bodies, head to toe.
6. Rubbed 2 eggs all over each student's body, head to toe, after blowing cigarette smoke over the eggs.
7. Each student "washing" themselves with a mixture of purfume, red carnation petals, and some other liquids (face, body, legs, feet).
   
8. The shaman chewing up more red carnation petals, mixing them with the alcoholic mixture (?) and spitting it on the volunteers' bodies and backs.
9. Volunteers should bathe, eat spicy foods/pork/onions for minimum 1 day, 3 is better.

Finally back to the hotel and we all crashed out. I'm tired just writing this and I can't believe that was only day 1.

DAY 2!!!!!
After breakfast, we visited Peguche, the beautiful sacred waterfall of Otavalo. It was nice because we got to walk through a beautiful forest park to get to the waterfall first. Once we finally got there we had the opportunity to go exploring, which of crouse was fun. Although the waterfall itself wasn't particularly large, it was still pretty. Lauren and I climbed up above the waterfall, which in itself was fun (I have never gotten over my love for rock scrambling).


After our little jaunt, we drove to La Reserva Cotocachi-Cayapo, a nature reserve home to Lake Cuicocha. We hiked and saw a great view of Mt Cayambe (it was an awesomely clear day). After our hike, we arrived at Lake Cuicocha, a gorgeous volcanic lake at the base of Mt Cuicocha. The lake also has 2 small islands in it, which we got a full view of during a boatride.


As a moment of sheer geekiness, I got really excited during this hike while seeing all the flora because it really reminds me of Hawaii. The dry ecosystem has alot of the same things found in the drier parts of Hawaii (acacia everywhere, and a bunch of other plants that I couldn't identify but made me feel at home). The height of this geekiness was when we were actually on the boatride on the lake and I saw these birds near the shore of one of the islands. I freaked out because they look almost identical to Alae Ke'oKe'o, one of the endemic waterfowl we have back home! This of course got me thinking of geographic and genetic distribution and just geeking out about ecology in general...Lunch was very exciting and we got to walk through the tiny town of Cotacachi, famous for its leather goods. Sadly, I forgot my wallet on the bus and was unable to buy myself a belt (which I have been desperately needing).

We finished up the trip with a short hike and view of San Pablo Lake and some more lectures on culture and ecology and the like. By this time were all exhausted and it was mildly lost on us, but the view was cool, especially with the late afternoon sun.


One would think this was the end of our adventure, but no... we finished up the trip by sitting for the next 4 hours on the bus. First, there was a landslide so we had to take an already longer route back to Quito. Then, there was apparently an accident that left us going at about 5 mph through winding mountain roads in a bus full of tired, crazy college students. By the time we got back to Quito at 930pm, we were pretty much crazed. Despite my strongest attempts, I fell asleep reading my unfinished homework promptly 5 minutes after sitting down at home. An exhausting, but awesome weekend.