La Costa #2

Undeniable. I love the coast. I have an undying complete and total love for the ocean.
Costa Trip #2 was very different, but still awesome. Our Volcanology class went to Crucita, a small town on the Coast of Ecuador. Usually, I don’t enjoy the volcanology trips very much, but this one was actually really awesome. Instead of the 3 full busses, we took just one bus, about half Ecuas half gringos. It was really nice and a lot more chill than all the previous ones we’ve done.

The trip to the coast is between 6-10 hrs, depending where you go. We left Quito at 6pm on Friday and finally got to the hostel-thing at 3am. Yeah… long bus ride. But totally worth it. I also watch more movies on these volc trips than any other time in Ecuador (9 movies this entire weekend? más o menos?) Got back on Sunday around 730 pm, another very long bus ride (left at 1030 am, stopped only for 30 min for lunch all day). But still, totalmente vale la pena.

On Saturday we went inland to some nearby regions and learned rock things. Went to some quarries and other random stops all over the place, including a cute little beach. The beach was fun, although it was way too windy, cloudy, and cold to go swimming. We saw an exposed area of the Carnegie Ridge and other plate things used in the creation of the Galapagos. Was cool. Also got to see a raided sea turtle nest and another dead honu. That part was sorta sad, but also cool.

We got back to Crucita around 5 and all went to the beach. Our hostel was directly across the road from the water, which was awesome. I had an “oh man… we’re in Ecuador… this is so amazing” moment when we were in the ocean. Standing in the waves, bracing myself in the sand (had a surprisingly strong current for the relatively small waves), bathed in sunset, watching pelicans glide above the ocean… It was amazing.

The rest of the night was really chill and fun. We all just kinda sat around, drank some coconuts and beers, swam in the pool, played Kings with the Ecuadorians, and just kind of hung out. The Ecuadorians were really cool and fun (no screaming girlfriends this time, thank god). Add hammocks, the sound of waves crashing, and great weather to the mix and you can get a sense of the chillness of the night.

All in all, a good weekend. Sitting on the beach and seeing all the plants of the region actually made me somewhat homesick for Hawaii. If I had taken a picture and seen it without knowing, I easily could’ve mistaken it for the Leeward side of Oahu or something. It’s nice to be in such a familiar environment. I felt so at home in the water, jumping under waves and everything, it was definitely a (unexpectedly) good weekend.

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!

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