Outa This World... Well, Almost

September 2011

Tumbaco and Tena, Ecuador

   By the beginning of September, I was once again heading up to the highlands and Quito for "Reconnect" (the 3 months at site training). Reconnect is a time for volunteers who have been out at site for just over 3 months to come back to a central location, talk about their experiences thus far and discuss potential projects moving forward. For me, Reconnect was a bit slow and felt more like summer camp than actual work. However, the week flew by as I had my sights set on a much higher horizon... Cotopaxi.

  Cotopaxi stands as one of Ecuador's majestic peaks, rising from the Amazon basin to a staggering 19,347 feet.  It is said to be one of the world's highest active volcanoes and described by volcanoloegists as one of the most perfectly shaped volcanoes on earth; with a nearly perfect symmetrical cone, topped by an equatorial glacier and a nearly perfect crater. I had suggested taking a run at Cotopaxi during training and during the weeks leading up to Reconnect I realized now was time. Not only would I be able to stay a week at altitude for Reconnect but I had also spent large portions of the month before in Quito as well, so I was as acclimatized as I'd ever be. After making all my preparations and connecting with one of the most well known mountaineering guides in the country, I was hard pressed to think about anything but climbing during the entire week of Reconnect. 

  By the end of the week my climbing buddy, Christina, and I could hardly sit still. Come Saturday we packed up our gear and headed into Quito to rent out the technical gear that didn't find space in my luggage from home. For the mere price of 35 dollars I was stocked and ready to head off to the mountains; we met up with our guide, Edgar, and caught a ride to Cotopaxi. From the edge of the National Park you can pay a taxi $30 for a round trip into base camp and from there it is an hour hike and a 700 foot climb to the Refugio camp which sits at a lofty 15,750 feet above sea level. Here we dropped our packs and took an afternoon walk up the mountain to help acclimatize to the altitude. On that day we made it to 16,400 feet and I felt great! The view from the hill was amazing, with light cloud cover we could see all of Quito and many of the surrounding great peaks of the Andes. Shortly after our descent to the to the refuge camp we were making dinner as the full moon rose up over the shoulder of Cotopaxi, illuminating its slopes completely. At dinner we were visited by two foxes that live around the camp. To bed at 8 with at best, 30 minutes of real sleep.

  Shortly after midnight headlamps clicked on and the high mountain refuge camp was alive with the sounds of pots clanging, boots in the stairwell and climbers making last minute adjustments to their packs before setting off by 1 a.m. With Edgar in the lead, followed by Christina and then myself at the tail, we began our slow trudge up the hillside, wide awake with excitement for the climb to come. By 3 a.m. we were stepping into our crampons and onto the glacier at about 16,700 feet.  The weather held over night and we were climbing in full moonlight, many climbers had shut their headlamps off! Climbing to 17,000 feet on an equatorial glacier on a clear night with a full moon is definitely one of a kind experience and as the cold bite of sub-zero winds stung at our faces, we marched on, kick-stepping further up the glacier. An hour and a half later we made it to 5,400 meters, or 17,717 feet, and were stopped by a very large crevasse cutting across the entire side of the mountain. Everyone was shining their headlamps into the crevasse, which gave the glacier an eerie glow as if it were light from within, searching for a potential route over.  

   Our guide Edgar came to us to discuss a route that one group had managed earlier. Where the snow bridge had melted out, we could slide down an 8 foot wall of ice to a small ledge, then with our face to the wall, jump backward over a 4 foot gap and turn to land on the opposite wall ledge. From there it was an 8 foot climb back out using pick axes and crampons to a small platform where a guide had placed a small wooden board to cross another 6 foot gap in the glacier. We were also informed that due to the failing conditions of the remaining parts of the snow bridge we would need to cross quickly and then find an alternate route down once having reached the summit. Further down the mountain I had noticed my climbing partner was rapidly growing weaker due to the high altitude and by the time we got to this point in our climb she was having a hard time holding a conversation, let alone put one foot in front of the other; I knew that we would be pushing our luck to try and get everyone to the summit and out safely. Between her declining condition and what appeared to be one bank vault away from a mission impossible movie getting over the crevasse, we made the decision to forgo our summit attempt to return another day. 

   After making the final decision to turn around at 17,717 feet I opened my water bottle which I had inside my backpack. Immediately after lowering the bottle from my lips the entire contents of my water bottle froze completely solid, movie sound effects and all. According to my sources that would put us down around 20-25 degree below zero.....reeeeeeaalllyyyy cold! And this was long after my insulated camelback hose had gone solid as well. Our decent down the mountain was fairly quick and I led the charge. We arrived back to the refuge around 5:30 and hunkered down in the frosty cabin until our ride came at 9. A short ride out to the road and a bus to Quito put us back on city streets by lunch time and after a fine fair well, I caught my bus headed to the jungle. All in all, it was a great experience and I made it 3,306 feet higher than I have ever been, not to mention to one of the furthest points from the center of the world on earth. Due to the equatorial bulge of the planet (think of a spinning water balloon that would get fatter in the middle) the mountains that lie on the equator are actually further from the center of the earth than the Himalayan Mountain Range. So on that day I stood nearly 4,000 feet further from the center of the earth than the top of Mount Everest!

   Later in September, I was invited to the anniversary celebrations of a community I work work called Campo Cocha. The day I went to this 5 day festival was the final ceremony. The day began with the presentation of the national flag and opening words from the community president. Following the welcome the community leaders began an annual tradition of "passing the torch" so to say to the in coming delegates. The ceremony consists of both the out going and in coming community president, vice-president, 2 directors of community affairs and the winner of the annual beauty pageant to kneel down before the village elder (my host-mom's brother!) who dripped juice from freshly pressed tobacco leaves into both eyes and nostrils. This causes an immediate burning sensation in the eyes and excessive running of the nose. While some coughed and hacked and tried to fight the burning with glasses of water, the elders merely took the pain, silently knelt on the ground. Following this demonstration tobacco was passed around to each house hold where parents put tobacco into the eyes of each child who in repeated the process to their parents. I was later told by the village elder that this ancient tradition establishes respect between parents and their children and also makes them stronger. The festivals were then concluded with a game of soccer, in which I played on the winning team, and a large lunch for which they had killed a cow earlier in the day. 

  

The rest of September and into October was spent in my community, helping around the house and working in the family farm. We cleaned out the fish ponds, cleared jungle brush, hunted (unsuccessfully), planted yuca and plantain, harvested from the fields and I even made a pizza in my earthen oven! At the end of the month a fellow volunteer who lives 6 hours south from me was passing through Tena with her parents and asked me to play tour guide for the day. I took them on a canoe ride down the river to the community of Kamak Maki (one of my favorite communities where we work). We toured the botanical garden which is full of medicinal plants from the area, walked through the Kichwa museum which shows the many different types of traditional transportation and hunting traps, and we got to interact with the many animals that live in and around the community. Jess and her parents really enjoyed the community and I think it helped to prepare them for river rafting the next day, I sadly was unable to go.