Also, I apologize for typos and sentences that don't make sense. Once I was done, it was too long for me to feel like going back to reread, so I just posted it as is. Enjoy!
Wow… what a weekend! We left on Saturday morning around 8:00. Jenny, Tammy, and I took a taxi to the bus terminal in southern Quito. From there we took a bus to Latacunga and then on to Chugchilán. We arrived at La Posada Oveja Negra around 3:30. The first bus ride we were sitting on a bench directly behind the driver. It was maybe about a foot and a half wide with not nearly enough legroom! The picture of the driver and the lady sitting next to him was just me trying to show how close we were. My knee was right below where the picture cuts off at the driver’s chair. The second bus ride was very interesting… two very drunk men (one more so than the other) got on the bus. The one guy couldn’t even sit upright! He would pass out every now and then and then wake up and start yelling and being annoying. But anyway, the bus ride was absolutely beautiful! We were weaving around the mountains on very narrow dirt roads. Some parts it felt like we were going to fall off the edge of the cliff – so all in all it was very exciting.
The first evening there we got our stuff settled and then went on our first hike. This was the “Ridge Hike”. We hiked up, up, up behind the inn and then followed a ridge along the side of the inn. We then walked down through a field which led us to the road and from there we hiked back up to our inn. This was a short hike (maybe an hour and a half). The first picture of scenery and me is the view from the ridge looking the opposite direction of our inn. The next picture is our inn. The main building with the deck was the yoga, sitting room. Behind that was the main lodge where we ate breakfast and dinner. The next pictures are of a humming bird that had flown into the yoga room. Andrés (one of the inns owners) caught it and let it go. It was a little shocked which is why I was able to catch a picture of it before it flew away. Dinner was family style. Everyone staying at the inn ate together in the main lodge. We met two ladies from Chicago named Barbara and Peg. They were volunteering in the local school in Chugchilán and would be staying for a month. We also met four medical students (Meredith, Laura, Joanna, and Diana) who were working in Riobamba for a short amount of time. Lastly, we met Javier and AnnMarie. A couple that lives less than a mile from my place in Quito. AnnMarie has been living in Quito for two years and is a professor at a local university. She teaches English. Small world… and believe it or not, it gets even smaller. Haha
The second day was our long hike. We took a bus from Chugchilán (which was about a 1 km walk from our inn) to Quilotoa. This bus ride was about one hour. We had two guides as we were traveling with our group, and three of the medical students. I bought a hat made from alpaca fur for $4 and off we went! This used to be a massive volcano. I’m not totally sure what happened but now it is a big crater with a lake in the middle. It’s about the same temperature as Lake Superior. It was super windy at the top so I was very, very happy I had bought a hat! The hike took us about 5 hours and 15 minutes so we made perfect time. It was very, very, very tiring!
Ok, stick with me here. Image 5954 is a shot of where we were standing to where we had to walk to. About 1/3 of the way down from the top of the picture and about 1/3 of the way from the right hand side is a very small white cluster/line thing. This is Chugchilán. In the next picture where I’m posing the same small village is at about he same height but on the very edge of the right hand side. I hope you find it! In the picture after the little boy you can see the village again. This was a very weird part of the hike where this was just a massive sandy spot… very odd.
There were plenty of extremely steep hills we needed to walk down so your toes hurt from sliding in your shoes. It hadn’t rained as much as it should have in a while, so many of the paths were just slippery gravel/sand. No fun to walk on. Jenny (with the white bandana (actually was trying to catch her balance as she turned around for the picture. After the cow picture is a view of what we had just walked down (I’m pretty sure).
The hike was very hot and very strenuous. I slipped on the sand and fell on my butt, only once though! All of the views and small villages and little huts were so beautiful. The entire hike was just incredible. And even though I almost died because of how small some of the paths were, and how close they were to the cliff, and how tired I was, and how much pain I’m in even still today… I wouldn’t have not done it for anything! It was a wonderful experience and quite the adventure!
Image 5983 is the view of our village… getting closer! Although that’s a little deceiving because it’s zoomed in… Image 5989 is a more realistic view of how much farther we needed to go. And it’s in the background of the picture of Jenny, Tammy, and I. I hope you all realize which part of the picture I’m talking about by now! The next picture is an example of the very scary path we needed to walk on. The picture of me being woman – hear me roar – is because up where those pine trees are… we had just climbed down from there.
Because we needed to descend down into the canyon, the last hour or so of the hike was all uphill. The picture after me being woman – hear me roar – is the beginning of this climb. Below the very bottom of this picture is the river… the lowest we went. The next picture is the view of what we had just hiked up. You can see the river in this one. It was extremely steep. I didn’t take many pictures after that because I was practically dying… haha sadly, yes. Even the most gradual incline was difficult after hiking extreme downhills and the random steep climb for the four previous hours. The picture of the band was the first picture I took once we arrived in Chugchilán. It was a VERY exhausting day!
Upon arrival at the inn I met some new people. Maggie, Megan (don’t remember which one) and her husband Bryan, who are from…. get this…. Bemidji, Minnesota! What are the chances of that… Not only did they have a connection with me, but they had a connection with Jenny too. Earlier on the trip she had been telling me about this sweet, four-day folk fest in Winnipeg that she absolutely loves! As soon as they found out she was from Winnipeg they told her they have been going to the folk fest ever since it started! Another couple arrived while we were gone and we met at dinner that night. Carson (from Kentucky) and Jen (from South Dakota). After they had been talking with the husband and wife from Bemidji they discovered their son’s best friend was one of Carson’s best friends! Can the world get any smaller?!?!? I don’t think so… Those are all the crazy connections I can think of.
There’s a picture of me next to a small door, which leads into the sauna. I took a sauna after my massage :) It was really needed after such a strenuous day. The rest of the pictures are the main lodge area where we ate dinner, the directions for the compost toilet (a very cool idea… and it doesn’t smell. It smells like lovely cedar wood.), some early morning sunrise shots, the view of our room/bathroom area, and Mount Iliniza Sur.
I didn’t sleep very well on Sunday night (after our long hike) because I was extremely stuffy and couldn’t breathe very well. But the next day we did a two hour hike (approximately 99% uphill) to the Cheese Factory that some Swiss missionaries started. It was crazy. I was so exhausted. I have never felt like I literally could not walk any farther. My leg muscles were completely dead. In Image 6038 our inn was on the other side of the farthest fairly clear ridge/edge/mountain thing. I’m standing with Miguel, our guide, in the picture of me with cheese in my hand. It was very fresh and delicious!
God really stepped in on Monday. While visiting the cheese factory, who pulls up in a car but the first and second grade counselor from our school (her and her family had arrived at the inn the night before)! Jenny knows this wonderful lady from being a second grade teacher the year before. We had a truck scheduled to bring us to Zumbahua so we could take a bus to Latacunga, another one to Quito, and then a taxi back to our place (another very long day ahead of us). However, we realized we were never going to make it back in time for our hired truck driver and we were all exhausted. So we decided to hitch a ride part way home because this family was going to visit the cloud forest before heading back. However, on our way back down the mountain this immense fog/mist rolled in (this happens often). Within 5 minutes you couldn’t see anything. They decided it wasn’t worth it to go to the cloud forest as they wouldn’t be able to see much and we drove all the way back to the inn with them. The blessing doesn’t stop there! Upon arrival we realized AnnMarie and Javier hadn’t left yet. They were planning on leaving around noon (in their very own car) and we knew we were going to miss them with our original plan of hiking back and driving with a truck driver. So Jenny talked to them about us three driving back to Quito with them. AnnMarie said she was going to ask us but knew we weren’t planning on being back until later and didn’t want to ask Javier to wait that long. But since we arrived over 2 hours before schedule they were more than happy to take us home! So not only were we able to skip a long, dreadful 2+ hour hike back to the inn, we skipped a 7+ hour trek home. On our way back we stopped at the Italian furniture store (yes mom, I got to!). The things there were absolutely beautiful! All hand carved wood – simply amazing.
By the time I got home last night I was feeling so sick (from being tired, sunburned, and aching all over) I went to bed around 8:30. I took 3 ibuprofen and 1 dramamine and I slept wonderfully. I’m feeling much better today and couldn’t be happier with how I spent my weekend
I hope you made it through my very, very, very, very, very long post. I’ll end quickly. I still miss you all and hope everyone had a fantastic Valentine’s day! Chao
con amor,
annmarie
