Trekking and Climbing in South America

THE wool hat!

2006-12-25T18:31:00.000-08:00

The Brun family gets wooly.... With real wool hats from Peru!

Making It Home!

2006-12-23T20:55:00.000-08:00

Here we are after a succesful flight to Houston from Quito. Notice the matching t-shirts, a sure sign of of a successful trip! (The mountains on the shirts are the highest volcanos in Ecuador!) Don't laugh please, we are very serious about our matching t-shirts.Here is a view of the Illizinas mountains from the 757. The mountain on the left is Illizina Norte, a climb we attempted about two weeks ago, but turned around due to poor weather. I got a kick seeing it from the airplane window and a good parting view of Ecuador.

Last Days

2006-12-22T14:13:00.000-08:00

It is our last day in Quito, which means some major packing up and baggage rearranging. It's amazing to see how much stuff we've been packing around this country. Tommorrow we'll be leaving for the airport at 4:30am. With some luck we'll make it back to Portland and Boise in time for Christmas!
Michelle says: ¨I will crush these little crampons to dust with the strength of my fingers. Hurry up and finish packing everything up Alex or I will do the same to you!¨
Before returning to Quito, we made a trip to Lake Cuichocha, Ecuador´s most scenic lake (according to the guidebook). It was actually really overcast on our visit, so not wanting everyone to miss out, I took this photo of the what the lake and the mountain (cotchachi) look like in good weather (a rare occurence) in the visitor center.
Here is a view of the lake on the day we visited. The lake was formed when the crater of a volcano collapsed. The two islands, barely visible in this photo, were formed by a flare up of volcanic activity. The islands resemble cuy, guinea pigs, hence the name cuicocha.
The park is home to many types of flower and fauna including the rare condor and oso de anteojos, bear of eyeglasses. There were numerous orchids and other beautiful wildflowers.
Here the lake is submerged by the fog that kept creeping over the southern ridge.
After the attempt on Chimborazo we spent of few days resting in Quito and then bussed it to Otavalo. Otavalo is a small town just north of Quito known for its artesian market. The success of the market has resulted in an affluent city. Here is a church on the far side of a pretty plaza.
The Otavalo market. During the week the market is limited to a plaza in Otavalo. On saturday it takes over the entire city. Small communities outside Otavalo specialize in producing various items including leather, weavings, and paintings. They bring these items to market in Otavalo to sell. Indigenous communities around Otavalo are some of the most affluent in the country due to the success of the market and tourism.
School girls march in a parade in Otavalo. Festivies like these take place throughout the country in anticipation of Christmas. Often the parades include dancing and music.

Chimborazo

2006-12-18T17:52:00.000-08:00

Chimborazo is the highest mountain in Ecuador. The equatorial bulge means that the summit of Chimborazo is the closest you can be to the sun while on earth, closer even than Mount Everest! Chimborazo can be a challenging climb depending on the conditons, if it hasn't snowed recently, the ridge to the summit can actually be low grade ice climbing! Fortunately there had been a lot of snow, so we thought we'de do some exploring. We stayed at the refugio, a measely 16,400 ft.

The mountain was covered in clouds until just before sunset. Here the fog rolls away to reveal a brief glimpse of sunlight. We've discovered that the mountains tend to be cloudy from mid-morning until late evening. Nights and early morning are often crystal clear.

Our expersions reveal our moods perfetly. Alex: excitement. Michelle: near hysterical anticipation.
We started the climb with the four other guided groups at 12:15, walking up a snow covered moraine, then winding our way through large rock terraces and around these peculiar ice tables.

At 18,000ft a funny thing happened, Alex started walking like he was intoxicated: alitude sickness was starting to show. We had just gained the promient ridge, which leads to the summit. Michelle by the way, was kicking butt at this altitude, virtually pulling me up the hill. Not liking the idea of trying to descend all the way from the summit, being out of balance and exhausted, we turned around. Two hours later we were followed by the other guided groups due to bad avalanche conditions above.

We were back to refugio by 4:30 am and Alex tried to sleep off the searing headache. No luck. He didn't start to feel better until we were driving toward Riobamba.

Michelle on the descent back to the trailhead. She was so full of energy that she actually carried Alex on her back. Descending from the refugio to the road you pass through a graveyard with memorials to climbers who have died on Chimborazo. Pretty sombering. We were back in Riobamba by lunch time and on a bus to Quito within an hour. Only in Ecuador can you get to and from 20,000ft peaks so easily.

One last look at the mountains (because we haven't figured out how to erase photos).

Banos

2006-12-18T17:49:00.000-08:00

After Cotopaxi, we headed south on the Panamerica to the small city of Riobamba and then on to one of Ecuador´s top five tourist spots, Banos, for some serious relaxing. A small town perched directly under this extremely active volcano. We even heard it rumble once as it belched ash and steam! In 1996 the town was evacuated, but when the volcano failed to errupt the government let people return to their homes. In August of this year the volcano spit lava, which caused a mudslide wiping out a section of the road to Banos! But according to our taxi driver, after seven years of living beneath the belching volcano, he wasn´t particularly afraid of an impending erruption.
Alex looks suave on his smooth rider. One of the big tourist activies is to bike from Banos toward the jungle. The road runs alongside the Rio Pastaza, which is fed by spectacular waterfalls. It reminded us of the waterfalls that can be seen from Highway 20 during early summer in the North Cascades.
Another popular tourist activity is bridge swinging. Like bungy jumping, except the rope is ridged in such a way that you swing rather than fall. Neither Alex nor I wanted to give it a try. Here we are watching another adventurous (dumb?) young tourist.
The bike route passes by the access point for Pailon del Diablo, the most famous waterfall in Ecuador. Michelle ventures down a slick stairway to the vista point.
The following day we explored the Rio Pastaza from the opposite side, following a trail that winds past citrus orchards, occasional mud houses, orchids, grasslands, and even a schoolhouse. Crazy to think that people living on this side of the river can only get their goods to market by carrying them along the path or taking the taribita across the river (no cars, no moterized equipment).
Michelle crosses the river in the taribita. The cable car was about a 1,000 ft above the river and motored speedily from one side to the other.
Banos is known for a particular type of taffy, which the venders pull and stretch when the candy is still warm to get it to the right consistency. We tried it both hot, straight from the doorknob, and cold after it had been flavored and packaged.

Rest day: Horseback Riding

2006-12-13T16:48:00.000-08:00

Before leaving Hosteria PapaGayo, we arranged for a short horseback tour. It turned out be a great time. A minimal amount of time was spent actually learning how to ride, and soon we hit the cobblestone streets with our guide Luis, who has taught all of the horses how to march! I was a little bit nervous when Luis was teaching us how to ride the horses because all the lessons were in spanish. Fortunately, my horse just happily followed along and I enjoyed the view.
Well this was taken from a moving horse, so the picture is a little crooked. But suffice to say Michelle is a real gaucho, especially with that cowboy hat (climbing helmet). Her horse really enjoyed eating grass. We both walked like cowboys after our time in the saddle.

Cotopaxi

2006-12-10T13:16:00.000-08:00

Hitchiking on the Panamerica highway to get to the entrance of Cotopaxi National Park and then we hired a truck to get to the refugio. Pretty exciting to be hitchiking with an ice axe and crampons.
Our best view of Cotopaxi, it was always covered in clouds.

Michelle on the 35min hike from the trailhead to the Refugio at 15,750ft. After about a week of acclimitization, it actually wasn´t too hard of a hike, we were surprised to find out.

Jose Rivas Refuge. A nice little place with two wood stoves to keep it warm. Unfortunately the place was packed with groups of guided climbers (we were the only independent climbers!), consequently we didn't sleep much the evening before the climb.

Starting the climb at 1:00 am, Alex kicks steps in the frozen snow.

This photo was taken at 1:10am and 16,000ft when the whole climb still seemed like fun! Notice the smile, it wasn´t there at 18,000ft. Seriously, we were pretty excited and moved fast to show the guides what we were made of. We even led the way for awhile, then we realized that was stupid and let the guides kick all the steps! Thanks guys!

At 19,250 ft, Alex struggles towards the summit. After we finished the climb, a guide told me that if we wanted to climb Chimborazo (Ecuador's highest peak at 20,000 ft) Alex needed to be in better shape! Check out that face. From about 18,000 ft on we walked five steps and stopped to pant a while. It was like breathing through a straw. We almost turned around at this point, due to really cold feet (leather boots at altitude aren´t all that great), but pushed on anyway.

The sunrise at 19,350ft. We reached the summitt at 6:00am, five hours after leaving the hut, and were rewarded with a great view.
Alex celebrates! Take that you lousy guide.

Quite possibly the nerdiest photo of Michelle on the internet, but when you have just climbed Cotopaxi, you really don´t care about much, except getting down where its warmer and there is more air. We were cold and wasted by this point, and I´m not sure why that climbing rope is around my neck like a giant´s necklace.

The descent. After fighting past several groups coming up, we seriously began plunge stepping back to the refugio.

Michelle, after descending a thousand feet or so felt alot better, and ice climbed up this giant ice formation. Pretty impressive, huh? Actually, we were making our way very slowly down and getting passed by the guides who were short roping their clients down steep snow slopes at reckless speeds.

Alex enjoys a last clear look at Cotopaxi, reflecting on the past eight hours of climbing. We made it safely back exhausted but excited. After sleeping (14 hours straight for Michelle) we are even more excited about the experience.

Eco Rose Plantation

2006-12-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

This is Eco Roses, a rose plantation right next door to our Hostel. One of the two largest in the local area, Eco Roses is a major supplier of roses to the US, while proclaiming a more environmentally friendly method of growing roses. It also is better for its workers, according to our guide who used to work there.
One of the reasons, I wanted to take a tour of the rose farm, is that roses in Ecuador is big business. They grow the roses in the greenhouses that are spread over many acres of land. Each worker is responsible for 40 rows of roses and each row is labeled with the workers name. This particular plantation employs 150 people and each greenhouse (there are 13 greenhouses) have their own soccer team as well!

The rose growing industry is one that is notorious for extreme pesticide use (to keep the afids away, I´m guessing) Anyhow, our guide, who is now the cook at the hostel, told us that the company now longer allows the workers inside the greenhouse when they are spraying, so I guess that is an improvement. The buckets on the right, are filled with citric acid for preserving the flowers after they are cut.

Illiniza Norte

2006-12-10T13:13:00.000-08:00

We continued our acclimatization with a trip to Illiniza Norte, a 16,800 ft peak. Alex and I spent the night in the refugio (mountain hut) at 15,250 ft. Michelle and Carly, our new friends, accompanied us to the refugio to play a few games of cards and then headed back down the same day. It was a fun trip to the parking lot, with a skilled driver manuvering around mudholes and a river crossing on the dirt road. Carly, Michelle, and I rode in the back, standing up with the wind in our faces. Please note that the two Michelles are wearing matching shirts.

A two hour hike from the end of the dirt road, through paramo and up a steep moraine, led us to the hut. Our new friends got this great photo of us struggling up the moraine in the thinning air, just like the book.

Alex drinks some hot tea outside the brightly painted refugio, with some fresh snow on the ground. The inside of the hut wasn't as well maintained, with mold creeping up the walls, but warmer than outside nonetheless. Both Alex and I had trouble sleeping at 15,250 ft, breathing too fast to sleep normally.

Illiniza Norte at 16,800ft is a rocky scramble, until the last 500ft, where it becomes more exposed and a little harder. Unfortunately, the typical afternoon storm deposited just enough snow on the rock to make the climb out of condition for us. We felt better, when we learned that the guided groups also decided to turn back as well.

Alex gauges conditions, peering into the dense fog. We made it to 16,200ft before heading back down.

Hosteria PapaGayo

2006-12-10T13:11:00.000-08:00

This became our home for seven nights (talk about taking a break from travelling). Our room had its own fireplace, which tested Alex's manhood, i.e. firelighting abilities. The hosteria used to be a hacienda owned by Simon Bolivar's grandson. It has been converted into a hosteria-farm with llamas, bunny rabbits, horses, lots of dogs, a friendly cat, and a garden out back you can weed in your free time.

With hopes of climbing 20,000ft peaks in mind, we began our acclimatization by hiking up a local extinct volcano, El Corazon. At 16,000ft it seemed like a good one. However, we walked from our hostel, making for a long walk, and we turned around at 13,000ft. Here is a good photo of the paramo a type of high grassland which is common in Ecuador.

A transportation strike of several days prevented any travel. We spent one of the days mountain biking around the village of Machachi. Biking on cobblestone sucks.

We ended up biking back to our hosteria on the panamerican, which was closed by the strike. Here you can see other people walking to and from Machachi. The strike ended partway through our bikeride back and for a few traumatizing seconds we were competing with buses and semi's barrelling down the Panamerican. The strike was to force the local government to expand the highway from two lanes to four lanes around Machachi.

The Machaci market. After the bike ride into town we did our grocery shopping. There was fresh fruit, vegetables, pre-peeled garlic cloves, and all sorts of fresh seafood.

Our hostel with its own restaurant, meant that we never had to leave! Especially after we meet some other Americans, Michelle and Carly. My Michelle taught them our favorite card game, which we don't know the name of.

Let the climbing begin!

2006-12-03T09:18:00.000-08:00

We completed our 100 hour bus loop from Quito, Ecuador to Lima, Peru back to Quito. Before we could celebrate, though we were off to Quito's American hospital for some strong antibiotics for Alex, who was suffering from his roast guinea pig experience. The doctor thought that I had Malaria! The real celebration though began when we found a bag of chocolate chips stuffed away in the climbing gear we have been storing in Quito. After sorting through the huge pile of climbing gear we decided we have way too much stuff! Now we are off to the Cotopaxi National Park to attempt to climb Cotopaxi itself. Could be awhile before we can update the blog.

Our visit to Chilcatotoras

2006-11-30T16:50:00.000-08:00

On our second day in Cuenca we splurged on a full day cultural tour of an indigenous community, known as Chilca Tototas, 40 minutes south of town. For 30 dollars each we spent the day with a group of mostly women (as the men now work construction in town) who taught us about typical food, medicinal plants, farming, construction techniques, and for lunch a feast! To the left of me, is Blanca our spanish speaking guide, here Michelle with her spanish skills saved the day.

They have all types of livestock; sheep, goats, horses, giant pigs, and even guinea pigs. They use the milk cows to produce cheese in a small factory that a group of French Doctors helped build.

The tour even included a horseback ride! A natural gaucho. On another note, most adults wear the famous Panama hats or straw hats. Cuenca, happens to be the world supplier of such hats as well.

The best part of this story is of course the roast guinea pig. First they broke the little guys neck and then popped out an eye to drain the blood. After which, with some excitement we discovered the guinea pig was still alive, so another round of neck breaking. Next the guinea pig went in a pot of boiling water in order to make it easier to defur him. Which is where Alex took over, with some quality roasting. At the time Alex thought this was pretty cool, but after eating the guinea pig for lunch and a few days of sickness, the picture now makes him a bit nauseous.

In spanish guinea pig is known as cuy. Here is the head on a bed of potatoes, corn, rice, carrots, and chicken. Poor little guy. Guinea pig is a delicacy at the feast, the best part of the whole meal! I did not eat the head, but the belly was pretty good, tastes a bit like chicken, but doesn´t everything?

The feast. Eaten on the floor in the mud walled house. The community is in the process of the converting this room into a cabana or cabin for turists to sleep in. Very cool. The feast was fun too, I was the only one to use silverware.

After lunch we rested. Seriously. Our bellies were huge. Then we learned how to make wheat flour from wheat chaff. Its hard work! We tried some mixed in coffee and it was pretty good. Michelle also helped plant potatoes with a mixture of horse manure and guinea pig feces as fertilizer. A step back in time, needless to say we learned a lot.

Parcque Nacional Cajas

2006-11-30T16:32:00.000-08:00

Cajas National Park is so named because the word cajas is an old indian (quechua) word for cold and wet. No joke, this place was cold and wet! Totally reminded me of North Cascades, except higher at 12,000feet elevation. The weather alternated between raining and clear skies, which curtailed our ambitious hiking plans for the day. I was later surprised to learn that there is rock climbing here on the spires, but I am not sure when the rock is dry!

We spent one day visiting Cajas National Park, about an hour outside of Cuenca. Famous for its lacustrine environment or 350 some lakes that provide irreplacable bird habitat. There are number of bird species here that can be found no where else. Also home to last of the quinua or paper trees, a type of tree that the bark actually hangs off in sheets.

Cuenca, Ecuador

2006-11-29T15:09:00.000-08:00

Cuenca is an old colonial city, with lots of churches and cobblestone streets. Ecuador´s third largest city, but more comfortable compared with Quito. Cuenca is just shy of 8,000feet in elevation so it is a little cooler at night, with good sun in the morning and rain in the evening. It makes a good base for visiting Cajas National Park and even more Inca sites. We have stayed at a hostel that served great breakfasts, including ¨humitas¨ or corn cooked with cornmeal in the cornhusk. Really good.

Vilcabamba´s Private Nature Reserve

2006-11-29T14:43:00.000-08:00

Here are four photos from the botanically diverse and humouress "Rumi-Wilco Nature Preserve". A small private nature reserve full of typical plants of the southern highlands of Ecudaor. A two dollar admission fee got us in and advised us to contemplate our surrounding rather than just hike through them. Okay. In the above photo, is the flower of the Agua Catillo or cactus tree.
Me with a giant bean. I did not eat this.
A giant insect. This was near one of the signed "Contemplative Spots" right on the trail. A little too "new agey" for us and perhaps a poor spot to sit and be attacked by a giant insect.
A beautiful flower. I know being the son and grandson of two horticulturists, I should be able to write more than a beautiful flower, but that is the sad truth....

Dancing with the castle

2006-11-29T07:42:00.000-08:00

Michelle gloats after her one and only chess victory next to the stream fed reflection pool.
Alex celebrates his one and only chess victory in Vilcabamba by dancing with the castle.

Relaxing in Vilcabamba

2006-11-28T15:05:00.000-08:00

Pretty nice, huh? Thats what I was thinking. We stayed at this amazing hostel outside of town, with a stream fed swimming pool, huge outdoor chess patio (which I proudly beat Michelle at our first game) and free mountain bikes. Oh yea, it also included these huge free breakfasts, of endless fruit salad, toast, amazing juice, and crepes. We only planned on spending one day here, but ended up staying two!

Bus Riding to Vilcabamba

2006-11-28T14:56:00.000-08:00

After bus riding, and bus riding, and a little more bus riding we finally reached Villacamba... ...ahhh...gringo paradise....I mean a full body 75 minute massage for $18...ahhh...

We spent two full days in the sleepy village of Vilacbamba, which is located in southern Ecuador. Here we visited a nature preserve and hiked to this waterfall. A sub tropical place with lots of orange trees and the oranges were delicious!

Inside the ruins of Machu Picchu

2006-11-20T10:18:00.000-08:00

After four hours of hiking around, we walked through the interior of the main urban area itself. Using a guide book we purchased in Cusco and occasionally eavsdropping on the english speaking tour groups we learned alot about the site that you wouldn´t get from just blindly walking around, because their are no interpretive signs to be had. Lots of steep terracing which would have had grown Maize back in the day and in the upper right of this photo, you can see a reconstructed thatched roof building as an example of how the buildings would have appeared during the time of the Inca.

Descending Huayna Picchu, Don´t fall!

2006-11-20T10:13:00.000-08:00

Michelle is descending the steep trail on the backside of Huayna Picchu, using a series of cable handlines and a long ladder. I felt like we should be using climbing gear to be safe, but Michelle said that I was just a wimp. We used this steep trail to get to the Moon Temple, where the first explorers to Macchu Picchu found mummies!

The view from Huayna Picchu

2006-11-20T10:05:00.000-08:00

This is the view of Machu Picchu from the top of Huayna Picchu, the mountain that dominates the background of all the postcard shots of Macchu Picchu. Incredibly, the Incas had several important ceremonial sites on this mountain, which tourists can reach by following steep 45 degree steps with a metal cable as a hand rail. Really exposed hiking! Alot like the Angel´s Landing hike in Zion National Park.

Machu Picchu!

2006-11-20T10:00:00.000-08:00

The big Inca Fortress! We made it! After spending what seems like alot of money, its all in Peruvian Soles after all.... and a long bus and train ride, we made it and the weather is pretty decent. Anyway we spent a long day day here, hiking around the site and to the top of the steep mountain in the background, Huayna Picchu.

Pisac´s Ceremonial Center

2006-11-20T09:50:00.000-08:00

This is Pisac´s ceremonial center where the most important relegious symbol is found; the Initiwana or in english the ¨hitching post of the sun¨. In the center of the photo you can see a round rock with a little rock on top, this in the Initiwana. Every fortress has an Initiwana. This area also had ceremonial bathing facilities which are still running with water!

Pisac, Inca Fortress

2006-11-20T09:43:00.000-08:00

Pisac is a large Inca fortress, which like Machu Picchu, historians arent exactly sure of its purpose. One thing for sure, is that it is big! It took us about three hours to explore. Lots of steep terraces which were used for both agriculture and defense. Lots of buildings to explore and unlike historical sites in the US, you can climb over almost everything.

Cusco´s Inca legacy

2006-11-20T09:33:00.000-08:00

Cusco was one of the major Inca city´s before the arrival of the Spanish. In this photo, you can see the orginal Inca dark brick walls on both sides. At the the top of the walls the Spanish simply built up, adding they´re distictive colonial construction.