Cotopaxi

I decided to climb a mountain. I've done a fair amount of backpacking, so I figured this would be similar, but with more up. The peak I chose was Cotopaxi: 5,800 meters, which translates to a little over 19,000 feet. Since I had been living at sea level for the past 3 months I decided to prepare for my climb with a series of day hikes, in the 3 days leading up to the big day. The first day hike was in Papallacta a town I stopped at on the way back from the jungle, that also has some lovely thermal hot springs. This hike took me to about 4,000 meters. It rained the whole time, was really muddy, and really windy. Sounds like fun, no? (not as much fun as the Wonderland trail was with the same conditions at times, it's all about the company) I was wearing rubber boots for the hike and fell on my but a number of times on the way down. Awesome. Fortunately I had a very nice and interesting guide, Fernando, who told me all about the medicinal plants we passed along the way, which conveniently gave me a chance to stop and catch my breath as we went up, up, up.

From the top of the hike in Papallacta

The next day I climbed Ruca Pichincha which is a peak in Quito. I did this climb with a couple of the girls that I signed up with for the Cotopaxi hike. There were a few places on the trail that were a bit scary as they had washed out in the rain, but we made it to the top, all 4,600 meters.

Self portrait at the top of Ruca Pichincha

The next morning we met up at the Condor Trekking office to set out towards Cotopaxi. I was joined by a German girl, two Dutch girls, two Danish girls, a Russian guy and 4 Ecuadorian climbing guides. (This is when I also learned that all the hot Ecuadorian men are climbers.) We hiked Rumiñahui that afternoon with freezing rain and strong winds. I'm not even going to pretend that the end of that hike was fun.

Finally at the top....
Glad to be back down....
Saturday we hiked up to the refuge on Cotopaxi which is at 4,800 meters. After lunch we were supposed to have a technical briefing on the glacier but the weather was so bad they didn't want us getting wet before the big hike. So we stayed inside and played silly games. After dinner we went to bed and slept from 7pm to midnight. At midnight we woke up got all our gear on, had a snack and hit the mountain by 1am. The goal was to reach the top by sunrise.

Each guide had two climbers. I as grouped with one of the Dutch girls. It was windy and snowing when we set out, not to mention dark. About 15 minutes in we stopped to put on our crampons. In another 15 minutes or so we reached the first glacier and had to rope in. The girl I was paired with was having trouble with the altitude so they switched me over with another guide who had already lost one to altitude sickness. The second glacier was a 45 degree angle, which pretty much feels like straight up. I was using the handle of my pick axe as a hiking pole. It was dark and windy, all I could see was the next two foot prints ahead of me in the glow of my head lamp. I was hiking in a slow deliberate rhythm, right, left, right, left. The soft snow made you loose about half the ground you gained with each step. I found myself singing "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming..." through gritted teeth. I'm pretty sure at one point I called out to the guide that I didn´t think I could go on, but with the strong wind he didn't hear me, so we didn't stop. Finally, we made it off the second glacier and the incline became more reasonable. I decided I was going to make it. Then about 20 minutes later the guide checked the snow conditions by digging a hole, and grew concerned. When we caught up with a couple of the groups ahead of us the guides conferred and all agreed that it was not safe to go on for fear of an avalanche. We turned around at 5400 meters, 400 meters from the top.

On the way back down...
I'm glad I can blame not making it on the weather and not on me, but the truth is, I don't know if I would have made it. I'm also not sure yet whether I'll attempt another mountain climb. That was an intense experience and a very different kind of not fun than the 20th mile in a marathon. You find yourself wondering why you though it was a good idea to be doing this in the first place. You think about quitting. Why not? And then you remember the satisfaction of finishing. The taste of stretching yourself to your absolute limit. The sense of accomplishment. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

Dayna

Sunrise, at the bottom. (That's a different peak in the background.)

Welcome to the Jungle

The week after I completed my volunteer project with Yanapuma I booked a trip to the Amazon jungle. After a night bus from Qutio to Lago Agrio a truck picked me up for a 3 hour drive, the last hour of which was on a very bumpy dirt road. Then I was delivered to a boat driver where I road in a motorized canoe for an additional 3 hours heading west on the Rio Aguarico, deep into the jungle. I was lucky enough to be the only person in my tour group (it was just me and 2 guides most days, and one day it was me and 5 guides). And amazingly enough (for the rainy season), I had 5 strait days of sunshine.

The hut I stayed in.
My first evening there we went on a night walk and saw all sorts of interesting creatures. The next day the English speaking guide (who I got to give me the tours in Spanish since it was just me) and the local guide and I went for a hike/walk in the jungle, inspecting plants, insects and animals. Then in the afternoon we went piranha fishing. For about two hours I was just feeding the piranhas from a hook, but then I finally caught one. Then we hiked up to the top of this 9 story bird watching tower to catch the sunset.


Crazy spider.Like they do on the Discovery ChannelThe next day we got up early to head further west in our motorized canoe for an additional 3 hours. We picked up another local guide (because we were in his region by then) and an additional smaller canoe with no motor and headed down this winding narrow side branch of the main river. I know it´s terrible to say this but I kept thinking of the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland. This didn´t have the corny jokes or the plastic elephants, but was still clearly way cooler. One of the guides was at the front of the boat hacking away with a machete at anything we couldn´t force our way through. Sometimes we powered the boat over a log, launching us into the air a bit like James Bond boat chase, and then the boat driver would lift the motor out of the water at the last second. Sometimes we´d have to go under a fallen tree laying belly down in the boat. When we couldn´t hack, jump or duck any further, we switched to the smaller canoe and continued along with paddles. Then the stream got really narrow, no wider than the width of the canoe. It was like this crazy Dr. Seuss marsh land towering over our heads, and finally after about an hour of this, it opened up into a lagoon, 6 kilometers wide. We paddled to a dilapidated cabana on the far side of the lake for our picnic lunch and then went swimming in the middle (because piranhas and crocodiles live around the edges). That night we went crocodile hunting because they are easier to find in the dark. When you shine a light out over the water, their eyes glow red.

Swimming in the giant Laguna Zancudococha

Green Vine Snake eating a large bird.
A baby croc
My last day in the jungle we went for another hike and the mosquitoes ate me alive, through my clothes. In the afternoon we went for a little paddle and it was so nice to be on the water without the motor boat, to just listen to the sounds of the jungle. Amazing.

My anaconda don´t want none...
Mariposas
Jungle sunset.

I feel happy, I feel happy...

I'm embarrassed that it's been over 2 months since I've posted anything. Ack. Thank you for all the love and support and concern as to why I haven't been writing. My limited e-mail time while living on the coast was largely consumed by various application I was working on in an effort to have something lined up when I got home, but additionally I'll admit that the prospect of updating the blog became a bit overwhelming. It seemed impossible to adequately articulate all that I was experiencing. Additionally it was hard for me to be away from home for the holidays for the first time, and I didn´t want to write anything less than my usual peppy self.

Many have asked me what exactly was I doing as a volunteer (many times I had to ask that myself) but this link is a good way to explain: http://whereleslie.blogspot.com/ I was in Estero del Platano with another Yanapuma volunteer, Leslie, and her friends put this site together for her in an effort to help her raise money so she can extend her stay. This site says better than I ever could exactly what we were trying to do there. While Leslie's focus was through the school and mine was through the artisan group, this objective was the same. (plus you'll see some excellent pictures of the community and a couple with me in them if you want to check it out.)

So, let me try to fill you in on the last two months. Christmas was surprisingly a pretty mellow holiday. There was a 3 hour church service starting at 9 on Christmas eve, then everyone went to the discoteca and danced all night...literally. I think I got home about 5 am. Año Viejo/Año Nuevo (old year, new year) was more interesting. The tradition is to build a life sized doll out of your old clothes and stuff it with dried palm leaves. On slips of paper you write personal statements about things that happened in the past year that you´d like to leave behind. These papers are stuffed inside the cloths of the doll. Then a testament is also written and pinned to the outside of the doll for all passer byers to read. This is more of a self inflicted roast. A few days before new years you start to see all these dolls in peoples yards. In many communities there are contests for the best doll. At midnight on new years eve, all the dolls are thrown into the street in front of their respective houses and lit on fire, representing the end of the old year and a new beginning for the new year. Many people also stick fireworks inside their dolls so that they randomly explode as they burn. As all these little bonfires of what appears to be burning bodies are aflame throughout the town, everyone goes around hugging and wishing each other happy new year. This gringa was saying happy birthday at first until a friend corrected her. I blame the beer. New Years also includes an all night dance fest at the discoteca but this time the whole town was there, and I mean everyone: all the family members that have come home for the holidays, babies, grandparents, everyone. I got home about 6:30 am but this time I can blame the tides, the water was too high to leave any sooner. :)

My family and I with my Año Viejo doll.My doll, another doll and a drunk guy.
My doll and the other doll on fire (no drunk guy).

The first weekend in January I moved to a new host family. This was partly to spread the wealth around that we as volunteers bring to the community in our payments for room and board, and to get to know other family within the community. For me, it was also to get a little
perspective on my work with the artisan group. My first family was pretty heavily involved in a political situation within the group that I was trying to help resolve. Another perk was that my new home was located in the center part of town. My new family should have been a couple and their youngest son (24) but instead started out with only their son and his friend. One of their other sons living in Guayaquil had had surgery and the parents went out to help take care of him. My host father came back during my first week in the house, but my host mother wasn't able to return during my stay, so it was just me and the boys for a month.

My new family (Milton left and Michelle right) the night I let them do my hair and makeup.

I watched the inauguration from a little batido stand (it´s like a smoothie) in a neighboring town that´s bigger than mine. Notice the guy at the table in front of me getting a tattoo.

31st birthday in Mompiche
My host father Fulton, helping me with my bags to the bus stop.
My friends Ramone, Katie, Julio and Leslie at my going away party. They gave me a tiara

Hugs,
Dayna