14,000 feet....Here We Come!

I've been excited to hike some of the beautiful mountains that we see all around us. Saturday, we did just that. Our group of interns hiked Pinchincha - A mountain that is actually right behind the house that I am living in this summer. Let me tell you something about Ecuadorians (and I think Latin Americans in general): time moves a bit more slowly for them. I've come to be understanding about this part of the culture. However, I am amazed at how quickly this group of Americans has adopted this tendency. The plan was to meet at my house at 9 am so that we could hike without having to worry about getting caught on the mountain in the dark. Well, we didn't start at 9, or 9:30 or even 10. Our hike began at 10:25! That's even late for an Ecuadorian! Thankfully though, we hiked fast enough that we were down well before dark.

Our goal was a group of radio antennas at about 14,000 feet. I thought our hike would be roughing it a little more; we actually just followed a road the whole time (it did turn into a dirt road). The road offered spectactular views of Quito! Unfortunately I forgot to charge my camera battery and only had enough power for one picture which isn't even very good. It was the perfect day for a hike....it was warm and clear. It was one of those rare days when the snow capped mountains can be seen. Pinchincha offered a view of not one, but two of them - Cayambe and Cotapaxi. With the sun shining on them they were a gorgeous sight!

Although I thought we would never make it to the antennas, we did, 3 hours from when we had started. We enjoyed the sunshine and the incredible view while eating our lunch of bread and cheese - both homemade and delicious - and taking naps. Because the way up had been so smooth, the guys decided they needed to rough it a bit more on the way down. We (unwisely) followed them into the forest to make our own paths down. To be honest, I was picturing our host families having to call in search and rescue teams to find us. Yet thanks to the good sense of direction of some of the group members (definitly not me) and their committment to making it through without following the path, we arrived safe and sound (and somewhat tired and dirty) back at my house. We'll see if this is enough preparation for Cotapaxi, a snow covered mountain jutting to 17,000 feet!