I have had an exhausting few days. A group of us wanted to
do a little more exploring of the country in the time we have left as a group.
The country was virtually shut down for Easter weekend. We had Thursday and
Friday off and we made the most of it. We all swear in this Thursday and will
depart for our sites on Saturday. This would be the last chance to travel in a
group for quite some time.
We started off with a trip to Quito. A staff member of the
Peace Corps had asked if anyone wanted to volunteer their time on our day off
to teach English to taxi drivers. Our lessons would take place in the taxi and
we would get a tour of the town. The idea was for them to practice speaking
English and we would correct and coach them. This sounded like a great idea and
a nice (free) tour of Quito.
Apparently the taxi cooperative thought this was a great
opportunity and they wanted to make sure the whole country knew. They called the
press and they turned out. A group of 20 of us arrived in two small buses and
piled out. We were wondering what was happening because there were so many
cameras and reporters around the taxi drivers. They quickly spotted us and a
few approached us. I feel that they all wanted to but felt that maybe their
English wasn’t quite up to par. I was informed by many people that the first
reporter that approached us was a very famous Ecuadorian TV personality. Funny
character to say the least. After a few short words we were escorted down the
row of taxis and each driver said hello and awkwardly shook our hands. Cameras
caught each and every exchanged word and greeting. After the strange procession
we stopped at the end where we were put on display for all the news crews. The
staff member from the Peace Corps said a few words about our project and our purpose
for being there. I had joked with her that I would be fine with speaking for
the group. She took that to heart. The reporters asked for one of the
volunteers to say a few words. Spotlight: Todd. I sped through a quick greeting
and said we should get to work! I am comfortable speaking Spanish but it is a
bit different when you are on a national stage.
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| Camera was not camera shy. Slightly ironic. |
We then were assigned to individual taxis. Mine had two taxi
drivers that would each take turns asking questions and answering mine. A
camera man and reporter asked if they could tag along. A bit more air time…? Of
course! We went around the Centro Historico and the men told me a bit about the
area. They were excited to get tips on how to better explain their country to
English speakers. After the hour we returned to the cultural museum where we
began our tour. We had a quick photo-op with our taxi drivers and then they
offered to take us to our hostel. We kindly accepted the offer. The taxi driver
“Edison” told me to call him anytime I was in Quito. I hope this meant for
another free ride but hey, I will take a safe cab and pay any day over just
picking one from the street.
We arrived at our hostel, The Secret Garden, and it was
great. It was cheap ($11), secure, and had a restaurant/bar on the roof. We had
great views of Quito and the Centro Historico from our 5th floor balcony.
I highly recommend it to anyone traveling to Quito on a budget. After checking
in we ventured out in two groups to further explore Quito. We went to the Basílica
del Voto Nacional to get even better views of the city. A friend of mine and I
had visited it on another trip but were not able to go in due to time
constrictions. I was excited to climb the spires and admire the beauty of the
church. My small group crawled, climbed and explored every inch of that Basilica.
The ladders/stairs that you must climb to reach the highest points were a bit
scary to say the least. At one point you climb outside of the building in open
air up a steep set of stairs. It is no doubt secure but certainly takes the
breath from you when you look down. I was thoroughly amused at a few of the
guys in my group who were more than a little frightened. As I took a video of
my friends as they hugged the steep stairs one phrase kept coming out of an
individual’s mouth. “Todd, this is not funny, this is not funny, Todd.” The top
of one of the spires was fantastic. We had a 360 degree view of the city. We
snapped a few photos and then began the precarious descent. I took a quick
video but was hustled along so the guys could get back down to relative safety. I have added the youtube link below.
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| Stairs/ladder to the top of a spire at the Basilica |
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| The Three Amigos |
After exploring the
rest of the very old Basilica we walked to Plaza Grande. This is a large open
plaza that has music, restaurants and is surrounded by buildings from the 16th
century. It is surreal sitting there. It seems that you are back in colonial
times. There are stark reminders though if you look close enough, cell phone
stores in a building that also saw the Spaniards rule the city to name one. That
evening we went back to our hostel and enjoyed a freshly prepared dinner and
hung out on top of the hostel watching the lights of the city. We had a big day
ahead of us.
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| Basilica Del Voto |
I woke at 5:30 and tried to sneak out of our 8 person room
without waking many of my bunkmates. I went to the roof and started some
coffee. It was much colder than I had anticipated. I watched the lights of
Quito slowly turn off one by one as the sun came up over the city. It was a
beautifully clear day and I was anxious to get climbing. In those early morning
hours I had time to reflect over how lucky I am to be in such a situation. If
you had told me a year ago that I would be in Quito, Ecuador, sipping coffee on
the roof a hostel that contained some great friends and preparing to climb a
mountain, I simply would not have believed you. I am truly blessed to have
opportunities such as this. I hope to always keep this in mind when I have bad
days here.
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| Lights of Quito from the rooftop of the hostel |
People began to slowly awake from their slumber and make
their way to the roof for breakfast. I had fresh fruit, eggs, ham, yogurt, and
bread. ALWAYS BREAD HERE. Our mountain guides met us at 7:30 downstairs. We
made quick introductions and the guides gave us a once over to ensure we were
ready. We piled into their small bus/van and headed south. We were headed to
climb Rumiñahui. This is volcano high in the Andes mountain range. It is 15,459
ft tall. This would be the highest peak I had climbed. It is situated in
Cotopaxi National Park. This park is named for the volcano Cotopaxi (highest
active volcano in the world) that I anticipate climbing sometime during my
service.
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| View from 2/3rds way up the mountain |
guides told us this was a good strategy. We hiked uphill for probably two hours before we really started climbing. We worked our way up the south face of the mountain and the clouds started rolling in. About two-thirds of the way up the rain started. It was cold and a little windy. I put my waterproof shell on and hoped that it would be enough without having to put on my heavy coat. After twenty minutes of rain, the small hail started. We were all pretty tired at this point but soldiered on. The weather, at that point, did not warrant our descent. The guides told us we could continue on.
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| The only thought in my head at this point: Get down. |
Around two in the afternoon we made it to the final
ascent. We had to use ropes at this point for safety. The combination of the
weather, altitude, and fear of heights kept a few people down from this last
ascent. I scrambled up to the peak, took a few snap shots, took a short video,
shivered and then waited to be belayed down. Short note, it really was a “peak”.
The peak was the point of a rock that had room for one person. It was a bit
precarious but absolutely worth the euphoric feeling that it brought me. We all
hooted and hollered for the allotted 3 minutes. The guides told us more than
that would not be allowed due to the weather conditions. Here I have a short video from the summit.
We belayed back down
from the summit using the ropes and the guides had rigged.Once everyone was
down we began our cold descent. We made it down the mountain in probably half
the time it took to climb it. At one point we were on very soft dirt that had
small pieces of hail on it which made it very conducive to slide on. We all had
a lot of fun sliding on the muddy soft ground. It reminded me of skiing in a
way.
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| Belaying down from the summit. Hail didn't help the descent. |
The group returned to the base and to the van. We threw our
wet, muddy bodies in the vehicle and pointed our nose towards Quito. We talked
about the hike and did our share of high-fiving during the ride. The guides
dropped us off in Quito and we took two buses to get back home. I staggered in
the door of my house and my host family was happy to see me and wanted to hear
all about my adventures. Before I could show them the pictures however, they
told me I was famous! They had seen me on the national news the night before
when the taxi story aired. That was kind of cool and I have been searching the
internet for a copy of the story. When I find it I will post it here.
And here it is!
Taxi video
The trip was a great final stone in the wall of my training.
On Thursday I will officially swear in as a Peace Corps Volunteer and on
Saturday I will head to Latacunga to begin my service. I am glad that I was
able to share this trip with great new friends. One of the Peace Corps
facilitators recently told us that we, as Americans, are very wealthy even if
our bank accounts have a zero balance. We are rich in opportunities, she told
us. I find this to be true. This trip is yet another example of how lucky,
blessed, and well off we as Americans are. I am hoping to have many more
adventures like this to keep the thought of “wealth” in mind.
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