The Summiting of an Active Volcano...

...does not happen when you have altitude sickness. That's right! When you're at the 4800m refuge and your resting HR is 190 bpm (only to get worse when you actually move, e.g, stand up, ect.), you can't stay awake long enough to put your boots on to go outside and use the bathroom, and you're nauseous and/or vomiting, they don't let you climb the mountain. If fact, they wait for someone with a car to return to the refuge so you can be brought to a lower elevation. I believe it's called evacuation, and it did happen.

The ride to the refuge was perhaps two hours and we drove much through the "Volcanic Hazard" sign territory of the Cotopaxi Provence. Along the way we picked up three of our five guides. Now, these men know the mountain very well, have climbed it probably more times the years that I've been alive. As you're attached to them via harnesses and rope on the glacier, they're supposed to help prevent you from falling down a crevice with their brute strength. So when you see a super skinny guy that maybe reaches your shoulder it makes you think a little "That guy is supposed to hold me up if I slip and start sliding?!"

 Two of our guides, 'nueva estudientes'

 Reaching the Cotopaxi National Parque, we had to weave along a dirt, well, more like volcanic ash, road up and over hills left by volcanic debris slides in a large tour bus. We had an excellent driver and made it safely to the parking lot. At such high elevations (4300m ~14,100ft) it doesn't really rain, it just hails as the "rain" has frozen due to the high altitude. The refuge camp was a 300m (almost 1000ft) "walk" up volcanic debris. It took approximately 45 minutes to hike up to the refuge with my pack of warm clothes and climbing supplies. Oh yeah, and the boots. What made the hiking extra special were the glacier boots. You need to climb the mountain in glacier boots b/c once you reach the ice you need to attach crampons to the bottom of your boots, otherwise you'll slide right back down. These glacier boots are a lot like ski boots: heavy, limited movement, you curse at them as you climb the mountain and then slide a little back down.

 Cotopaxi hidden by clouds

 What a beauty!

That's me! Almost there!

The refuge is a large building on the side of Cotopaxi. You 'spend the night' there, although you don't really spend the night, because you wake at 11pm to eat breakfast and start the climb to the summit. The refuge is not heated, although there is gas for cooking and a generator for a few hours of electricity in the evening. Bedtime is usually around 6:30-7pm. The guides are all wonderful and laughing and joking, as many of the clients are probably thinking what the hell they got themselves into.

Where I spent most of my time on Cotopaxi

Within 20 minutes of reaching the refuge the altitude hit me and I became very sleepy, so much that I was zoning out and falling asleep at the table. All I want to do was curl up in my sleeping bag and pass out. Before allowing me to do so, the guides made sure my crampons fit my enormous glacier boots and told me I had a to eat a little food. Altitude also affects your appetite, and just looking at food almost made me run outside. When I finally ate enough to please both my guides and professor, Ben, I was allowed to sleep. It was only 4:30, btw. I awoke around 10:30pm to the pounding of my heart. I was able to count the beats and my resting Hr was 190 bpm! Breathing slowly and deeply (haha, yeah right), I had great difficulty getting it lower than 180 bpm. When it was finally tie to get up and out of my super warm and cozy sleeping bag, just sitting up and standing made my heart race faster and I became dizzy. No estas bien. Now, because altitude sickness is very serious we are supposed to tell someone, preferably Ben and a guide, if something is wrong. After doing this, I was given medication for my nausea and headache (the headaches you can get at these high altitudes are debilitating. Never in my life have I experienced pain such as this), and was told to (yet again) eat something. Usually I really like food. I know the higher the altitude the lower your metabolism, and I also recently discovered (via reading, not personal experience) that at altitudes about 5000m your body's digestive processes slows drastically.

 Sunset over Cotopaxi

Another Volcano. We were higher than most of the clouds!

When my partner and I, Jackie, were all ready our guide, Julio, told us we were going to walk very slowly for one hour, then rest for a few minutes, then walk slowly for one hour, rest, ect. Even with my racing heart that didn't seem to difficult. Haha. Yeah right. Leaving the refuge and heading to the left and then up, we weaved very slowly up the montane. Approximately 75m (~250 ft) up my heart was beating so fast I was having difficulty breathing, and my increased HR was making me nauseous and like I was about to pass out. Now, my host brother, the alpinist, warned me about this and told me that if I was going to pass out I had to turn around immediately Because if I didn't, I could die. The only thing you can do to alleviate altitude sickness is to return to a lower altitude. So that's what I did. Back to the refuge.

Within one hour or so three others returned to the refuge, two with altitude sickness. One of my friends who returned had been vomiting along the mountain...she also had to get to a lower altitude. Thankfully, I was able to sleep until morning until we heard a guide, who happened to have a car, was leaving the refuge. Ben wanted us to get in that car and to a lower elevation, so that's what we did. By then my heart rate had lowered a bit and the nausea was gone, but I was left utterly exhausted because my heart had worked so hard for such a long period of time.

Sunrise

Going down 1000m did wonders for my breathing and here rate, and the three of us who had left fell asleep at a restaurant/lodge on couches in front of a wood stove until our amigos met us there for lunch a few hours later. We later found out that out of 12 of us only 4 made it to the top, one of them being my partner (I am so proud of you Jackie!!!! Don't ever forget how amazing you are!) My altitude sickness partner and I have decided we're going to return to Cotopaxi within two years and attempt the summit again. One day I'm going to make it to the top.

The Two Summits of Quilotoa

         As my new class, Mountain Geology, has begun, last week was also the start of field trips to rocky, volcanic locations such as Quilotoa. Leaving early Thursday morning we drove along the Pan-American Highway into the Cotopaxi Provence, where we passed numerous signs that stated “Volcano Threat Zone” along the way. Entering the Inter-Andean Valley we drove through Latacunga, a smallish city about 1.5 hours south of Quito, and drove up into the Western Cordillera. The Inter-Andean Valley runs from Riobamba in the south all the way to the frontier with Columbia and used to be much more of a valley. It has been filled with sediment from erupting volcanic eruptions over hundreds of thousand of years, specifically Cotopaxi.

         After driving through Latacunga, we passed numerous quarries and were told these were ash and pyroclastic rock deposits from the Chalupas Volcanic eruption 200,000 years ago. These quarries were more than 50km away from Chalupas, and the eruption left ash deposit on the coast 300km away that was 4m thick. No wonder there are Volcano Threat signs everywhere.

         West to Latacunga is a large field called the Macuchi Unit that is part of the Western Cordillera and contains an old volcanic arc 40-60 million years old that used to be in the ocean (cool, right?!). This 90-200 million year old large igneous province (LIP) was accreted with the continent when the Nazca plate subducted under the South American plate a very long time ago.

         The pyroclastic flow that was deposited by the Quilotoa eruption 800 years ago had a total regional deposition of 18km³. This ash and pyroclast can still be seen today in quarries, as well as when hiking along the rim of the volcano. The magma from Quilotoa contained the minerals biotite, plagioclase, and quartz, meaning it had a high silica and water content (5% is high for water content). A high silica and mineral content makes the magma more viscous, causing the lava to erupt similar to toothpaste, creating a lava dome in the center of the volcano. A high water content, on the other hand, creates numerous bubbles, and therefore explosions. What’s cool about Quilotoa is that during one its eight explosions, a lava dome was created, but then later on exploded, creating the caldera we walk upon today. You can still see a few of the walls from the old caldera. Quilotoa has very grand eruptions once every 10,000-15,000 years, creating mass havoc and rearranging the landscape as she so chooses.

         When we finally arrived to Quilotoa, Ben, my 31 year-old professor, told us that if we could climb out of Quilotoa from the Laguna back up to the rim within 30mins we were ready for Cotopaxi. So we ‘hiked’ (it was more like slide) down a steep path of volcanic ash (imagine running through dry sand on the beach, it was kind of like that, but on an incline). Making our way down the avalanche slope in 25 minutes, we all doubted our ability to hike back up within 30. Four girls and Ben did make it up in 30 minutes meaning…they’re ready for Cotopaxi!

I made it up within 38 minutes, so maybe I’m not entirely ready, but my determination and Jackie’s positive attitude will get me to the top! We ended the evening with wonderfully hot showers, herbal tea, and a dinner to top the night off.

         Because the buildings are all made of brick, there aren’t any heating systems, just a wood stove in each room. The wood stove in the room I was assigned to seemed to have some issues, as the smoke wasn’t leaving via the air duct, but coming into the room instead. I don’t know what it is with me and wood stoves, but whenever I’m near one it doesn’t seem to want to work (Kristen: Anderson Valley in Northern Cali, haha). Well, I wasn’t about to go to bed cold so I crashed another room and practically drenched my clothes with sweat the room was so hot. Hmmm, happy medium?

         Awaking bright and early (although a little tired) to the sun shining through the windows we got our things together and made our way down to breakfast. My professor Ben (did I mention Ben is actually younger than me?! It’s really difficult to take his mandatory attendance policy seriously) wanted to get an early start, so by 8am we were up and walking to the rim of the caldera. Our plan was to walk along the entire rim of the caldera and stop and talk about rocks and rock formations. This was supposed to take approximately 5 hours and include a summit of Quilotoa.

Well, ever tried walking on sand uphill? That’s what it was like hiking along the rim of the caldera, except it’s the ash from the 800 year-old volcanic eruption that you’re trying to make your way through as you’re climbing a mountain with a 30-degree slope. Just a tad tiring.

Summiting Quilotoa was such a rewarding experience, only to be followed by some lecture on volcanic hazards with the wind blowing at our backs and practically pushing us over the rim to the Laguna far below. Why we couldn’t have spoken about volcanic hazards in class is beyond me. Maybe it’s more exciting with death knocking at your door? When we were almost halfway around the Laguna when we discovered we were missing one student, who apparently turned around and went back to the hostel b/c she wasn’t feeling well. Now, I totally understand not wanting to hike if you’re sick, and I understand Ben’s wanting to turn around to make sure she was okay. The only issue? We had already summited Quilotoa and gotten through the worst part, only to have to return and do it all over again. I really prefer to walk into the unknown and take things as they come, but knowing how hard the hike is and having to do it again? No bueno.

Thankfully, after 2 hours, tons of sweat, numerous explicatives, and considering calling a helicopter to come and pick me up, I made it to the GPS marker. The GPS marker, really just a big carved rock, basically means the worst is over, so you can imagine the feelings of gratitude and happiness I felt when I reached it. I have a feeling summiting Cotopaxi will be similar, but with a greater intensity of feelings and tears. We finished out the hike with lunch at the hostel and a long 4-hour bus ride back to Quito. Along the way we drove by Cotopaxi surrounded by clouds, staring menacingly at us and daring us to attempt her summit.

         In preparation for Cotopaxi I've been running at least one hour pretty much everyday. Yesterday a few fellow Cotopaxi trainers and I went up Teleferico in a Gondola (that experience alone was exciting and rough, especially with my fear of heights, which I'm pretty sure is more like a fear of falling) with the intent of summiting Mt. Pichincha (an old dormant Volcano). The elevation at the summit of Pichincha is around 4650m. We easily made it to our marker on the trail from our previous hike in less than half the time! It was very cloudy so we didn't get to see Cotopaxi or the other volcanoes, but the view was still beautiful with the clouds rolling in. That and the people practically running down the mountain should have caused us to turn around, except we didn't. We were practically at the summit and it was so foggy we couldn't see where the trail continued so we decided to turn around. We made it to that point in only 1hr 45min! How awesome is that! A 5K with a 600m elevation change in 1hr 45 mins?! Super exciting. Speaking of exciting events, as we turned around and started hiking back to Teleferico we heard thunder (oh no!) and then it "rained". Except rain at an elevation of 4600m in more like small ice balls. They're pelted at you form the clouds and the feel like bebe's from a bebe gun. I've got a few bruises to prove it. Thankfully, back in Quito it was only raining, which is strange because this is Quito's dry season and it's rained 2x this month. Only two more days til Cotopaxi!

One month down...

This past week has been fairly uneventful, although still fun. As it was the last week of tropical ecology and we had presentations to work on,  a final to prep for, and a field journal to write, there were no field trips to new and exciting places.

As Ecuador is numero tres (or at least was as of tuesday) in the Latin American futbol cup, there is a great amount of enthusiasm when you're watching the game on a big screen tv with a number of other people or at the stadium in Quito. You think american football fans get excited? Ha, you haven't seen anything until you've watched a bunch of Ecuadorians get excited b/c their team just made a goal. One goal = jumping, cheering, yelling, beer flying everywhere, ect. And the Ecuadorian futbol team hasn't even won yet. Ecuador tied with Uruguay on tuesday (there's no overtime, penalty kicks, ect for some reason), so we didn't exactly win. Would have loved to see the reaction of my fellow futbol watchers if we had.

Futbol on the big screen surrounded by fellow college-goers

Now that I've officially been here for one month I can say I still love Ecuador. Things may not run as smoothly as they do in the US (postal service, for example. Getting a package here is a major pain in the butt) and an Ecuadorian minute is more like 3 US minutes, but you get used to it. Something I will definitely miss when I leave here is the smell of the freshly baked bread that I smell walking past the panaderia on my way to the bus stop every morning. Oh goodness, it's so good!!!

It seems as though most large vehicles don't like to come to a complete stop. Two examples: the buses rarely stop for men, even I've had to hop on or off as it does a slow drive by past the bus stop. In orientation when we first got here we were told we have to be laid back b/c everyone here lives on Ecuadorian time. Well, not the buses! The second example I witnessed the other day on my way to the bus stop. Monday and thursday are garbage days...ever seen the garbage man running after the garbage truck with bags of garbage in his arms? I mean like really run? Haha, it's a fun experience to witness.

Shopping here was a whole new experience for me. Quito has a very large mall (just like the ones we have at home, except this one is 3 stories), which two friends and I went to on wednesday (I know, it sounds like I'm having all this fun and not doing my school work. To be honest I got most of it done by tuesday, so no worries). The sales women practically run up to you when you enter the store, the security guards (there's at least one at the larger stores) keep an eye on you as you walk around browsing the very interesting selection of clothing specifically made for women with big boobs and big butts (at least bigger than mine). A few of the sales women stood very close to me while I looking at an article of clothing or two, and one stood so close and kept following me around the store that I literally hid from her behind a rack of clothing. All I wanted to do was look at things in peace. It's very uncomfortable to have someone standing practically right next to you watching everything you do. It's just not okay. My spanish isn't good enough yet to kindly ask the woman to leave me alone, and the only thing I could think of was f@*! off, which probably could have gotten me a security guard on my other side, glaring at me.

Now that tropical ecology is over for the weekend, we were able to celebrate properly, with the addition of Kari's 21st Birthday! How exciting! I have no recollection of my 21st birthday, which is probably a good thing. A large group of us went to a Tapas and Wine bar in Mariscal, the more touristy area of Quito (also the one with all the bars and restaurants), where we paid ~$20 each for all-you-can-eat and drink! tapas and wine. I paid $30 for a better wine, and well, I can say I definitely drank my money's worth. No problem there. After the tapas bar we headed to a bar that played the greatest old school hip hop from the US! Ahhh, great time.

Me with the Birthday Girl!

My next class is mountain geology which involves hiking around two volcanos, one of them which we have the opportunity to summit. The summit is just under 5900m, or around 19,000ft. Hiking to a height of this altitude requires training. Therefore, I've been running for an hour everyday within my hamster cage (gated community), and today we took the enclosed ski lift up to Teleferiqo, approx. 4050m. From there we climbed part way up Mt. Pichincha, approx. 4300m. From here the view of Quito was just amazing.

Trail up the mountain

That's my volcano! 5900m here I come!

Cotopaxi.

TBS...Welcome to the Jungle!

Welcome to the jungle we've got fun and games...we take it day by day...If you want it you're gonna bleed but it's the price to pay...Ya learn to live like an animal in the jungle where we play...And when you're high you never ever want to come down...You're down in the jungle baby.


This past week we tropical ecology students went to USFQ's Biodiversity Station in Tiputini in...you guessed it. The Amazonian Jungle. Tiputini is located in Yasuni National Park, which has the highest level of biodiversity for birds, plants, and amphibians. Sounds awesome, right? Until, of course, a tarantula the size of your fist is sitting on a tree right next to your head. Yasuni is also sitting on top of a large amount of oil that the oil companies are  trying to build roads are tear up the jungle to get to, while the local tribes are desperately trying to protect the the land that they live on.

The trip to Tiputini is approximately 6.5-8 hours, depending on numerous variables. Getting there involves a 30 minute flight from Quito to Coca, Orellana; a 2 hour boat ride down the Napo River; a 2hour open jeep ride along Respo's (an oil company) road; and then another 2 hour boat ride along the Tiputini River, upon which the Research Station is located. In order to arrive at TBS (Tiputini Biodiversity Station) before dark, we have to leave Quito very early in the morning.

The trip to Tiputini is approximately 6.5-8 hours, depending on numerous variables. Getting there involves a 30 minute flight from Quito to Coca, Orellana; a 2 hour boat ride down the Napo River; a 2hour open jeep ride along Respo's (an oil company) road; and then another 2 hour boat ride along the Tiputini River, upon which the Research Station is located. In order to arrive at TBS (Tiputini Biodiversity Station) before dark, we have to leave Quito very early in the morning.


Meeting at USFQ at 5am monday morning, we took a bus to Quito's airport for a 7am flight. I got through security and on the plane, along with 8 other classmates. Unfortunately, due to a communication issue between USFQ and airport security, the remaining 10 classmates did not get through security because they didn't bring their passports, only copies. At one point American students used to be able to take domestic flights within Ecuador without original documents. No more. Here is where things get interesting, and I have great respect for the Tame airline. They let our professor, Esteban, get on the plane to get the 9 of us that made it on, only to get back on the bus with the others and return to Cumbaya so everyone could get an original document. As it was only 9am and we didn't have to return to USFQ until 2pm to try the while airport thing again, we had 5 hours to burn. A few of us decided to try all the Chilean sauvignon blanc at the University's restaurant. Let's just say this made getting back on the bus and returning to the airport a whole lot more interesting.

Because it was so late in the afternoon it was decided by USFQ that we would remain in Coca for the night, and they set us up in a hotel with multiple pools, water slides, a gym that sounded more like a discotek, and a plethora of animals. Pretty sure the animals were for the tourists, of course, haha.

 This guy was chillin' outside our room. He moved much faster than I thought he would, had to chase him a little.

 My Aussie girl :-)

Yeah, besides cute little albino bunnies the hotel also had parrots, peacocks, and squirrel monkeys!

 Boat Ride #1: The Napo River

 Shooting practice for the locals

 Locals fishing

 Initial construction for a bridge that began but never finished. Now just a lonely structure.

 Jeep ride along Respo road. Upon arriving to the oil company's property we had to go through security, very similar to an airport, except there were guards with very large guns. We were't allowed to take pictures throughout the property or along the road, but I snuck a few. Not sure what would have happened if I'd been caught.

 Arriving at the Tiputini River, we boarded another boat for ride #2!

 The Tiputini River. Along the river we saw multiple birds, including macaws and toucans, many river turtles, and river dolphins! Two adults and two babies were feeding, and surfaced just long enough for us to get a good glimpse.

 Welcome to TBS!!

 Massive tree along the path to the student cabins. To give you an idea on the size of the tree, these roots are taller than I am. Everything is larger in the jungle!!

 Monkey Comb. Literally. You can use it to brush your hair. Cool right? It's actually the seed from a fruit. I'm pretty sure someone used it to brush their hair.

 Our guide the first day, Freulon (?). Still trying to figure out how to spell his name. One of the awesome guides that live at Tiputini. These guides can find the smallest amphibian that's blended into the dried leaves on the ground. They call to monkeys and birds. Definitely made our experience more exciting. In this photo he's telling us about the dragon blood tree that has heart shaped leaves and looks like it's bleeding if its bark is cut.

 Heart-shaped dragon blood leaves.

Ant nest built into a plant. These little guys are pretty small compared to the bullet ants.

 Grande ants...these suckers are bullet ants. If you see one you run from it. One bite could land you in the hospital.

 Amazonian wine glass. You won't get very far with this.

 Palm with stilt roots! Now, I know hispanic men are considered to be on the shorter, but these stilt roots are taller than me as well. Just sayin.

 Bat house. The bats bite the leaf in such a way to cause it to bend to create a home-like environment. Pretty creative.

 These ants are really cool! They build nests in the smaller trees, and it is hypothesized that the ants kill the surrounding flora with formic acid to prevent growth. Why they do this has yet to be determined. What's really interesting is that the ants taste like citrus...I'm pretty sure you can guess how I know this ;-)

 Liana, aka swinging vine. Ever seen Tarzan? This is what he used. Liana's are very flexible and can be found in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

 My group!

Day two: Coffee overlooking the Tiputini river while listening to the Howler Monkeys declare their territory. You can hear them on the way to breakfast and again in the mid-afternoon. This is around 7am. It's an early to bed, early to rise thing going on in the jungle. In reality, what can you do when the generators shut off at 9:30pm and you don't have electricity?

 Up in the canopy for bird/monkey watching! My group is at 30 meters, so guess how high I am? Fear of heights no longer applies in the jungle. You suck it up and climb the ladder, otherwise you miss out on something super cool. 

 Conquering my fear of heights with a big smile. Of course, seeing monkeys and parrots helps, too.

Woolly Monkey

                                                                                                                       Canopy Bridge

 Ladder apparatus to the observation deck. The observation deck is located in a Ceibo, which is an emergent tree (i.e, one that grows above the canopy...meaning you can see everything!).

In from of the roots of the Ceibo tree. It's height is just amazing. 

The observation deck. Here we were about 48 meters, or 150 ft up! You're above everything!! 

While on the observation deck we watched a group of woolly monkeys eating in a distant tree. We also saw a king vulture eating something indistinguishable, a toucan, and multiple other small birds. We were thinking about returning to the ground when we heard loud rustling in the trees not too far from us. Spider monkeys! They swung through the trees right below us, one carrying a baby monkey on its back. 

The ground is down there somewhere....

Freulon is scrapping the bark off a tree that is used by the indigenous Quichuas as poison for hunting. It literally tastes like poison. Yeah...

I got this from a medicinal plant that is used as a muscle relaxant. The under leaf of the plant contains spikes that when stabbed into your hand (just a tad painful), create a reaction such as this. One hour later I couldn't feel the top of my hand, but two days later....

 My hand blistered and was very painful to the touch. The blisters are going away now, although it just itches like mad.

 These squirrel monkeys were eating the fruit in the trees just above us as we walked along a path to the dining hall.There were many 8 or 9 in total. This is the monkey species you see in most movies. Of the 10 monkey species in the Ecuadorian amazon, I saw 5, including Howlers, Woollys, Spider, Squirrel, and the Pygmy Marmoset (the smallest monkey on the planet!!). 

 The student cabins. Each cabins has two bedrooms with two sets of bunk beds. When the other person moves in the bed it kind of feels like a carnival ride.

Leaf-cutter ants

 Black Lagoon. The Black Caimans in here camp be as long as 10 ft. You're never to swim in a black lagoon for obvious reasons. 

 Night boating means dwarf caimans!! This one's maybe 4 feet long.

During the boat ride we got a chance to check out the stars...mostly blue, I also saw a few red stars, and the milky way was very clear in the dark sky. It was breathtaking.

 Hahaha...yeah. She's a lot bigger than she looks.

 Tree frog

 This month was infected with a fungus that attacked its brain, killing the insect. The fungus then grows and projects outward, usually from the insects head. Another grow found an insect graveyard. Because these fungi are highly contagious infected individuals will be removed from the colony and left to die.

My days in the amazon revolved around meals (6:30am, 12pm, 7pm) involving a lot of hiking along trails while running through the forest for a glimpse of monkeys. We did two long activities each day during the hikes, one after breakfast and one after lunch. Also included in our activities were a boat ride for caimans and a night hike in search of all the frightening things in the jungle that come out at night. Large spiders, anyone? The greatest experience was cruising down the Tiputini River in a life vest for an hour, just letting the current carry you and watching the wildlife. Two bright red macaws flew right over us. Of course, when we got back into the boat we went piranha fishing in the same river. 

 Back on the Napo River

Back in Coca in a shop with Huaorani-made jewelry, among other things. Apparently they make fettish wear as well.