Entries from Ecuador

Saludos from the beautiful hacienda, Chilcabamba, at 11,500' on the flanks of Cotopaxi. The weather is great, and we have amazing views of our climbing destination, Cotopaxi from our bedroom windows. We left the city behind today, and ventured south down the 'Avenue of Volcanos'. After an hour and a half of driving, we began our 2nd acclimitization hike. This time we climbed to around 15,400', to the climbers' hut at the saddle between the Ilinizas. This hike travels above treeline, through the rolling hill grassland known as the paramo. Good weather afforded us views of the expansive valleys below, but clouds kept the Ilinizas obscured from view. Everybody did great on this foray into thinner air. It looks like we've got a very strong team for our summit attempt, and the weather looks promising. But, you take it day by day in the mountains... Tomorrow we'll head to the cliimbers' hut on Cotopaxi, at 16,000'. But right now, our minds are on dinner, the beautiful setting of our hacienda, and comfort and warmth of the woodburning stoves in our bedrooms. Life is good. Thanks for following our trip, I'll keep you posted with updates.

We had a great acclimatization hike today at the Ecological Reserve Pasachoa, an ancient volcano which now hosts a cloud forest ecosystem. We hiked up to 12,300', and everyone did great. The weather was nice today, and it was great to stretch our legs and work our lungs a little bit. The altitude of this hike will serve us well, as tomorrow we're off to the climbing refugio at the Ilinizas, where we'll hopefully gain an altitude of over 15,000'. Then we're off to a Hacienda on the flanks of our first climbing destination, Cotopaxi. This evening we enjoyed fine Ecuadorian cuisine on before leaving Quito; adventurous palates even tried the Ecuadorian delicacy of fried guinea pig (cuy) and the locally fermented corn drink called chicha. We're all enjoying the culture of Ecuador and the conveniences of Quito. But we're also very anxious to head for the mountains and leave the city behind. Tomorrow we'll do just that. We'll keep you up to date on our adventures.

Everyone's planes have arrived, and we had our first official team meeting at breakfast this morning. We discussed logistics for the trip and got to meet everyone, as well as enjoyed our breakfast buffet spread of fresh, local fruits, juices, and pastries. We spent the rest of the day touring the capital city of Quito with our very knowledgeable local guide, Jorge. We visited the colonial parts of Quito, and learned the city's cultural and political history, and then traveled to the "Mitad del Mundo", or the middle of the world. Here we got to stand on the equator and see examples of Ecuador's different cultural groups in the interpretative museum. Right now we're relaxing for a couple of hours before meeting for dinner. I'll be in touch tomorrow after we return from our first acclimatization hike to the Biological Reserve, Pasachoa.