Sunday, September 27, 2009

Hiking up Pichincha


Today Dan and I decided to get up and out of the city - and I am so glad we did. We headed West to the teleferico (i.e. gondola) that takes tourists and locals up to the base of Pichincha, a volcano on the edge of Quito. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Pichincha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pichincha_Volcano
The most recent major eruption was in 1999. But don't worry- due to the geography of the area, the lava flows down the other side, away from the city - so an eruption doesn't pose a danger to the inhabitants of the city. In fact, one of our colleagues was telling us about watching Pichincha erupt through her kitchen window while she was eating breakfast! Apparently the only major concern with Pichincha is that a layer of ash covers everything for days after an eruption. 
 The hike up to Pichincha was breathtaking. All along the way there were striking views of the city and the valleys beyond on both sides - the pictures we took don't do it justice! 

  
We met so many friendly strangers along the way - and we also quickly learned that the 'end of the trail' was a subjective concept. After two hours of hiking we started asking returning hikers how much further we had left. The first few people we asked told us we had half an hour left, then later we were told we would be 'there' in ten minutes. Just as we thought we were reaching the end, the next group told us we had an hour and a half left! We kept walking...and the trail became increasingly uncertain. After spending quite a lot of time scrambling up rocks, we asked another group and discovered that there was another hour more to one end point, and another four hour trip to the spot we had been aiming for - where you could see into the volcano. 
At that point, we decided that the spot where we stood would be our 'summit' and we promptly turned around! Anyway, it was a fantastic day. I'm pretty happy with how far we walked, considering the high altitude and the fact that Dan sprained his ankle a few days ago (by falling in a hole in the road...but that's another story). 
I also surprised myself by how much I enjoyed hiking today - it was actually really fun! Who knows? Maybe I'll become a hiking buff after all.
 

Saturday, September 12, 2009