Hiking and Mountain climbing on Iliniza
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2007
1
19
81
Trip End
Oct 01, 2008
Machachi,
Ecuador
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
We stayed in this amazing little country-side hostel situated between Cotopaxi and Iliniza called Papagayo. The hostel was in an old ranch type home with horse stables, a rose garden, a jacuzzi and a small little disco out back that no one ever used. The owners also had about 15 dogs that barked ruthlessly every morning around 4 am. It was super cool - sarcasm detected. We meet another really great couple from England here who happens to be traveling to Rio for Carnaval. Hopefully we'll be able to hook up with them there - the more the merrier, as they say.
The morning of the climb to Iliniza we woke up to a breakfast of granola, yogurt, fruit, juice and coffee. Breakfast of champions apparently. Rory was not so satisfied. After they packed us each a lunch and Rory added two apples, one banana, and 8 snickers bars to the pack, we were off. Our guide, Aron, entered the room to introduce himself and all I could think was, "seriously dude, is there a sock in your pants?" It was an obnoxiously large bulge and he was wearing those tight ass hiking or biking pants. It's one of those things like an accident that you don't want to watch, but can't stop looking at. And I got to look at it all day - don't worry, it gets worse.
We drove out to Iliniza with 4 people in the front seat of a pick-up truck. Nice and cozy with me next to package man. The road was incredibly bumpy and Aron was driving like a indie car racer so I was practically bouncing on his lap. With every bounce I made a conscious effort to bounce right, and not left. The third traveler in our party was named Steve from Toronto. Those Canadians are everywhere!
We started the hike at 4000 meters. The first 2 hours were all up hill, but on grass/dirt terrain. As we approached the refuge the weather got increasingly cold and windy. I was bundled in about 4 layers on my chest and two on my legs. We stopped for a quick bite where Rory proceeded to down one sandwich, one apple, a small pack of oreos and one snickers bar. In about 2 minutes I was shivering from the cold so we continued on up the summit.
The first 10 minutes of the summit were the hardest. I'm not sure why, but I was more out of breath then I ever was the whole hike and I was absolutely terrified. We were climbing at a 45 degree angle up dirt, sand and volcanic ash with drops on either side. My shoes weren't gripping all that well and I was basically climbing on all fours. I had a moment where the guide could see the fear in my face, turned to reveal the large bulge and asked if I was ok. At this point I almost turned back because my heart was pounding, my lungs hurt, my fear-O-meter was redlining and I couldn't handle staring at that damn bulge anymore. Luckily, Rory convinced me to move on and from there I started to calm. Soon the trail became more rocky than sandy and I was able to get a better footing. Also lucky for me, Steve ended up having a break down about 10 minutes later making me look pretty damn courageous for continuing through my fear.
The summit took about 2 hours to hike. At one point we decided to rope up with each other in case somebody slipped. In a way, it made me feel more safe, but in another I felt like any moment scaredy-cat (Steve) was going to slip and take me with him. Every 10 steps Steve would grunt, stop and put his head down for a rest. He apparently had a legit fear of heights and the altitude was making him dizzy and his legs felt like rubber. Wuss. Ok, Ok, so I can't be that hard on him as we were all feeling the side effects from the altitude, he was just the one always complaining about it.
Making it to the top was a great feeling, however, it was so cloudy that we could barely see the next rock over from the one we were sitting on. Bummer of all bummers. To add to the glory, Aron asked if I wanted to celebrate with a kiss. "Oh, please. Can I?" And on top of that, it was fucking cold, it started to half rain - half snow, and we still had a whole mountain to climb down. We left in about 5 minutes with another group that was at the top and started the descend. After making our way down from the tippy top of the summit, Aron unropped us and started to run down the side of the mountain, and I'm talking RUN. Within 1 minute he was 200 meters down the side of the mountain that was all rocks, volcanic ash and dirt, and we were all standing at the top eyes wider than shit wondering how the fuck we were going to attempt the same. Slowly but surely, one by one, we started to slowly slide down the mountain, side stepping with each foot sinking 6 inches in to the dirt. Faster and faster we started to descend until we were all running down a 40 degree angled piled of dirt thinking how in the hell we were going to slow ourselves down. Gravity took hold and it was all or nothing.
The way down seemed so much longer than the way up, but it took half the time. Who knows. My knees were a bit sore from all the down hill running and my ass and hamstrings were killing from the way up. My lungs finally could catch their breath when we reach the truck, but all I could think about was the jacuzzi.
After a shower and a small nap, we headed into the jacuzzi room only to find Aron, Greg (cool Brit) and some shady Israeli soiling the water with their iky man sweat. This was not going to stop me, but the fact that now Aron was only wearing tighty whities - in black - made me think twice. The sore muscles won over in the end and 2 minutes later in I went. The 5 person hot tub soon had about 10 people all sitting around the edge just soaking their feet. Three girls, all married or in a relationship, three husbands or boyfriends, and 2 inappropriate Israelis with horny looks on their faces. Time to get out, Rory was getting angry. I love having a husband who will fight at the drop of a sexual comment towards me, but I'm not exactly excited to sit around and let it happen.
After dinner we decided not to hike the Cotopaxi because I just didn't have the heart for it and Rory wanted to move on to Banos for river rafting. We packed the next morning and took a taxi to the Machachi toll booth. Interesting place to catch a bus, but that's how they do it here in Ecuador. Ah Ecuador, how we used to love you...read on for more info.
