One last adventure... El Altar
Trip Start
Nov 24, 2007
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16
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Trip End
May 15, 2008
Riobamba,
Ecuador
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Midway through our first segment of travel through Ecuador we visited the īCorazon de la Patria` (heartland of Ecuador) or more simply known as the central region around Riobamba. Having ambitious goals of hiking into the mountains; a big change from where he had just come from in the Oriente jungle we didn't get that chance
1 Rio Blanco Valley
. Maya came down with the dreadful stomach illness that I had just recovered from, the rain, which had not reached us once in the Amazon decided not to let us go so easily and dumped the entire duration of our time there. Besides our train derailing when we went on the Nariz del Diablo joyride, we really didnīt have to much excitement there the last time. At least not as much as what he had planned for.Once in Riobamba we checked in to the huge, uncleanly but inviting Hotel Imperial for $6 dollars a night. It sounds grand doesn't it? There, we were cared for by a quick-witted little old man who loved to talk about whiskey with a twinkle in his eye (even at 5am) and his soft spoken sidekick who together on each others shoulds probably stood at my eye level. The following day, gear in hand, packs full with everything including rubber boots and food a-plenty we hopped on board the dilapidated 6:30am bus, easily at over-capacity yet again and set off for the town of Candelaria - starting point for the hike to El Altar Crater.
After hours of...mud trudging Iīll call it, and encouraging glimpses of the highest point of El Alater, Bishopīs peak (17,452 ft), we finally arrived at the Collanes Plain, a flat river bed drainage threaded by mountain streams at the base of a great crater and towering pillars of rock
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. Commonly hidden in the clouds from view, to our amazement the nine different peaks came entirely into view momentarily and we could see why many people call it the most stunning mountain view to lay eyes on in Ecuador. The crater itself is a beautifully jagged blown out volcano now resembling the shape of a bowl and whose crater is now filled up with blue-green waters. Walking across the plain and scrambling up the crest of a northern ridge we reached the plateau at around 14,000 feet and were awarded with great views amongst the surrounding peaks. Unfortunately, clear as could be no more than an hour ago, like many mountains, the weather can change dramatically and when we crested the top all but the lower half was hidden among clouds. Nonetheless, the view was superb, the hike equally gratifying. We felt great (although Maya was charged by a rouge bull on her accent to the viewpoint...seriously a scare and something to watch out for) and the beer we shared from our perch overlooking the Collanes while surrounded by fresh air and stellar mountains sure hit the spot.Cheers to good memories and escaping water balloons. At least momentarily...
When we returned to La Candelaria there were drunkards everywhere. People were so obliterated that you couldn't even tell if they were seriously disabled or just completely incoherent
3 El Altar becoming covered in clouds
. As we descended into town around 1pm, along the road two or three guys were completely passed out in the ditch along the road as it went on into town. We had to wait for the bus to come and for the first time in a long while, I was completely disgusted with our situation. Old men were coming up to us, wanting to talk even though they couldn't keep their eyes open. They were grabbing women and stumbling to stand up. We thought of sticking around to watch the bull fight but in the end a young girl and her boyfriend from out of town sensed our distaste of what was going on...they were the sober as were most of the women in town, and helped us find a taxi willing to drive us down to the next town. So there we were riding in a taxi down a steep grade, no rail and a huge drop off. Our driver, though we questioned him numerous times if he was drunk and said we would drive if he told us the truth, had the most blood shot eyes I have ever seen. Like he was teetering on the verge of collapse. He seemed coherent enough so we trusted him and made in to the next town just in time to MISS the bus. So fuck. There were were in the midst of some wild celebration, dirty, hungry, with our packs on and wanting to get out of there. Young guys would come up with spray bottles of that foamy stuff they sell at carnivals and look as if they wanted to spray it in our faces. Maya did her usual firm talking but I was about to choke them. They got the idea, I think I was tagged once, but with the 100 odd kids that came up to us, I must have had the scariest looking face in the world because all of them ran away.We eventually made it out of town and back to Riobamba. The most conservative city in Ecuador for celebrating Carnival...Amen.
Sadly for me, I am ready to move on...
