Volcano Antisana and Quilotoa Crater Lake
September 21, 2008 · Print This Article
First, check out our new “Videos” page at the link at the top right hand side of the page. We will post all of our videos in this one place, adding new ones at the top and letting the old ones move down.
It has been hard to keep up with postings on the blog. We’ve been a bit busy on buses and airplanes. We are now in Peru and we still have some more jungle photos and video from Ecuador to post soon. Two of the lasting impressions that we will have from Ecuador are the biodiversity of the country, one of the most diverse in the world, and the natural beauty at every turn.
Here are some pictures from our last weekend in Ecuador. JM’s good friend Andres took us to Volcan Antisana near Quito with his wife Rosanna and almost 4-year-old daughter Amelia. Antisana is a volcano of the northern Andes, in Ecuador. It is the fourth highest volcano in Ecuador, at 18,871 ft. (5,752m), and is located 50 km SE of the capital city of Quito. We really enjoyed spending the day with them and the volcano and surrounding areas were breathtakingly beautiful. Thanks for the great day! We’re sorry that we didn’t get a picture of you to post here.
Here are some pictures from our Sunday trip to Quilotoa Crater Lake. Quilotoa is a dormant crater lake located high in the Western Cordilleras of the Andes, 35 km west of Latacunga. The caldera is oval shaped with a diameter of 2.5 kilometers and the steep crater walls drop in some parts more than 300 meters to the water level at 3500m. The lake is 240m deep and its water is alkaline and no fish live there. The lake itself was spectacular and the drive there and back involved the typically beautiful views of the Ecuadorian Andean landscape.
After the hike down to the lake, which was really more of a slide down steep sandy hills most of the way, all of us except Kelli rode back up on mules/horses. Local indigenous people walk the animals down and then walk beside them as they carry the tourists back up. It looked pretty tough for the animals, which didn’t please Ainsley at all. Our guide claimed that each mule only does it once each day, but that was hard to believe. I was most amazed by the husband and wife pair that walked up with Jack and me. As you will see in the pictures below the wife was carrying a young baby with her the entire time. Even though they are acclimated to the altitude it was a tough clime, I can only imagine what it would be like with a baby. Furthermore, at one point she shifted the baby so that she could breast feed it and afterward shifted it again to her back. The US has trouble at times with breastfeeding in public; this woman did it while climbing out of a crater lake to earn a few dollars. Amazing!




OMG - as maddy would say - the larvae video (”I want someone in the family to taste it!”) is hilarious. Same with the yoga video. I am jealous as, well, you know what, of all the adventures you are having.
things are good here. obama and biden will be in G’boro this weekend, the second visit by BO in a week, giving rise to speculation that they think NC could go their way. LOTS of BO activity around town, including a $raiser at K&MB’s on Oct 11 that we are worried will overwhelm us if we cannot put people outdoors because of the weather.
nationally, the meltdown on wall st and bailout in DC are sucking up all the pol time - some national polls have BO surging on account of concern about the economy. CW has it that bad economy = more votes for the dems/BO. i have not seen tracking polls in swing states of late. still very close all over. post Palin bounce seems to be ebbing.
in sports news, duke plays VA at home - 1st big ACC test - this weekend. Bosox have clinched a wildcard. Cubbies in it too. Yanks eliminated. really big news is that Dan Hudgins tore a h-string and is out indefinitely. He greets us on the steps at his house at the end of every run in his slippers, the poor guy. (john, david and i now carpool so i make sure to stay in shape. so far so good). i am contemplating a half marathon for Nov.
Sleepover at the meetinghouse this weekend. also gay pride parade, which the mtg will march in, thanks to sandy.
that is enough for now. hugs to all.
Rob
Rob,
Thanks for the update on all things political, duke and baseball. We enjoy hearing what is going on back in Durham too. The good news here is that we just heard that our ballots arrived in Lima. Let’s hope they get counted! We’re sorry to miss the fund raiser at Marybeth and Kenny’s.
Adios,
John