"Every planet has its own weird customs. About a year before we met, I spent six weeks on a moon where the principal form of recreation was juggling geese. My hand to God. Baby geese - goslings! They were juggled."

Sunday, November 27, 2011

The mountains

This is my favorite part of each month - the one or two days I can climb a mountain (or two). This month a fellow volunteer from the coast and I are heading south from Quito to climb El Corazon and Illiniza Norte.

Corazon should be straight forward, though long, and Illiniza Norte could be either very easy or very difficult - depending on weather. It could be dry... or there could be a meter of snow to slog through. Peace Corps had us get a guide for Norte because there´s a part called the Paso de la Muerte, or the Pass of Death. Apparently it´s a bit exposed and sometimes conditions require the use of a rope. So we´ll see. Our first guide, Edgar Vaca, the one who took us on Cotopaxi, cancelled on us just a few days ago saying he forgot he had a climb again on Cotopaxi. So...I won´t be hiring him again. We called around every number we could find and found a number of guides willing to take us last minute (at a heavy cost) so we found a replacement and we´re set to go.

Gone climbing, back soon.

No comments:

Post a Comment