On my second attempt at the 15,157 ft Imbabura volcano overlooking Otavalo, I made it!
I referred some of the high school volunteers (the same group helping me with English classes) to my host brother Vinicio, who regularly guides tourists up the volcano. I decided it was a great opportunity for me to go, having gotten lost and not made it the time Kent and I tried to go a different route. The others welcomed me along, and at 5am this morning we all piled in to their pickup truck and headed to Ibarra. It took about an hour to reach the trailhead. We had bread and hot tea that Vinicio had brought for all of us before snapping a few photos and starting up the trail.
The morning light slowly revealed the Andean landscape above Ibarra.
By about 7am, the sun had turned the fields a deep golden color.
Vinicio, Shereef, Ben and Hyde (stretching) were my hiking companions.
Eucalyptus trees lined the path for the first few hundred yards.
The patchwork of fields are typical of the Ecuadorian sierra.
The path was very steep most of the way, passing through the “pajonal” or grasslands.
We got some gorgeous views of neighboring Cayambe volcano, which according to Vinicio is almost always covered by clouds.
As we continued gaining altitude, the inside of the half-crater that forms the summit came into view.
Ben rests and looks over the valley floor.
Resting at the midway point, we could see Cotacachi and Otavalo.
It was really windy up on the ridge.
Some of the views during our ascent made me dizzy.
We were really tired when we reached the summit at about 10:30am…
…but happy!
It was the highest mountain I’ve ever summitted, and I loved it.
To top it off, there was a gorgeous sunset when I got home to rest and wash my socks. Just another day in Ecuador.
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