Ecuador, Chimborazo, and the Galapagos Islands

About 6 months ago I signed Brad up for Scuba Diving lessons so that we would be able to dive together.
I wanted to take him somewhere to dive for his first time that would be amazing. I started looking at places to go.  I have always wanted to go to South America and specifically the Galapagos Islands. This seemed like the perfect place to take him, full of adventure and the best diving.
I booked our trip to the Galapagos as a surprise to him. I didn't keep the secret too long though because there were too many logistics that I needed his help with.
Then we talked our friends Ken and Kelly Barringer into going with us, bought books to read, As we were reading and talking to friends about it we decided that we needed to extend our trip a little bit so that we could spend more time on mainland Ecuador. Now our trip was almost 2 weeks long and we had talked another friend Ken Jacquin into going to the Mainland part of the trip with us.

Brad, Annie, Kelly, Ken and Ken

As we got off the plane in Quito late at night, we were struck with the beauty there. Quito sits at about 9,000' above sea level. As our driver was taking us to the first hotel, we were a little scared as he took us down a dark street, pulling up to a large adobe fence with huge gates and an intercom where we had to get buzzed in. Once inside the gates though it was a beautiful little Bed and breakfast with a donkey and Llama in the yard.

The next morning we were picked up and driven almost 4 hours to Riobama. It was really fun to see the country side change as we drove through so much of Ecuador.
What a diverse and amazing place. We stopped in Riobamba to get our Mountain climbing gear.
We LOVED Riobamba with the very traditionally dressed Ecuadorians. There were families walking donkey's down the street and Pigs and Cows. It was wonderful.

As we drove higher and higher in altitude it was fun to watch the landscape change. We arrived at Estrella De Chimborazo a lovely B&B at about 14,000' above sea level. Ken, Brad and I were staying in the same room the entire time we were on the mainland, which was really fun.
As we walked into this lodge, we were amazed at the things on the walls and just the charm of it. We learned that the owner is a world renowned mountain climber, Marco Cruz. There was a big fireplace, as big as my jeep, in the center of the room with mats and benches surrounding it, calling to you to take a nap or meditate. The walls were covered with old climbing boots, crampons, climbing pictures and memento's.

We left our things in the room and went out for an acclimation hike. We live at what we consider a high altitude, so I was amazed at how hard it was to breathe here. We would hike 100' or so and have to stop because you felt like your heart was going to explode. We eventually hiked about 1,000' higher. The mountain that we were planning on climbing in a few days was completely covered in fog so we were not able to see it.

The next morning Brad and I got up early with Chimborazo looming extremely large outside of our window. We took off on another hike, this time we went the other direction in search of the Llama's and Alpaca's that we had seen the night before. As we approached them, we noticed there was one by itself and we couldn't figure out why it would be alone, separate from the rest of the pack. As we got really close, we saw why.
She had just given birth!
There on the ground was a perfect little baby Alpaca still covered in afterbirth. We watched as the mom prodded the baby to get up for the first time and watched as this baby took it's first steps. It was so neat to see this. Eventually the mom and baby walked slowly towards the rest of the herd and we headed back to the lodge.

Our guides picked us up just before lunch to drive even higher. We arrived at the base camp for Chimborazo which sits at about 16,000' above sea level. Our plan was to climb Chimborazo that evening. We took off for another hike to acclimate. Within the first few steps of this, I thought I am in trouble there is no way that I can do this. It was so hard to breath and to make your feet move.
It got better as we just kept going. We got up to about 17,200' above sea level. It was so amazing being that high. We were ABOVE the clouds. You could see everywhere.

Brad with our new friend Ben. Chimborazo in the background

You can drive to the base camp. These ladies hiked up a few steps in heels and traditional dress

You can see the base camp roof down below. At about 17,000'

The plan was that we would have dinner about 5, try to sleep for a few hours and then start our ascent about 10 PM.
We were in our bunk beds by 6PM to sleep, but there were 9 of us in our room. We didn't get ANY sleep because our guides were either farting, burping, singing a long to music, or tapping their fingers like drums. It was so aggravating. After laying there for a few hours listening to this, we were up and getting ready to climb Chimborazo.

Chimborazo, with a peak elevation of 20,564', is the Highest Mountain in Ecuador and the Highest peak near the equator. Chimborazo is not the highest mountain by elevation above sea level, but its location along the equatorial bulge makes it's summit the farthest point on the Earth's surface. Or the closest point to the moon on earth.
I had read about this mountain as we were planning our trip, even though I knew we were cutting it short on time to acclimate, We really wanted to try to summit this massive mountain. I just couldn't be this close and not try to do it.
As we headed out into the cold night air, it was clear and beautiful. I wish we would have taken a picture of the three of us with all our gear on. We had 2 guides for the 3 of us, there were several other groups heading up too. We quickly passed these groups on the way up. We were wearing borrowed gear which made the climbing harder. We were told this would be a 9 hour hike up but that it wasn't very technical. The first couple of hours were not technical, just draining and steep.
We stopped after about 2 hours to put crampons on as we reached the glacier, then awhile later, we were roped to each other and frankly, this was WAY more technical than I thought we would be doing.
We got to about 18,000' and 4 hours into the hike. Brad wasn't feeling well, then he started throwing up, legs twitching, and seeing cross eyed. The altitude sickness was getting the best of him. Our friend Ken wasn't doing too well either. I was surprised at how well I actually felt at this point. One of the guides was going to take both guys down and I was going to go on. Ken decided he wanted to keep trying so Brad went down, Ken and I kept moving with the other guide.
About 45 minutes later, Ken decided he was done. I was tired but I still felt really good and really think I could have made it to the top. I was SO disappointed that I would not have the chance to keep going. Though when the guide told me that I still had about 4 hours to go, I couldn't imagine 4 more hours of what I had been doing plus the fact that I would have to come down too. We made it to about 18,400'. The view up there was simply amazing. The stars looked like spotlights, the milky was was brighter than I imagined it could be. We were able to see a lightning storm in the Jungle hundreds of miles away. We could see the lights of Quayaquil and the coast, hundreds of miles away in the other direction. I wish that I would have had a camera that would be able to capture the beauty.

As we were going back across one of the snow covered ridges that was about 6 inches wide with the wind was blowing so hard, I thought I have no business being up here. One wrong step and I would have died.

This is the only picture we took of the entire climb. It was too technical, dark and scary to try and take any others.
Coming back down was actually harder for me, It was so scary coming across the shale rock, cliff faces. I think it is a small blessing that I didn't have to do it in the light because I don't know that I could have talked myself into actually doing it. When you would knock a rock down, you would hear it tumble down the mountain for a long time. We were on ledges that were just inches wide.

For the few hours it took to get back down, I just thought the whole way, what was I thinking?!? I am adventurous but this might be the dumbest thing ever. What if something happened to me?!?

BUT now that I am a few weeks out, all I can think about is what I would have done differently to make sure I made it to the top and how I can't wait to climb the next mountain.
I am still really sad that I had to turn back when I still felt so good and didn't get to see how close I could really get, or see if I could have made it to the top.
If you are offend easily then skip over the next picture. This is how we felt towards the mountain after we were done climbing. Then we took a nice one of us with the Mountain behind us.

After our climb we slept for a few hours, Brad finally felt better and we headed into Riobamba to explore. We got to see a livestock market, I have never seen cows in the back of pickup trucks or pigs being pulled out of the trunks of cars until this.
We also went to a market in Riobamba, It was fun to be the only white people in the market.

The next morning we said goodbye to Ken as he flew home with all of our winter gear and we were off to the Galapagos Islands with Ken and Kelly Barringer.

We landed on Baltra island, there is nothing there except the airport, several old army foundations from when it was an army base and Iguana's. We boarded a water taxi to go to Santa Cruz island. The heat and humidity here were so HEAVY. We met our guide Gabriel, he was going to be spending the week with just the 4 of us, taking us all around these beautiful islands.

We had to drive up to the highlands and over to the other side of the island. On the way we stopped so that we could explore a lava tube. There were giant tortoises EVERYwhere. We had hoped that we would see one in the wild. We knew we would see them at the preserve but to see one within the first 30 min. there on the island was so incredible. These animals are so much bigger than you think they are. They weigh about 800 pounds, they live up to 200 years old.
Everything in the Galapagos is protected and you can't get too close to the animals without getting into trouble. It would have been so easy to though because they were everywhere.

See the turtles in the water

The lava tube

We took a speedboat to Floreana Island. Floreana was the first island that had people on it. If you want a good read, read about the history of this island. There are currently only about 150 people that live there. Most of them are descendants of the first settler's. There are 2 hotels with about 10 rooms each. There is no restaurant, Our hotel owner/host's family cooked for us, with food from his ranch. It was SO AMAZING.
As we got off the boat there, we were greeted by sea lions all over the dock, with crabs and the land Iguana's. Which, I think are left over dinosaurs or dragons. Creepiest looking animals ever. They spit at you too.

We were a little slow getting to Floreana because of seeing the tortoises but we had told our guide that we still wanted to snorkel if we could. He sent our bags and clothes ahead with the hotel owner, we stripped down to our suits and hopped in the water to snorkel to our hotel room. COOLEST way ever to get to a hotel. We saw turtles, blue footed boobies (it is a bird, folks so stop snickering), all kinds of fish and a manta ray. We walked out of the water onto the beach in front of our hotel 40 min later.
That night we sat out on the deck looking out over the ocean as the sun went down. Then we were treated to the most spectacular display of stars. Since there are no people there, they only have power at certain times of the day, we could see every star.

Penguins on the equator!

The next morning we had one of the highlights of the trip. We hiked to a beach, then snorkeled over to another beach/island. There were about six 2 month old baby sea lions, playing in this shallow pool of water. The mama was asleep close by and NO alpha male. Our guide told us that he has never experienced anything like it in all his time as a guide. We were able to swim with and play with these babies for about an hour. As I was filming two of them playing, one guy bit our go pro camera. It was absolutely unbelievable. There was no one else around anywhere. Where else in the world would you get to swim with baby sea lions and not have another person around. We also were able to see and swim with penguins. I did not know they had penguins on the equator. They were so cute and so funny to watch.

The other cool animal on this island was the Blue footed Booby. These birds are so beautiful, they really do have turquoise feet. If you want to know why their feet get more blue just ask Brad. He would be happy to tell you.
We were lucky enough to see about 100 of them flying together one morning hunting. They fly above the ocean in circles. Then all of a sudden they all dive bomb the water at the same time. They go in the water about 15' and obviously are catching fish. It is the most amazing thing to watch. They did it over and over again.
While we were on this island, we hiked to the second highest point to overlook the entire island. We were able to SUP here. We saw the caves where the first settler's lived, saw flamingo's, baby tortoises, turtles mating (turtle porn) and went to the ranch or our hotel owner. I was amazed at how simply they live. Everything we ate was grown, raised and made there on the island. We only saw 6 other tourists both days we were here.

Most delicious plum trees

Caves where the first settler's lived

Our guide Gabriel and the land owner/Hotel owner

The next island we went to by speedboat again, was Isabella. Our guide was born and raised on this island. His Grandpa was one of the first settlers there on this island. There were only about 3,000 people that live on this island so still really small.
On this island, we ran on the beach, hiked 10 miles to the top of an active volcano, mountain biked, kayaked and snorkeled all over.
Our hotel was a bit larger than Floreana but still right on the beach.

One of the streets on Isabella

Our beach run on Isabella as the sun was coming up

The Wall of tears. This was built by prisoners in the 1940's. This place was so hot and the only thing that grew there were trees with big spikes, Goat's heads, bushes with bike spikes on them. I CAN NOT imagine having to live here as a prisoner and then having to haul lava rock to build this wall. 

The first of two mountain biking adventures...AND I didn't even knock my teeth out.

The hike up the volcano was so beautiful, we were able to go through so many different climates, there was the jungle, the highlands and then the barren lava. To see the big Calderon which was about 6 miles across and nothing but lava flow was crazy. It truly was like another world.
Thankfully for part of this we were lucky enough to get cloud cover.

That is all Lava behind us. 

Yes they are Peeing into the active volcano...Because they can. Gabriel even joined them.

The next island we went to was the largest populated island, Santa Cruz. The water around this island was such a pretty color. When we got there we drove up to the highlands and then rode our mountain bikes down to Garrapatero Beach, which is mostly locals. What a beautiful day, we just played in the water, watched all the crazy animals and ate our lunch on the beach.
Sadly the next day the Barringer's were going back to mainland Ecuador and we were going scuba Diving!
Both Brad and I woke up sick on Saturday morning, I am sure from something we ate. We were both worried about diving but still went. It was so fun to dive with Brad for his first time and what an amazing place to do it.
We did two dives and we saw hammerhead sharks, white tip sharks, a school of manta rays, sting rays, Moray eels, starfish and hundreds of other fish. It was perfect. The only thing I wanted to see but didn't was the whale shark.
We had to have a rest day before we could fly after diving so we got to hang out one more day in Santa Cruz.
It was Sunday so we decided to go to the LDS ward we had seen. It was only about a block from our hotel so we walked there. We received such a warm welcome by everyone. It was a small building compared to here but so much bigger than I would have thought they would have. It was PACKED too. Not an empty seat. There were 6 missionaries there on that island which surprised me.
It was testimony meeting and we didn't understand much of what they said but the spirit was beautiful. I was touched by how many people went up. The entire stand was filled with people waiting to bear their testimonies. The bishop had to stand up and say we can't have anyone else come up. The testimonies were short but very heartfelt. It was a beautiful thing to see. We view it as a chore to bear our testimonies and they couldn't wait to share what they were feeling.

While on this island we also hiked to Tortuga bay/beach, which was beautiful but probably the hottest I have ever been in my life. I don't know that it was worth it.
We also hiked to La Grietas, which was recommended to us. For most of the hike we couldn't figure out why people had told us to do this. It was hot, stinky and not very pretty. Then we came around a corner to a huge lava canyon filled with turquoise water. We were so hot that jumping into that water sounded like heaven. We made our way to the little dock. I jumped, Brad did a flip into the water and it felt wonderful. So cool and refreshing. It was a mix of fresh and salt water.
We swam to the end of the canyon and back before hiking out. This was one of the highlights of this island.

Then we went Back to Quito for our last adventure. We had hired a driver to take us and see the city during our 6 hour layover. He took us all over Quito, we saw the old town which is filled with beautiful church's and buildings. The streets are CRAZY steep. So much worse than San Francisco. The drivers are INSANE. I was scared for my life a few times. We had a wonderful dinner and saw so much more of the city than I thought possible. And we made our connection to home.

Epicuador trip youtube video - Click on me to Watch me!

I feel so lucky and blessed to have been able to see this part of the world. Our earth is so amazing. So diverse and just wonderful. I wish I could just travel and see all of it. VERY GRATEFUL!

The people here were some of the kindest I have ever met. They are all so happy and grateful for what they have. Compared to MOST of us, they have nothing but you would never know it. Since being home I have tried to keep this perspective. I want to do more and be a better person. Give more.

I love traveling with Brad. He is my best friend and I can't imagine how I ever lived without him by my side. We have so much fun exploring and having adventures. It was really fun to have the Barringer's and Ken Jacquin with us too. They are just as active as we are so it made for a very fun yet tiring trip.
We don't have any other trips planned but lots of fun adventures close to home this summer!