…to the very top

As already mentioned, we wanted to climb one of the higher Ecuadorian mountains: we opted for Cotopaxi Volcano (5897 m, 19,347 feet). First, Stevie and me needed to acclimatize more. In order to achieve this, we hiked the northern summit of the Iliniza massive (North Iliniza, 5126 m, 16,818 feet). A truly awesome hike, a lot of sun, rugged landscape, steep slopes. Luckily, we both did not struggle with the height – we felt prepared for the night climb the upcoming day. 😉

We started at 23 p.m. Freezing, clear sky, windless – perfect conditions! Soon, we got to the glacier where we put on our crampons. Step by step we made our way higher up the volcano. Apparently, we were too fast and we had to stop for 30 min below the summit in order to be there at sunrise time. Due to this break, I continued the climb with frozen feet… 😦 Hiking through a bizarre, icy landscape for another hour, we reached Cotopaxi summit at 5:45 a.m. Still freezing, we held out waiting for the sun to appear. We were rewarded with a stunning 360° view of the Avenue of the Volcanos, from Cayambe Volcano to the very North to the ice crown of Altar Volcano to the South. Not to mention the massive volcanic crater being at our feet.

We hiked back happily, looking at Cotopaxi’s shadow projected onto a sea of clouds in front of us. 🙂

Los Ilinizas: Sur (izquierda, 5248 m) y Norte (nuestro destino, 5126 m). The Ilinizas: South (left, 5248 m) and North (our destination, 5126 m). Die Ilinizas: Süd (links, 5248 m) und Nord (unser Ziel, 5126 m).

Iliniza Norte.

Foto panorámica de la Avenida de los Volcanes desde Iliniza Norte: los volcanes Cotopaxi a la derecha, Antisana a su izquierda, Cayambe más a la izquierda. Panorama of the Avenue of the Volcanos from North Iliniza: the volcanos Cotopaxi to the right, Antisana to its left, Cayambe to the very left. Panorama der Straße der Vulkane vom Iliniza Nord: die Vulkane Cotopaxi rechts, Antisana zu seiner Linken, Cayambe ganz links.

Paso de la muerte. Mountain pass of death. Der Todespass.

El caracara andino (Phalcoboenus megalopterus). The mountain caracara (Phalcoboenus megalopterus). Der Anden-Caracara (Phalcoboenus megalopterus).

Volcán Cotopaxi desde el Iliniza Norte. Cotopaxi Volcano from North Iliniza. Der Cotopaxi vom Iliniza Nord. (© Stevie)

Escalada nocturna al Volcán Cotopaxi (se puede ver las luces de los excursionistas y de las estrellas y el glaciar). Cotopaxi Volcano night climb (one can see the lights of the mountaineers and of the stars and the glacier). Nächtlicher Cotopaxi-Aufstieg (man kann die Lichter der Bergsteiger und der Sterne und den Gletscher sehen).

La cumbre del Volcán Cotopaxi (5897 m). Cotopaxi Volcano summit (5897 m). Gipfel des Cotopaxi (5897 m).

Salida del sol con vista a los volcanes Antisana y Cayambe (al fondo, izquierda) desde el Cotopaxi. Cotopaxi sunrise with view of the volcanos Antisana and Cayambe (in the background, left). Sonnenaufgang am Cotopaxi mit Blick auf die Vulkane Antisana und Cayambe (im Hintergrund, links).

El cráter del Cotopaxi, el Volcán Chimborazo al fondo (derecha). The Cotopaxi crater, Chimborazo Volcano in the background (right). Der Krater des Cotopaxi, der Chimborazo im Hintergrund (rechts).

Sombra del Cotopaxi con los Ilinizas. Cotopaxi shadow with the Ilinizas. Schatten des Cotopaxi mit den Ilinizas.

La Hesperia: cloud forest

In 2010, I took an internship in the cloud forest. La Hesperia basically is a farm which is run in an ecological manner and volunteers can participate (that’s how I got there). Back then, there was also a school which unfortunately meanwhile was shut down by the government. Where once learnt, played, and scrimmaged kids, today horses seek shadow from the tropical sun. 😦 Kind of sad…

The main reason for taking my family there was to show them around in a cloud forest. This is a very special ecosystem: it is characterized by the more or less permanent presence of fog. Water drops condensate which is the main water source there. Those forests have a dense understory and the trees are covered in mosses, bromeliads, lianas, and orchids – all of which give them a pristine and virgin look (see description here). 🙂 The trees are not as high as the ones in the rainforest. For me, this very forest type is the actual jungle!

When I worked there as a volunteer, we planted slow-growing hardwood seedlings first in order to convert the deteriorated secondary forest back into some kind of primary forest and second to ensure an income for future generations. In doing so, existing pristine forest can be conserved (or even reestablished) and selective logging minimizes the environmental damage. This way of managing the forest represents an integrated use of regrowing rescources. A total conservation of broad stretches of tropical forests without human activity is a misbelief – the people need to live from something. The example of La Hesperia might be a successful approach.

Nuestra casa en La Hesperia. Our house in La Hesperia. Unser Haus in La Hesperia.

Un caballo en el baño. A horse in the restroom. Ein Pferd im Bad.

Caballos en la escuela. Horses at school. Pferde in der Schule.

Jugando fútbol con los caballos. Playing soccer with horses. Fußballspielen mit Pferden.

Un ternero con ojos grandes. A calf with huge ears. Kälbchen mit riesigen Ohren.

Oreos – una tradición antigua en La Hesperia. Oreos – an old tradition in La Hesperia. Oreos – eine lange Tradition in La Hesperia.

La maleza del bosque nuboso. Understory of the cloud forest. Unterholz des Nebelwaldes.

Helecho gigante. Giant fern. Riesenfarn.

Plantones de café. Coffee seedlings. Kaffee-Setzlinge.

Bambú gigante. Giant bamboo. Riesenbambus.

Dentro de nuestra casa. Inside our house. In unserem Haus.

Lactar dos fuertes terneros con hambre. Giving milk to two strong, hungry calves. Milchfütterung zweier starker, hungriger Kälbchen.

Mariposas del riachuelo. Creek butterflies. Falter am Bach.

Cuicocha y Cotacachi

Leap to the North: We made a detour to Papallacta and its hot springs before we reached the Cuicocha Lake via Otavalo. By chance, we got there around Saint John’s day (June 24th) and everyone was celebrating this event. We saw a couple of parades in Cotacachi – a town close to Otavalo which is renowned for its decently priced leather products. There were mostly men marching in the streets: their repetitive “singing” was completed by a monotonic, stamping “dance” – to us it seemed to be a strange way to celebrate…

Cuicocha literally means “Lake of guinea pigs”! Probably, the name refers to the two islands which look like fluffy guinea pigs cuddling in the middle of the large water-filled caldera (a caldera is an immense “crater” of a volcano). A truly beautiful place. We found some cosy bungalows at the “crater” rim with a stunning view of the lake and – what is more – with chimneys! 😛 Paradise!!! For sure, we circled the lake: a lonely, sunny, awesome hike.

Celebraciones de San Juan en las calles de Cotacachi. Saint John celebrations in the streets of Cotacachi. Feierlichkeiten anlässlich des Heiligen Johannes’ auf den Straßen Cotacachis.

Desfile en Cotachachi. Parade in Cotachachi. Umzug in Cotacachi.

Lago de Cuicocha. Cuicocha Lake. Cuicocha-See.

Dentro de la cabaña en Cuicocha. Inside the bungalow in Cuicocha. In meiner Hütte in Cuicocha.

Vista desde la cabaña al lago de Cuicocha. View from my bungalow of Cuicocha Lake. Blick aus meiner Hütte zum Cuicocha-See.

Helecho con paquetes de esporas. Farn with spore accumulations. Farn mit Sporenpaketen.

Vista del lago de Cuicocha desde su margen. View of Cuicocha Lake from its rim. Sicht auf den Cuicocha-See vom Rand.

Bromelia. Bromeliad. Bromelie.

La laguna de Cuicocha con sus dos islotes. The Cuicocha Lake with its two islands. Der Cuicocha-See mit seinen zwei Inseln.

The world’s closest point to the Sun

Further north of Alausí, embedded within the Andean Cordilleras lies the chilly city Riobamba. It belongs to Ecuador’s biggest cities. Apart from being a well-situated base camp for rock climbers and mountain trekkers, Riobamba does not offer much… Literally the only city attraction worth mentioning is the Neptune fountain with the impressive college behind. The once picturesque old district was destroyed during a devastating earthquake in 1797. But Riobamba has one unique attraction: Chimborazo Volcano (6310 m): Ecuador’s highest mountain and the world’s highest mountain when measured from the Earth’s core – therefore it is the closest point on Earth’s surface to the Sun. Hence, for a long time, Chimborazo Volcano was thought to be the world’s highest mountain!

Having in mind that we might climb one of the higher volcanos in Ecuador anytime soon, Stevie and I needed to acclimatize to the great elevation: we hiked Chimborazo as far as we could without putting our lives at risk not having special ice climbing gear. On the glacier’s ice we roughly reached a height 5200 m (17,000 feet) and were rewarded with a stunning view.

On our way down the rocky, moon-like, hostile landscape we came across a flock of vicuñas – the more or less primitive, wild form of the llamas. The fur’s fine fibres and the fact that the animals can only be sheared every three years make vicuña wool the most expensive wool (more than 1000 $ for a pair of socks!). Vicuñas are more slender and delicate than their domesticated relatives – and their sunlit orange fur was a great contrast to the volcanic environment.

Fuente de Neptuno en Riobamba. Neptune fountain in Riobamba. Neptunbrunnen in Riobamba.

Caminando con Stevie. Hiking with Stevie. Wandern mit Stevie.

Sedimentos volcánicos. Volcanic deposits. Vulkanablagerungen. (© Stevie)

Una campánula. A bell flower. Eine Glockenblume.

Formas raras del páramo con el Volcán Chimborazo (6310 m) al fondo. Bizarre páramo shapes with Chimborazo Volcano (6310 m) at the back. Bizarre Formen des Páramo mit dem Chimborazo-Vulkan (6310 m) im Hintergrund.

Diversidad de rocas volcánicas. Volcanic rock diversity. Vielfalt vulkanischer Gesteine.

Escalando en las partes bajas del Chimborazo (5200 m). Climbing the lower parts of Chimborazo (5200 m). Aufstieg im unteren Bereich des Chimborazo (5200 m).

Sobre un glaciar del Chimborazo. On a Chimborazo glacier. Auf einem Gletscher des Chimborazo. (© Stevie)

Disfrutando la vista desde el flanco del Chimborazo. Enjoying the view from Chimborazo’s slope. Sicht von der Flanke des Chimborazo. (© Stevie)

Foto panorámica del Chimborazo. Panorama view of Chimborazo. Panorama am Chimborazo.

Congelada escultura de piedra. Frozen stone sculpture. Gefrorene Steinskulptur.

Vicuñas – las llamas primitivas. Vicuñas – primitive llamas. Vikunjas – ursprüngliche Lamas.

Alausí: La Nariz del Diablo

We continued our sinuous way north through the Andes. Between Cuenca and Riobamba, we stopped in Alausí: a tiny town sitting on a cliff in a deep Andean valley. Actually, there was nothing THAT special but a general laid-back feeling.

The most important tourist attraction there is doing a trip by train on the railway which in former times wound its way all the way from Guayaquil at the coast to Quito at 2800 m altitude. A truly impressive engineer’s masterpiece. But because of landslides cutting off tracks and fading numbers of passengers they terminated the train operation and converted parts of the tracks into tourist attractions. One of them is the trip to the mountain “Nariz del Diablo” (devil’s nose) with the highlight of going back and forth on railway tracks constructed in a zig-zag pattern in order to overcome the hight difference of the mountain’s steep slope. You do not travel like this everyday being on a train!

Back to Alausí, everyone was in soccer world cup fever, since Ecuador played against Switzerland. Locals stopped in the middle of the road looking at one of the shop’s numerous screens! Unfortunately, Ecuador lost in the very last minute in an otherwise balanced match… Meanwhile, we explored the local markets, always glancing at the TVs! 😛

The next day we hiked the surroundings of Alausí. We crossed the Panamericana and climbed up the steep grassland. Finally, we were rewarded with a splendid view of the colourful fields and the clouds embedded in the coastal plain. The sunset turned the wavy hills with crops into different shades of gold. Before we started hiking earlier that day, we did not really know what we will experience. Sometimes, you just have to start walking…

Los zigzags de la vía de ferrocarril. The rail track zigzags. Schienen-Zickzack.

Cambio de pendiente. Change of slope. Änderung des Gefälles.

Llama ensillada. Saddled llama. Gesatteltes Lama.

Paisaje de Alausí desde La Nariz del Diablo. Alausí landscape from La Nariz del Diablo (the devil’s nose). Landschaft um Alausí von der La Nariz del Diablo (Teufelsnase).

Mamá en el mercado local. Mum at the local market. Mutti auf dem heimischen Markt.

Colas para el televisor: Ecuador – Suiza 1:2, perdieron en el último minuto del partido. Queue for the TV: Ecuador – Switzerland 1:2, they lost within the last minute of the match. Schlange vorm Fernseher: Ecuador – Schweiz 1:2, sie haben in der letzten Spielminute verloren.

Mercado de frutos. Fruit market. Früchtemarkt.

Flor. Flower. Blume.

El campo con mamá y Stevie. Countryside with mum and Stevie. Auf dem Land mit Mutti und Stevie.

Burro con vista al mar de nubes de la Costa. Donkey with view of the sea of clouds of the Costa (the coastal plains). Esel mit Sicht auf das Wolkenmeer der Costa (Küstenebene).

Hans im Glück!

Los campos de Alausí durante el atardecer. The fields near Alausí in the evening. Die Felder um Alausí zur Abendstunde.

Alausí misteriosa. Mysterious Alausí. Geheimnisvolles Alausí.

Alausí con la estatua de San Pedro. Alausí with the Saint Peter statue. Alausí mit der Statue des Heiligen Peter.

Triple C: Cuenca, El Cajas, Chordeleg

From Peru, we all flew back to Ecuador. In Guayaquil, Ecuador’s economic hub and biggest city, we said goodbye to Benny, who returned to Germany.

More or less escaping from Guayaquil’s sauna-like climate, we headed on by bus to Cuenca which is located in the Andes, some 2500 m above sea level – with a lovely bland climate. (I already wrote about wonderful Cuenca, please click here.) On our way there, we got a glimpse of El Cajas National Park which we hiked later on. “El Cajas” is Spanish for “box”, which refers to the lake-filled hollows in the rough and meager landscape, covered by páramo (tropical highland vegetation) and occasional bogs. This humid environment is completed by the presence of quite some fog. Maybe that’s why we were literally the only ones there. 🙂 A vast variety of lichens, mosses, and fungi thrive in this soaked place.

Even though we lost the trail during our hike, it was a great day! This total silence in the mountains makes them a very special place. Mum quite struggled with the altitude approaching 4100 m. Well done! She was rewarded the next day in Chordeleg – a little town. But size does not matter as it is Ecuador’s jeweler capital: jewelry stores are arranged just like pearls on a necklace! There is A TON of them and you can find any jewelry you can think of… How bizarre in an otherwise quite empty town. Even the street lights are decorated with brilliant ornaments! A lady’s paradise… 😀

Microuniverso: liquen. Micro universe: lichen. Winzige Welt: Flechte.

Caminando por El Cajas. Hiking in El Cajas. Wandern im El Cajas.

Liquen y musgo. Lichen and moss. Flechten und Moos.

Meandro de un riachuelo. A creek’s meander. Mäander eines Flüsschens.

Hongo. Fungus. Pilz.

El páramo de El Cajas. The El Cajas páramo. Der El Cajas-Páramo.

Buscando el “camino”. Looking for the “path”. Den “Weg” suchend.

Liquen, musgo, liquen. Lichen, moss, lichen. Flechten, Moose, Flechten.

Gentianella hirculus.

Mamá rendida – pero con vista chévere! Mum, exhausted – but with a nice view! Mutti, erschöpft – aber mit guter Aussicht!

Holaaaaaaa! 😀

Foto panorámica de El Cajas. Panorama view of El Cajas. Panoramablick vom El Cajas.

Llamas! Llamas! Lamas! (Oder doch Alpakas, Müschaelaaaaa?!)

Decoraciones en las calles de Chordeleg. Street decorations in Chordeleg. Straßendekorationen in Chordeleg.

Being on the lookout in Papallacta

My brother and me literally escaped from the jungle’s heat and humidity towards the Andes. Phew, what a relief! Sleeping without sweating, no mosquitos, fresh air – but also rain… Everything has got its price, I guess. Anyway, we went to Papallacta in the Eastern Cordillera for two reasons: hot springs and doing the Condor Trek. We chilled for hours in the hot pools, sometimes hiding under a tree because of the rain. And for this very reason, we could not move on to the second thing we came for: hiking the Condor Trail. It is a 4 day trek between the volcanos Antisana (5704 m) and Cotopaxi (5897 m). We were ready to go, sitting on all the equipment you need for such an attempt, but instead of being in the mountains, we ended up at the window of our tower-like elevated accomodation checking the weather… What a shame: Should we wait for one more day? Should we move on, hoping for better weather wherever we go? During one of those days of waiting, we hiked the mysterious cloud forest close-by – with bogging dominating the trail… It was just not the right time to hike there; they told us that we needed to come back in November for the Condor Trek – but this means that my brother won’t be there. After waiting for three days, we decided to head towards the Western Cordillera.

Yo dentro del místico bosque nuboso. Me in a mystical cloud forest. Ich im mystischen Nebelwald. (© Bengie)

Volcán Antisana. (© Bengie)

Laguna Papallacta.

Tiputini – deep into the jungle

The last thing to do for my first term at USFQ was to go to Tiputini Biodiversity Station, which is a scientific field research centre in the middle of the Amazonian tropical rainforest. It is a very remote place; for this reason it took several means of transport in order to get there: flying from Quito to Coca in Ecuador’s east, going by motorboat downstream Río Napo for 2 hours, passing an oil company’s checkpoint, continuing with a 1,5 hours bus ride on a bumpy dirt “road”, and finally another 2 hours by motorboat downstream Río Tiputini. It was quite a torture but we quickly got amazed by the jungle’s beauty! 😉

Tiputini is located at the edge of Yasuní National Park of which some of you might heard already in the media. It is one of the most biologically diverse places on Earth. Unfortunately, below this still pristine nature sits crude oil. For this reason, the Ecuadorian government offered the international community to not touch the jungle in order to drill oil, but in return compensation would have needed to be paid. The concept of “not-emitted CO₂” was an absolute novelty and this might be a reason why it failed. No one gave enough money and an aspired Ecuadorian referendum never took place. Even though Yasuní is a national park with indigenous people living in it, oil exploitation is going to take place… Not talking about the massive contamination near former drilling stations. If you are interested in more information about this sad story, follow this link.

Anyway, Tiputini is like an island in this controversy. Being a refuge for (endangered) life and getting to know the crucial ecosystem services, we all depend on, are basically the main goals of this station. We were only there for three days with our course “Tropical Rainforest Ecology” (plus my brother who came to visit me). 😛 The best way to get to know this surreal place is by hiking and observing. The weather was great, so we headed for the jungle at day and night! Daytime is great for spotting monkeys jumping from branch to branch. During night walks, one gets to see a lot of animals too, especially amphibians. It is amazing to experience, how different the fauna is between days and nights. And you can only spot mystically fluorescent glowing fungi in the dark – you look down in total darkness and it looks like a starry sky!!! Also, the acoustic ambience changes a lot at dusk. The jungle never sleeps, it’s never quiet, there’s always something going on – it’s like an ongoing lullaby. 🙂 Magic.

The research station maintains a ~40 metres high tower with an observation platform situated in the top of a giant tree (see 3:38 min in the video stated above). This was one of my favourite places – for being elevated above the canopy which only allows 2 % of the sunlight to pass to the ground, for watching the clear starry sky at night, and for simply listening to the jungle’s noises. Further, the scientists have something like a ropes course, but with suspension bridges in between huge trees and ladders into their uppermost tops. These bridges and little platforms are perfect for observing wildlife just below the canopy. Even though our stay coincided with the rainy season, we only experienced sunshine. However, we got to feel the jungle’s capacity to store immense amounts of rainwater: puddles turned into lakes and trails and suspension bridges were entirely inundated – so that even rubber boots didn’t help anymore! Tiputini River itself, in which we swam downstream with life vests on for more than 2 hours, was quite full and the water table lowered about 1.5 m in just the three days we have been there!

I don’t want to talk too much, since the photos tell you way more. The rainforest is a unique place, absolutely fascinating, and hence worth being protected. Very little people here are aware of that.

PS: My SD-Card got damaged by the hot and humid climate in the rainforest. Hence, I ended up with only a fraction of the photos I took. But work is in progress to restore them (Thanks bro! 😉 ) – if successful, I will post them at a later date and will let you know.

Tapires cerca de un observatorio. Tapirs close to a research station. Tapire bei einer Forschungsstation.

Se llega con lancha por el Río Tiputini. Getting there by motorboat on Tiputini River. Anreise per Motorboot auf dem Tiputini-Fluss.

Araña gorda. Fat spider. Dicke Spinne.

Una lagartija encima de una hoja. A lizard on a leaf. Eine Eidechse auf einem Blatt.

Gran langosta espinosa. A giant spiny grasshopper. Eine dornige Riesenheuschrecke.

Una rana arborícola tímida. A shy tree frog. Ein schüchterner Baumfrosch.

Hoja antigua iluminada. Illuminated old leaf. Angeleuchtetes altes Blatt.

Un pequeño zarcillo. A tiny tendril. Eine Mini-Ranke.

Hormiga cortadoras de hojas con “vigilantes” encima de los pedazos de hojas. Leafcutter ants with “guards” at the pieces of leaves. Blattschneiderameisen mit “Wächtern” auf den Blattstücken.

Panorama de un lago en herradura cerca del Ró Tiputini. Panorama of an oxbow lake close to Tiputini River. Panorma eines Altwassers nahe des Tiputini-Flusses.

Cruzando un puente inundado… Crossing an inundated bridge… Überquerung einer überspülten Brücke…

…y vertiendo el agua que estaba dentro de nuestras botas de goma. …and pouring out the water which got into our rubber boots. …und Auschütten des Wassers, was in unsere Gummistiefel gelaufen ist.

Qué chistoso: un individuo de la familia Proscopiidae. How funny: a horsehead grasshopper. Drollig: eine Pferdekopfschrecke. 😀

La criatura más rara – en realidad es una araña. The most bizarre creature – in fact, it is a spider. Die außegewöhnlichste Kreatur – tatsächlich ist es eine Spinne.

Subiendo al mirador en una copa del árbol… Climbing up to the viewpoint in a treetop… Aufstieg zum Aussichtspunkt in einer Baumkrone…

…para disfrutar esta vista desde el gigante de la selva… …in order to enjoy this view from the jungle-giant… …um in den Genuss dieser Sicht vom Urwaldriesen zu kommen…

…y regresando. …and going down again. …und wieder herunter.

En altura del ojo con la selva. At eye height with the jungle. Auf Augenhöhe mit dem Dschungel.

Avispa pequeña encima de mi mano. Tiny wasp on my hand. Winzige Wespe auf meiner Hand.

Río = café?! River = coffee?! Fluss = Kaffee?!

Regresando a la civilización: pozo de petróleo de Repsol. Going back to civilization: Repsol oil drilling station. Zurück zur Zivilisation: Ölförderstätte von Repsol.

Muy especiales visitantes del mercado en Coca. Very special visitors at the market in Coca. Ganz besondere Marktbesucher in Coca.

The Ecuadorian Inca-Trail to Cuenca

For Holy Week I decided to participate in a trip organized by the USFQ Andinismo-course. We did the three-days Inca-Trail; not to be confused with the overpriced and crammed one in Peru. This trail winds its way through picturesque mountains and valleys covered in golden páramo vegetation. We started in Achupallas, a tiny village in southern Ecuador.

The weather was great the first day, which is the most important thing when being on an outdoor adventure. Quickly, we got out of Achupallas and soon only the livestock indicated close human settlements. After a while we were missing one girl – my tent partner and friend Kirby – and it turned out that she needed to rest for a while since she had an asthma attack. After this incident, we tried not leave her on her own anymore.

On our way along steep rock cliffs made of volcanic eruptive material we came across a few donkeys carrying páramo grass bunches. Later on, we even saw huts made of the same material. Life is simple and basic in the Ecuadorian countryside. While clouds were slowly emerging, we made our way through the páramo and some randomly distributed bogs. Kirby was not that well-equipped and after a while she gave up to look for the best crossing and just walked straight through the mud with a bugged face which cracked me up! A shower of hail later, we reached our campground Muyuna and luckily our bags – carried by mules – arrived. We “prepared” our camping spot (kicking off dried poo), erected our tent, and moved in. It is a lovely feeling to have everything set up and sorted after an activity-filled day. 🙂 We enjoyed the magical interplay of the last sunlight and the shreds of clouds.

The sun was out the next morning, and after a quick snack and packing everything up, we further ascended the valley. The early sunlight creates such a special ambience – the tussocks of the páramo turned golden while the short grass in between was shining in a lush green, everything topped by the steel blue sky. Unique! We walked passed the Tres Cruces Lake and got to a mountain saddle with the same name. “Tres Cruces” means a junction of three roads: the Incas established a sophisticated road-system in their mountainous empire facilitating transport and delivery of messages. At this point, three of these paths join each other. And so, we continued trekking in the footsteps of the Incas and soon reached the ridge of Tres Cruces, the trail’s highest point (4425 m). From this washed out colourful ridge we had an awesome view on the valley in front of us with the Culebrillas Lake embedded in it. It means “lake of little snakes” and it got its name from the Cañari (the local people which dwelled this area before the Incan invasion) because of the meandering creek flowing into it. It soon started pouring and we only got a short impression of the Cañari ruins called Paredones. Walking in the rain isn’t fun and we all hoped to soon reach our next campground. We set up the tents in the rain and rushed inside – completely soaked. Luckily, our luggage wasn’t and we changed and snuggled with our sleeping bags. 😛 It didn’t really stop raining until next morning but there was a short period with a beautifully clear starry sky before more clouds showed up…

Third day: We packed up in the drizzle and did the last bit of our hike. Some pickup trucks eventually took us to Ingapirca. This is the most important and biggest Incan ruin in Ecuador and the Incas built this fortress on top of a cult site of the Cañari. For the latter, the moon was their God, which was the sun for the Incas. Since the Incas didn’t take down the Cañari buildings, the Temple of the Moon is right next to the Temple of the Sun. 🙂 The world-renowned perfect match of the Incan walls’ stones was truly impressive! In a valley close-by is a rock cliff in the shape of a human face: of course, it’s called Cara del Inca (the Inca face)! At noon, we caught a bus to Cuenca.

Cuenca, 6 weeks after my first visit (click here), I got back to this beautiful city. Having a shower was truly a relief! We enjoyed the wonderful old district and at night had an intense party at our hostel. Next morning, after being to one of Cuenca’s numerous churches for Easter mass, we headed back to Quito – a solid 10 hours on the bus. How were the Incas able to manage this vast and ragged empire?

Mulas que están llevando hierbas. Grass carrying mules. Esel, die Gras tragen.

Caminando en el páramo. Hiking the páramo. Wandern im Páramo.

Cerca del campamento del primer día. Close to the first day’s campground. Nahe des Zeltlagers des ersten Tages.

El campamento del primer día con nubes y sol. The first day’s campground with clouds and sunshine. Das Zeltlager des ersten Tages mit Wolken und Sonnenschein.

Interacción del sol y las nubes. Interplay of sunshine and clouds. Zusammenspiel von Sonnenschein und der Wolken.

Caminando en el páramo en la mañana del segundo día. Hiking the páramo in the morning of the second day. Wandern im Páramo am Morgen des zweiten Tages.

Un primer plano del páramo. A páramo close-up. Eine Nahaufnahme des Páramo.

Un primer plano del páramo: el “árbol” blanco. A páramo close-up: the white “tree”. Eine Nahaufnahme des Páramo: der weiße “Baum”.

La diversidad de los colores del páramo en una foto. The diversity of the páramo’s colours in one shot. Die Farbvielfalt des Páramo in einem Bild.

El collado de Tres Cruces. The mountain saddle of Tres Cruces. Der Bergsattel Tres Cruces.

Un primer plano del páramo: bayas. A páramo close-up: berries. Eine Nahaufnahme des Páramo: Beeren.

Un primer plano del páramo: un flor del erizo de mar. A páramo close-up: a sea urchin flower. Eine Nahaufnahme des Páramo: eine Seeigel-Blume.

Un primer plano del páramo. A páramo close-up. Eine Nahaufnahme des Páramo.

Encima de la Cuchilla Tres Cruces. On top of the Ridge of Tres Cruces. Auf dem Bergrücken Tres Cruces.

Un primer plano del páramo: gotas de agua retenidas. A páramo close-up: trapped water drops. Eine Nahaufnahme des Páramo: aufgefangene Wassertropfen.

Caminando en la Cuchilla Tres Cruces. Hiking at the Ridge of Tres Cruces. Wandern auf dem Bergrücken Tres Cruces.

El interruptor de huesos, al fondo: la Laguna Culebrillas. The bone breaker, in the background: the Laguna Culebrillas (lake of the small snakes). Der Knochenbrecher, im Hintergrund: die Laguna Culebrillas (See der kleinen Schlangen).

Las mulas llevando nuestro equipaje. The mules carrying our bags. Die Esel, die unser Gepäck tragen.

Tercer día: mirada atrás. Third day: look back. Dritter Tag: Blick zurück.

El templo del Sol incaico en Ingapirca. The Incan Temple of the Sun in Ingapirca. Der Sonnentempel der Inka in Ingapirca.

La Cara del Inca. The Inca face. Das Inka-Gesicht.

La Catedral Nueva de Cuenca.

Baile tradicional encima del Puente Roto en Cuenca. Tradicional dance at the Puente Roto (broken bridge) in Cuenca. Traditioneller Tanz auf der Puente Roto (kaputte Brücke) in Cuenca.

…y con ponchos girandos. …and with rotating ponchos. …und mit kreiselnden Ponchos.

La madrugada de la Pascua en Cuenca. Dawn at Easter in Cuenca. Früher Ostermorgen in Cuenca.

Quito: ¡Qué bestia!

In this post, I want to give an impression of my home and curious things in Quito.

In late March, I moved from my host-family’s house to my own little flat, still at the same property though. I just appreciate my independence and privacy – and I can come over to their house anytime. For example, this is the case every morning when I have breakfast over there. Chapo – an obese cat – joins me almost always, he probably hopes for a bite. He’s so unfortunate with me being a vegetarian! 😛 Anyway, I snuggle with him and he quite enjoys that too. My host family recently offered me to take him with me back home since he got quite affectionate! ¡Mi gordito!

I already touched on food. Even though Ecuadorian cuisine is full of meat (they eat meat on a daily basis, often even more than once a day), my host family comes up with quite some nice options. My favourite are humitas: mashed maize mixed with cheese and wrapped in maize cob leaves which is steam-heated. ¡Qué rico! Also very delicious are quimbolitos: a dough mainly made of a certain soft type of plátano (banana), called maqueño, and raisins is wrapped in a plátano leaf and heated in the oven – what a beautiful-looking delicacy (I added a photo since it looks so nice)! Apart from these yummy things, I indulge myself in all these fruits they grow here. A steam-heated plátano (it’s no mush!) replacing potatoes as a side dish is quite a delicious and special option for me as a German. 🙂 Spooning out a granadilla – priceless…

For Easter, Ecuadorians prepare their traditional food, called fanesca which is a thick soup of all the legumes they can get hold of, which comes with fish. Very rich! Talking about Easter, during Semana Santa (Holy Week) I came across a creepy looking guy in downtown Quito, who reminded me of the Ku Klux Klan and kind of scared me (photo below). Apparently, there is a lot of those so-called cucuruchos (literally meaning ice-cream cone) and people dress up like this during Semana Santa in order to do penitence for their sins.

Let’s talk about weather. There’s actually not much to say: it doesn’t change season-wise, it’s mostly sunny, and temperatures are normally like at a spring day at home (about 20°C). Sometimes, it can be very hot. Right now, it’s rainy season and locals call it winter, which I think is very funny. 🙂 However, a common thing here are quite strong thunder storms. Sometimes, I just sit at the terrace and watch the approaching grey clouds shooting thunderbolts. What a spectacular show it always is. Thunders here shake windows and cause car alarms to go off – which reflects the sensitiveness of the alarms for being triggered but also the power of the noise.

Early in the morning of April, 15th, a lunar eclipse could be witnessed. In Europe, this was not possible since it was daytime there. It was impressive to see how the Earth’s shadow first occulted the  moon, with the latter one turning orange after a while. My camera “equipment” unfortunately did not allow me to take fancy photos, but a picture below gives you at least a clue.

Chapo – mi compañero fiel: siempre él me pide hacernos mimos. Chapo – my loyal friend: he always wants to snuggel with me. Chapo – mein treuer Freund: Ständig möchte er mit mir kuscheln.

Quimbolito. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm…

Mi apartamento nuevo. My new flat. Meine neue Wohnung.

Maravillosa diversidad de las frutas. The fruit’s great diversity. Herrliche Früchtevielfalt.

Panorama de un gran nube gris desde la terraza de mi familia anfitriona. Panorama of a huge grey cloud from my host family’s terrace. Eine riesige, graue Wolke von der Terrasse meiner Gastfamilie.

Persona aterradora de la Pascua, dése cuenta de la placa. Creepy Easter person, pay attention to the street sign (“Café God does not die”). Gruseliger Oster-Mensch, man beachte das Straßenschild (“Café Gott stirbt nicht”).

15.04.2014: Eclipse lunar. Lunar eclipse. Mondfinsternis.