Hello everyone,
Today we woke up bright and early (6:45 AM) before we left for a quick breakfast at La Estancia. We then rushed to meet up with the bus and enjoyed the hour and twenty minute bus ride to the Mt. Chimborazo nature preserve. One reason we woke up so early was that clouds tend to roll in and block the view of the mountain in the afternoon. We stopped at many locations along the way to get acclimatized to the altitude as well as to enjoy the view. Along the way, we saw the many different ecosystems from grassy farmland to deserts which allowed us to view many different types of flora and fauna. One favorite of the group were the vicuñas which are like wild llamas with long and skinny necks. We also learned that Mt. Chimborazo is the closest point on Earth to the sun (Don’t worry, we put on lots of sunscreen)! Despite the breaks, some of us, including me, were having trouble adjusting to the altitude. Even though some of our bodies were not one hundred percent, we still made it to the “First Refuge” monument to take a group photo at 10:15 sharp. Thankfully, our leaders were with us every step of the way to make sure no one was feeling too sick and was able to safely continue. Afterwards, we stopped by a warm hut and snacked on empanadas, donuts, hot chocolate and coca tea.
After a nice rest at the hut, we took the bus down to begin our hike. We started in the windy, arid deserts at the base of Mt. Chimborazo and hiked down into the grassy farmlands of the areas below. We were able to experience close encounters with vicuñas and were treated to a close visit by a herd of alpacas. After some bus scheduling troubles, we were picked up and it was obvious our group was extremely tired, to the point where we were all able to fall asleep in the mildly uncomfortable bus seats for the ride home.
Upon arrival, we ate a delicious meal at La Estancia which included potatoes, soup, our choice of meat and delicious strawberry juice. The hiking of the day wiped most of us out and when we arrived at our hotel, many of us took a long nap. The budgeting crew, however, ventured out to the hardware store in order to find material costs for the CAP project. Before dinner, we filled out a survey which marked the halfway point of our trip.
Although our dinner was cut short as we were given additional time to rest from our long day, it was delicious. We ate lasagna, rice and had a tres leches cake for desert which was a favorite among many of us. We then had our usual nightly meeting where we discussed the positive and negative effects ecotourism has on the environment. To my surprise, the budgeting crew bought an inflatable penguin as a gift for me as they knew that my favorite animal was a penguin. The torch is now handed to Joshua – he will lead us in our first free day of the trip.
Thank you for reading!
(P.S. Please write your comments down below as we look forward to reading them every night. We hope to see you following along on our journeys!)
Hi Ellery! Looks like you are having an amazing trip! Love all the pics! ~Auntie💖
Hi Glimpsers! Glad to see you had another incredible day learning and exploring in Ecuador. The photos of the scenery are beautiful and it must have been thrilling to see vicunas and alpacas! Hard to believe you are halfway done with your trip. We are waiting patiently and with bated breath to find out what your CAP is going to be. We will tune in tomorrow for more clues. Ariana we miss you SO much! Bijan and I barely finished packing up his apartment. Our flight is very early in the morning so we are pulling an all nighter and leave for Indianapolis at 3 am. We have about 250 pounds of things we are bringing back and we made 3 Goodwill runs and several runs to the dumpsters!!! Whenever we took a break we always talked about you and wondered what you were up to. ♥️ Looking forward to reading Joshua’s post tomorrow! Hugs 🤗Ariana’s Mom
Hola mi hermosa crystal soy tu mami todos los Días te extraño 😔😞 mucho pero se que es un viaje donde estás aprendiendo muchas cosas diferentes estoy muy orgullosa de ti mi hermosa todos te extraño y diaria vemos la página más de una vez . Miguel te extraña mucho también ayer me hablo y se enfermo x que tu no estás trae una fuerte gripe tu perrita paloma ba a tu cuarto y toca tu puerta lo bueno que ya pronto nos vamos a ver tu tía melita te extraña mucho también tu tía Bere , y tu tía Anahi pregunta como la estas pasando aver cuando te dejan hablar otra vez x teléfono te quiero muchísimo mi niña hermosa tu mami que te quiere tanto Yanet yanez 😘😘💐
Hi glimpsers,
That sounds like a challenging day and I’m hoping you all get rested up for the rest of your adventures. Anxious mom here… I don’t see Lucy in the group pic. Hoping Lucy is okay.. maybe the altitude got to her. Love you Lucy. Hang in there : )
Love, Mom
Lucy! What a day you had… looks like you were all troopers and will enjoy your free day! On the comments… remember to look back at older posts – sometimes people will post on an older one, not just the most recent post. It’s so very cool to see all your photos and to get to read your blog posts.
Love mom
Lucy, I’m a moron.. I see your face in the group pic – took me a minute!! Mom
Hi Emily! We miss you and love you and can’t wait to talk to you if you call during the free day tomorrow. Your room is clean and ready for you to come back 🙂 That is so cool that you went up that mountain! You will be in shape for Colorado coming up. I hope you are eating enough.
Love you,
Mom, Dad, Rachel, Kevin, Nellie, and Joey
Amazing day – beautiful landscape – out of this world wild critters! Happy Glimpsers = the best. Miss you! xoxoxo
What an amazing an unforgettable experience at Mt. Chimborazo! From Skyler’s post the hike was apparently very challenging, but I bet the breath-taking scenery made the trek worth it!
Thanks to the group for bringing Skyler a friend – He won’t feel homesick with the Pengunio!
Skyler’s Mom
Hi Lindsey,
We are really enjoying the pictures and the descriptions of the different landscapes and animals. That’s one high mountain!
Love you,
Gma & Gpa
kieran we cant wait to hear about your trip to the mountain and all the pics. We hope the alpacas were nicer than the norwegian cows. Also, strawberry juice?! dada took the shed down today. the yard looks so different!
Hi Everyone,
The views on your hike look amazing! I am sure it was a serious workout especially with the altitude.
Ariana, looks like you are having a great time on this adventure. Today we went on a hike in Point Reyes but we didn’t see any alpacas, just some generic deer.😏 Hope you took some cool pix.
P.S. Bijan is saying goodbye to Purdue and flying back tomorrow am.
Love,
Dad
Wow. The hike sounds amazing. Despite the altitude sickness, glad to hear that it was a wonderful experience. The dinner sounds wonderful with Lasagna and tres leches too.
Can’t wait to hear about the CAP project.
For us, it was a lazy weekend home – good to have that sometimes.
You all have a great time at free day tomorrow. Love and hugs Asha
Mom
Oh my goodness what altitude were you at? I love seeing all the photos – thank you for including them in the blog 🙂 I can’t wait to hear about the CAP! Lindsey we are heading to Rohnert Park to have Father’s Day Lunch with the twins – all the cats are curled up with me as I write this 🙂 Love you so much!
Another great update Skyler, thank you. I didn’t realize the variety of experiences your group would be having. Such a wonderful opportunity for all of you and so thankful to your teachers.
Simone, we are taking your dad for a drive today in the mini for Father’s Day. He sends his love but can’t quite figure out how to get to these blogs on his own lol. We have managed to be able to use the tv. We’ve made no attempt at the laptop. Love you. Mom
It’s already Sunday and was thrilled to see the phone ring from Ecuador! – But the connection dropped right away and didn’t get a chance to hear your happy voice. Tried calling the # but it didn’t go through. Love you sweetie. Dad’s at the farmer’s market, I’m preserving the juice from the minneolas so that you can make some home-made tapioka slushies this summer. The juice is “fantastic”. Love you so, so much. XOXOXO
Thank you for all the updates. I have been enjoying visiting Ecuador along with you. Your blogs are so descriptive I feel like iI’m almost with you.how did EP do with the altitude?
I miss u Emily!!!! Im so proud of u doing big things out there :’) See you soon.
Love,
Sovanny
Hi Skyler-
I received your voice mail. So, sad to have missed your call today. Rest assured, I am following the posts and have not forgotten you… yet. I hope you are not getting homesick, just give the penguin a hug and you will be fine. 🙂
If possible, it would be great if you could give the parents a heads up on your next free day. Love – SM
Josue: what an incredible thing you have made a son, climb that mountain !! that looks incredible and height wow !! I imagine that you took chewing gum to eat when your ears were covered, and you forgot your Jacket son I immagine😥😫 it looked super cold and your jacket windbreaker happened? I hope you are well, otherwise I am happy for your adventure with your classmates they look cute and what a beautiful place I would love to go there. we love you, we miss you we love you Greetings to all GG. thanks for those beautiful photos.
What a spectacular hike!